Thursday, September 15, 2005

Lunch Money

Andrew Clements, author of Frindle and many other books, brings us another great school story. Greg Kenton isn't necessarily greedy; he just loves money. Plus, he's good with money, not just earning it and spending it, but making it grow. Now that he's in sixth grade, he's turning his attention to the extra quarter or two most kids have jingling around in their pockets. He's decided that tiny comic books that he's designed himself are the way to get kids to spend those quarters. The problem is, once his comics are a hit, he gets some competition from his neighborhood rival, Maura Shaw. And he's got the attention of the principal who's not sure she likes the idea of comic books sold in school. Can Greg keep himself out of trouble and still turn a profit?

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Whales on Stilts

Looking for a wacky science fiction book? Then this is the book for you! Lily Gefelty seems to live a normal life. However, it starts to become increasingly obvious to Lily that something sinister is brewing at the abandoned warehouse where her father works for a company that makes stilts for whales. That's right, stilts for whales. Luckily, Lily has two best friends who just happen to be rather exceptional, Katie Mulligan and Jasper Dash. Katie lives in a suburban development that happens to be haunted and she has a wildly successful series of books based on her adventures with things like zombies, werewolves and such. Jasper leads his own exciting life as Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut. Jasper enjoys inventing things and has had a series of books written about his escapades. Together the three friends will team up to combat the leader of the whales, Larry, and his evil plan to take over the world, on stilts. [M.T. Anderson]