Second Justin Case Story Just as Fun as the First

As I mentioned in my last post from a couple of weeks ago, I was in Dallas for the Junior National Volleyball Tournament.  The boys did well, 19th over all and it gave me lots of time to read.  One of the titles was Justin Case: Shells, Smells and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom by Rachel Vail.  I was a big fan of the first Justin Case book, School, Drool and Other Daily Disasters which Karen reviewed here and was excited to find volume 2 on my library's shelf of new stuff.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Justin, he's a worry wart of a kid, always nervous and trying to figure out the social scene of elementary school.  In Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom, Justin goes against his better judgement and decides to attend Camp Goldenbrook.  It's camp where Justin thinks he will learn to be more of a "rough and tumble kid" instead of such a worrier.  Instead of doing experiments and scientific investigations every day, Justin will be playing dodge ball and learning to swim, two things that are definitely out of his comfort zone.

In order to get ready for camp, Justin must come to grips with changing clothes in a locker room in front of other people.  Other campers teach him the trick of holding his towel in his teeth so nobody can see anything.  He must learn to deal with having no real friends at camp.  He knows several sporty kids who attend Camp Goldenbrook but they're not kids he would normally spend time with.  Along with many other hurdles, including a bully of a counselor, a mean kid who takes advantage of the less athletic and eating in a place the call The Mess where they serve hockey pucks and bug juice, Justin has to get used to the "flip-flops of doom."  Actually he just needs to get used to that little thing that goes between your toes and rubs your skin raw. I feel his pain, I never liked that little thing!

In the end, Justin discovers a lot about how strong he is and stands up for himself.  At some point in the story, I thought I had it all figured out, but Justin not only surprised me, he surprised himself and really expands his horizons.  I know kids like Justin who want to try new things and move beyond where they are, I think this book might help them figure a few things out.  I'll definitely be recommending this book to my 3rd graders in the fall.  Fans of Alvin Ho will enjoy Justin Case.

Project Sweet Life

My partner Karen sent me a link to The Horn Book that reviewed a book she is currently reading, Operation Redwood, and one I had just finished Project Sweet Life, by Brent Hartinger. It's always fun when I find out that the stuff I'm reading is making other reading lists as well, so I thought I'd give it a review.

Three 15 year old boys find out on the first day of summer that their dads are requiring them to find jobs for the summer. All three are feeling cheated out of their last summer in which jobs are "optional." According to Dave, the summer you are 15 is the last summer that you don't HAVE to get a job, you can if you want, but you don't have to. His two buddies Curtis and Victor agree and so the three set out on a series of get rich quick schemes so they don't have to have jobs. The first is a garage/porch sale where the boys sell all of their valuable things and fall $1000 short of their goal. It looks as if they just might pull of Project Sweet Life until an accident damages a classic car and they have to forfeit all of their profit. The boys continue on a series of adventures that include looking for bank robbers, searching for buried treasure and guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar at the mall. They also continue lying to their parents about jobs and go to some pretty elaborate schemes to cover up the fact that they are not really working.

I really liked the adventure of it all, the escapades of the three are funny and kept me interested. The part of the book that sort of bothered me was the lying and the message in the end. All three boys feel some guilt about deceiving their parents but they don't come clean until the end of the summer. Without spoiling anything, the boys accomplish their goal and it ends right and all, but I couldn't help thinking through the whole book, wouldn't it have been easier to just get a job? but then there wouldn't have been a story, would there.

Project Sweet Life is fun read and great for summer vacation. I think I agree with The Horn Book where it is listed as a middle school book.

Peter Spit a Seed at Sue...Longing for Summer

Could it be with the first real cold weather of fall that I'm already longing for summer? I don't really like the cold weather that winter brings in Ohio, but thanks to my ancestors who couldn't go any further south or west, here I am. That may be the reason that this book appealed to me so much, the simple fun of eating watermelon and spitting the seeds at your friends. What says summer better than that.

The book starts on one of those lazy, boring summer days when all a kid wants to do is stay cool. Even the old dog is hot and bored. Nothing sounds like fun until a man peddling watermelon starts passing out the sweet summer sensation. After the first bite, Peter spits a seed at Sue, hence the title, and the rest is downhill from there. Jackie French Koller captures the fun of a seed spitting fight with her simple rhyming words. Soon the mayhem spreads all over town and the pictures by John Manders are laugh out loud funny with seeds stuck everywhere, on people, on windows and cars, and on laundry hanging on the line. Everything comes to a screeching halt when the mayor shows up. She does not look happy with the events, until she spies a baker with a cart full of whipped-cream pies!