SpongeBob Superstar is a SpongeBob SquarePants book that was written by Annie Auerbach and illustrated by Mark O'Hare. It is the fifth SpongeBob SquarePants chapter book.
Fame, fortune, and fans are SpongeBob's destiny when he's picked to star in a TV special. Hotshot producer Barry Cuda is sure that SpongeBob's sea-lebrity talent is going to steer them both to stardom, and SpongeBob is reeeeaaaady for his close-up! But before you can say, "Krusty Krab Krabby Patties," fame goes to SpongeBob's head. Will SpongeBob leave his Bikini Bottom buddies for the Celebrity Sea? Or is something fishy in the air?
Plot[]
SpongeBob shows Patrick a flyer he picked up at the Krusty Krab, which encourages the yellow sponge to be a famous daredevil. Patrick is appalled at the idea, and he and SpongeBob both think of stunts to perform at the audition. At home, SpongeBob watches the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy marathon, which causes him to completely forget to practice. The next morning, he wakes up realizing this after looking at the news station. SpongeBob gets up from his chair and immediately runs to the Krusty Krab to find a very long line of people who want to perform in the show. Everyone, except SpongeBob, brought their talents, and this encourages SpongeBob to force his way to the front of the line to see Squidward play Solitude in E Minor. This "stunt" immediately bores the director and Squidward becomes offended at what he says. The angered squid storms off while the nearby patrons laugh at him on his way out. SpongeBob signs up and sees Patrick. The director calls upon Patrick, and at first, Patrick forgets what his talent was until his sponge buddy made funny faces that caused him to remember. The director was very appalled at Patrick's ice-cream eating stunt, and this causes everyone to take a break. Sandy Cheeks stops by SpongeBob and Patrick as she auditioned for the position of guest star. SpongeBob makes a little lie, and then he runs into the kitchen to see Mr. Krabs. The sponge begs his boss to use the kitchen, which Mr. Krabs agrees to while counting the money.
It was then time for SpongeBob's audition to begin. The director and his crew all go into the kitchen to watch SpongeBob's stunt. For the kitchen stunt, SpongeBob makes three-hundred Krabby Patties while wearing a blindfold with one hand tied behind his back. The stunt goes on, and SpongeBob is then filled with anxiety which causes him to make the many Krabby Patties inside out. The spectators all laughed, which makes SpongeBob think they were doing it out of jealousy. SpongeBob tries to flip with his left hand, but due to imprecise flipping, the Patties all start flying over the place, causing those nearby to cover their heads. At the end of the stunt, everyone was laughing their heads off. SpongeBob is then introduced to Barry Cuda, the director of the stunt show. Barry makes SpongeBob the next daredevil superstar. A thrilled SpongeBob causes Barry to think of ways to trick him into doing the things he wants. Barry kicks everyone out of the Krusty Krab except for SpongeBob and his friends. The audition was planned to go on the next morning. SpongeBob wakes up the next day energetic, and he runs over to Oyster Bay to see Barry Cuda and his directing crew setting up. Barry goes over to SpongeBob and has his makeup crew give SpongeBob a costume.
The daredevil program begins with SpongeBob diving for a black pearl that was guarded by The Big Kahuna. SpongeBob, thinking it was easy, was then handed a red skateboard that he had to ride over the oyster bed that was buried with twenty electric eels. Before the stunt, SpongeBob cries and is comforted by Barry. The director's urging made SpongeBob's head inflate a little bit. The yellow sponge races down the track, he tried to keep the twenty eels at bay and then he saw the black pearl. The stunt ends with SpongeBob doing several flips in the air and crashing into The Big Kahuna for the black pearl. The production crew rescues SpongeBob, and then Barry runs over to SpongeBob and praises him. The crew surrounds SpongeBob with applause, and this causes the sponge's ego to inflate some more. At Goo Lagoon the next day, SpongeBob was waiting for his next stunt while Mr. Krabs came to visit the born star. SpongeBob refuses the Krabby Patties, which surprises Mr. Krabs. Barry comes to the trailer to get his star ready for the next stunt. SpongeBob loses himself in one of his fantasies and comes to realize that he was on a surfboard. The second stunt begins with SpongeBob surfing on one foot, juggling ten plates, balancing a stack of coral on his head, and a spoon on his nose all at once. It comes to an abrupt end when a huge wave crashes on SpongeBob, sending the things he was balancing flying in different directions. SpongeBob then tries bodysurfing, which wows Barry. The wave crashes SpongeBob, the surfboard, and a lot of water onto the shore.
Barry was very happy about SpongeBob's stunt, which, like the last two times, makes SpongeBob's head swell up and the applause boosted SpongeBob's ego. Barry then calls for Sandy and sets up a karate match between Sandy and SpongeBob. The next scene begins with SpongeBob and Sandy standing on top of two rocks at Rock Falls re-enacting "Karate Choppers." SpongeBob's inflated head flattens Sandy, and this causes her to send him flying and landing between the two rocks. At the end of the scene, Barry was angry at SpongeBob, and Sandy criticizes him for what he did. A bitter SpongeBob replies, and this jeopardizes his friendship with Sandy. Barry praised SpongeBob for the acting and inflates his ego some more. The last stunt featured SpongeBob riding a paddle bike down a huge ramp while being intercepted by jellyfish. One of the jellyfish stings SpongeBob, which makes him lose his balance. The paddle bike SpongeBob was riding plummets into the canyon and SpongeBob lands in a boatmobile. He races through the area while still being chased by the jellyfish. Barry and his crew received stings from the angry jellyfish. Meanwhile, SpongeBob leads the jellyfish to intercepting him on a wild chase through the sets he previously went through, and even into Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob then calls for Barry to play music that pacifies the jellyfish. The stunt ends, and SpongeBob got out of the boat, but he did not receive any applause due to the crew recovering from stings. Later, Patrick invites SpongeBob to eat ice cream with him, but SpongeBob declines, causing Patrick's feelings to become hurt.
The next night, it was time for the premiere of the TV show SpongeBob was auditioning for. All of the stars from Celebrity Sea come to watch SpongeBob in his grand debut. When the title of the special comes on the screen, SpongeBob's eyes bugged out, and the people in the movie theater all roar with laughter. That's because the director tricked SpongeBob and changed the daredevil show into a mockumentary. SpongeBob's ego greatly takes a beating as he hears families inside their houses laughing at the TV special. Morbidly depressed, SpongeBob heads to the Krusty Krab where he feels a glimmer of hope. Inside the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob's best friends were laughing, and when SpongeBob greeted his best friends, no one responded. The yellow sponge goes to talk to his friends, but they all give him the silent treatment. Everyone then laughs, and when SpongeBob joins in, the place fell into complete silence. SpongeBob feels completely defeated for what he did and he heads toward the kitchen and starts crying. Barry angrily calls for SpongeBob and started heading to the Krusty Krab's kitchen. SpongeBob swallows his pride and chastises Barry for what he did. Barry, looking for excuses, whips out his contract. Mr. Krabs decides that the contract Barry wrote was illegal, and SpongeBob apologizes for being obnoxious. Everything is all back to normal.
Trivia[]
This is the first SpongeBob SquarePants chapter book not to be based on an episode of the show.