Charving. It's a cross between chewing and carving, and it's Oggie's favorite way to relax with a slice of American cheese. (He does a perfect West Virginia.) It just so happens that Oggie's pretty, popular classmate Donnica Perfecto needs a talent-the quirkier, the better-to win the Hidden Talents competition, get on television, and become famous. Donnica has no talents, let alone a wacky one. Then she sees Oggie charving, and Oggie's life changes forever.
Summary Oggie Cooder enjoys “charving”—a cross between chewing and carving. He can charve all fifty states. He dresses in odd clothing thrown together from his parents’ second-hand store, and he crochets his own shoelaces. Teachers call him quirky and one-of-a-kind. Classmates—all but Amy—call him dweeb and loser. Donnica’s scheme to audition for Hidden Talents backfires when Oggie’s charving catches the judges’ eyes instead. Instantly, Oggie becomes famous, and now the kids at school are lining up to talk to him. But Donnica insists on becoming his manager, forcing him to speed-charve and trying to change him. The Hidden Talents people try to change him, too, until Oggie becomes unrecognizable even to Turk. Suddenly Oggie understands what Mr. Snolinovsky, his teacher, meant about “all of this Hollywood hoohah.”
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