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Chapter 23: Hypernewsflash (The Wilderton Wire: C.T. Beldner article)

Way before adopting the multi-narrator format, GRK had a signature writing move that always made me gleeful: The over-the-top newspaper article. So I am thrilled to see one in Chapter 23. From C.T. Beldner’s sensationalistic headline to his fact-check-be-darned reporting, the Wilderton Wire piece is a thing of beauty. This is how conspiracy theories are born, folks—one wildly speculative news clipping at a time.

After Beldner dubs the spirals “the Society of the Curly Tail,” it would be hard for anyone to accept it as any name other than that now. (@Owen, I think you’re right—Noah definitely didn’t intend that as the group’s identity!) And accepting a viral video as proof of Porquette’s survival? Rookie mistake.

Then again, Wilderton is seeing the emergence of a new secret society, and Porquette is alive. So maybe C.T.’s news-hound instincts are leading him to the right destination, even if his path takes the empirically scenic route to get there.

@Josh: Incredible MH/HP list. Wizzle/Umbridge is spot-on. I’d add: Both series feature headmasters named after slightly ridiculous animals.

@GRK: Scholastic needs to put out some new marketing when Macdonald Hall is re-released for its 50th: 

For two full decades, Gordon Korman’s Macdonald Hall series reigned supreme in the “Best-Selling Seven-Book School Mischief” category—fending off all challengers, including a certain boy wizard series. Only 20 years after “Bruno & Boots” launched (and two years after its final installment) did “Harry Potter” finally catch up in sales volume.