Smarty Pants. 2nd ed.

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Norah has a special relationship with her Auntie Norah. Not only do they
share the same name, they are both what Auntie Norah calls
“unusual,” although in different ways. Young Norah likes to tell
silly jokes and to “live dangerously” once in a while. Auntie Norah
never tells jokes and is extremely superstitious. Auntie Norah never
steps on sidewalk cracks, she always gets into the right side of the
bed, and she gives all her fresh clothes three hard shakes before she
wears them. Most of the time, young Norah follows Auntie Norah’s
advice just to humor her. One day, however, young Norah decides to live
dangerously by not shaking out her clothes before she wears them. Her
Auntie Norah is very worried about her niece but she says “I suppose a
girl’s gotta’ do what a girl’s gotta’ do.” All the same, she
warns young Norah that something “eye-popping, heart-stopping,
holy-moly horrible” is going to happen. And it does.

The first edition of Smarty Pants won the 1999 McNally Robinson Books
for Young People Award. This new edition features a redesigned cover, a
new typeface, and a reformatted layout that takes advantage of Suzane
Langlois’s vibrant illustrations. This great story about two people
who have built a solid relationship based on love and respect is highly
recommended.