It's New It's Improved It's Terrible Author:Stephen Manes The ads on TV said the basketball shoes were New! Improved! Amazing! Neat! Arnold Schlemp just had to have them. That was all there was to it. — But by the end of his birthday he had a lot more to handle than fancy new shoes. He had bid red blisters on his feet. He had a broken TV set in the living room. He had an obnoxious kid who had come throu... more »gh the TV screen from the shoe commercial -- with no idea how to get home. And he had to find a way to explain it all to his parents -- fast!« less