I'm not getting as much reading in as I had hoped due to plumbing malfunctions at home. But since I can't really help fix what's wrong, I might as well get back to the book review pile.
The Best Friend Battle by Lindsay Eyre
Scholastic lists this book as for 2nd-3rd graders. Sylvie is back in town after a summer vacation to find that her best friend Miranda has made a few new friends while Sylvie was gone. Unfortunately, Miranda is not only Sylvie's best friend but her only friend and she is worried that she is losing her friend. Sylvie manages to dig herself into a hole and as time goes on, only manages to make it deeper. Has she gone too far and lost her friend for good? In some ways Sylvie reminds me of a more grown up Junie B. Jones. Although her vocabulary is more developed. I think this will be a good book for those students that are ready for something beyond Junie.
Big Bad Detective Agency by Bruce Hale
I'm a sucker for fractured fairy tales of which this one is. Someone has vandalized the three not so little pigs and everyone blames the Big Bad Wolf who prefers to be called by his rightful name Wolfgang. Together with Ferkel, littlest brother to the afore mentioned pigs, Wolfgang needs to clear his name by nightfall or be imprisoned for the crime. Ferkel and Wolfgang visit the various suspects in Fairylandia: Hansel & Gretel, Goldilocks, even Cinderella among others. Of course in the end the Wolf and Ferkel solve the crime. The book ends with a very possible series to come.
This is a cute book that students will probably find humorous and enjoy reading.
Beneath by Roland Smith
I love Roland Smith. I have enjoyed every book of his that I've read, and he is one of the author's I feel confident in recommending to my students without hesitation. Beneath is no exception. It is an action adventure novel that ends with a promise of a sequel. Pat and Coop are the ordinary children of extraordinary parents. Primarily raised by nannies while young, and then left to their own devices as they got older. Coop leaves home after an argument with his parents about college. After not hearing from him for a year, suddenly Pat starts receiving voice recordings from his brother. When he stops receiving the recordings he goes off to search for him. All he has to go by is a post office number in New York City. Pat is drawn into a world that exists below the streets of New York City in a mission to rescue his brother.
I would recommend this to both girls and boys that like action and adventure with a little mystery thrown in.
Masterpiece by Elise Broach
Masterpiece brings me back to the hidden life that goes on underground and in walls, but instead of mice, this world is populated by beetles. In this story, Marvin the beetle and his family live under the sink in the apartment of the Pompadays. Marvin makes friends with James the human boy that lives in the apartment with his mother, stepfather, and baby half-brother. His parents are too busy with work to be concerned about Marvin except for when he might be useful in wooing clients. After a dismal birthday party for James when all of the guests are children of potential clients for his mother, James goes to bed leaving out the pen and ink set his father had given him for his birthday. The beetles, feeling bad for the way James' birthday went, have Marvin leave a buffalo nickel in James' bedroom for him to find in the morning. In the process Marvin discovers the open bottle of ink and draws a picture of the scene outside the window for an additional present for the human boy. James discovers Marvin and they become friends, but his mother discovers the drawing and believes James to be the talented artist. In a series of twists, James and Marvin become embroiled in a scheme to catch art thieves.
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