A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

* “Frazee (Roller Coaster) salutes grandparents and slyly notes children’’s diversions in this breezy tale of “the best week ever.” After Eamon enrolls in nature camp, he spends nights with his grandparents, Bill and Pam, at their beach cottage. Eamon’’s friend James joins the sleepover, and although the text describes James as “very sad” when his mother drives away, a cartoon shows him exuberantly waving “Bye!” Humorous contradictions arise between the hand-lettered account (”Bill handed them each a pair of binoculars and a list of birds to look for. On the way home, the boys reported their findings”) and voice-bubble exchanges between the boys (Eamon, training the lenses on James: “His freckles are huge.” James: “Yeah, and his tongue is gross”). Bill tries to interest the boys in a museum exhibit on penguins; the inseparable friends (”To save time, Bill began calling them Jamon”) show no enthusiasm yet energetically build “penguins” from mussel shells. Frazee’’s narrative resembles a tongue-in-cheek travel journal, with plenty of enticing pencil and gouache illustrations of the characters knocking about the shoreline. Like The Hello Goodbye Window, Frazee’’s story celebrates casual extended-family affection, with a knowing wink at the friends” dismissal of their elders” best-laid plans.” (starred review) (Publishers Weekly 20080301)

* “Frazee’s hilarious round-headed cartoons romp across the page in snort-inducing counterpoint, abetted by the occasional speech balloon. . . . The genius here is not that the boys finally get outside in the end; it’s that their joy in being together is celebrated equally whether they’re annihilating each other in a video game or building a replica of Antarctica on Bill and Pam’s dock. As respectful of kid sensibilities and priorities as it’s possible for an adult to achieve.” (starred review) (Kirkus Reviews 20080301)

* “Summer can seem a long time away during the colder portions of the year, and summer books can hold a special promise and poignancy in the long run-up until the months of freedom. Truly stellar summer books, such as Lynne Rae Perkins’ Pictures from Our Vacation can evoke the weirdness and unexpected magic of summer’s free-form experiences even in the darkest season. Add in some snarky and boisterous grade-school humor, and you’ve got A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. . . . This sweetly captures the pleasures of youthful time-wasting in the company of your best friend with a keen understanding that those pleasures are best when they’re unsentimental. The result is just realistic enough to be perfect, a grade-schooler’s idyllic summer with limited demands for learning and bettering and a whole lot of reveling in kid priorities. A wonderful late-winter reminder that summer is coming, this will cheer up audiences by encouraging them to reflect on glorious summers past and even more glorious summers to anticipate.” (starred review) (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books )

* “Frazee brings out the typical energy of a couple of boys who may scoff at nature and seem to prefer watching TV, but it is through her artful illustrations that readers catch glimpses of just how savvy and creative these kids can be. . . . This intergenerational story will elicit howls of laughter and requests for repeated readings.” (starred review) (School Library Journal )

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star What is happening to our children’s books?
I am completely appalled that this book won the 2009 Caldecott Award. Not only is it an unoriginal and drab story but to me, this represents everything that is wrong with American culture. Children are shaped by the things they read and see from a very young age, this book is not a positive influence. It encourages gluttony and mindless activity while discouraging acquisition of important knowledge (nature camp).

5 Stars A Really Good Book
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

Is a good book and is very funny. It amuses people all ages. My whole class laughed at it. The two boys are named James and Eamon and go to Eamon’s grand parents.

They want to stay at their house eat junk food and play video games, but Bill, James grandfather loves nature most of all in cold places with penguins so sends them to camp. In the book you never actually see them at camp, but only going to camp.

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

is full of humor and is definitely worth getting.

5 Stars A strong mCaldecott contender
Marla Frazze’s best picture book to date. A seamless blend of pictures and text. Laugh out loud funny and a great choice for ages 4-10. When you read the text, keep in mind that Frazee hand wrote every word in the book.

5 Stars Delightful and Timeless
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever is as merry and timeless as Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal. James and Eamon, best friends, go to visit Eamon’s grandparents, Bill and Pam, at the beach for a week during the summer. During the day, Bill has the boys attend nature camp as he loves everything to do with nature, especially cold places with penguins. The boys don’t exactly love camp. As a matter of fact, you never actually see the boys at camp throughout the story. You only see Bill driving them to and from camp with the boys making sarcastic comments in the backseat (see the endpapers for some pictures of the boys at camp). James and Eamon would much rather stay at Bill and Pam’s playing video games, eating ice cream icebergs and banana waffles, and turning their blow-up mattress into a trampoline. In other words, they don’t want to do much of anything. Heck, they don’t even want to change their shorts throughout the week. For James and Eamon, the best week ever consists of an air mattress in the downstairs bedroom, fun food, and the company of a best friend. It’s just that simple. Now, where do I sign up for a vacation like that?

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4 Stars boys will be boys
James and his friend Eamon are going to Nature Camp for a week. It’s a day camp near Eamon’s grandparent’s beach front house where the boys spend their week. If you want to see what they did at camp all you need to read are the endpapers which are snapshots of their time at camp. Their best week ever happened at Bill and Pam’s (Eamon’s grandparent’s) house.

Bill’s a nice old guy who has traveled the world, loves penguins, and wants to talk about Antarctica all the time. The boys couldn’t care less. Pam’s cooking is better than anything the boys get at home, but probably because all she serves them is banana waffles. The boys stay in the basement, sleep on an inflatable mattress that serves as a fort, a trampoline, and a couch for their video game playing. They wear the same shorts all week long.

James and Eamon are boys, true boys, marginally overseen by adults, living the summer that boys dream of. Their week over, the boys look out over the ocean at night, feeling something they can’t articulate. But they know what to do: they collect driftwood, small rocks and mussel shells and assemble a miniature Antarctica complete with penguins on the deck. They hug Pam and Bill and hope they can go to Nature Camp again soon.

Frazee knows boys. At the very least she knows these boys, and she knows that with boys everything is indirect. Bill asks them if they want to go see the penguin exhibit at the zoo, they boys say they’ll think about it, and then they run away. They aren’t trying to be rude, they’re just boys doing what boys do, which is run away from conflict. I don’t have a problem with this, because Frazee presents this with the same carefree attitude that boys bring with them. At the very end of their week when the boys don’t know how to address their feelings of sorrow they do what boys do best: they build things, the express their feeling physically.

I’m on the fence between calling this a good picture book and a great picture book. It’s heart is in the right place, the humor is dry and authentic, but I’m left feeling like their best week ever needed a little more of an anchor, maybe one or two more activities to solidify their week. Their days are taken up with Nature Camp — which is never shown, and I’m fine with that — but I wish they’d had more time at Pam and Bill’s to build or create or invent some week-long project that could mirror the building of their summer friendship.

Will boys like it? Probably. Will they get it? Maybe. Does it matter? Nope.

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The Penderwicks A Summer Tale of Four Sisters Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy Penderwicks Quality

The Penderwicks A Summer Tale of Four Sisters Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy Penderwicks Quality

Starred Review. Grade 4-6 -This enjoyable tale of four sisters, a new friend, and his snooty mother is rollicking fun. The girls’ father is a gentle, widowed botany professor who gives his daughters free reign but is always there to support or comfort them. Rosalind, 12, has become the mother figure. Skye, 11, is fierce and hot-tempered. Jane, 10, is a budding writer of mysteries who has the disconcerting habit of narrating aloud whatever is occurring around her. Batty, four, is an endearingly shy, loving child who always wears butterfly wings. The family dog, Hound, is her protector. The tale begins as the Penderwicks embark on a summer holiday in the Berkshire Mountains, at a cottage on the grounds of a posh mansion owned by the terribly snobbish Mrs. Tifton. Her son, Jeffrey, is a brilliant pianist, but her heart is set on him attending a military academy like her beloved father. The action involves Rosalind’s unrequited love for the 18-year-old gardener, Skye’s enmity and then friendship with Jeffrey, Jane’s improvement in her melodramatic writing style, and Batty’s encounter with an angry bull whom she rather hopefully calls “nice horsie.” Problems are solved and lessons learned in this wonderful, humorous book that features characters whom readers will immediately love, as well as a superb writing style. Bring on more of the Penderwicks!-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY
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Junie B First Grader Aloha ha ha Junie B Jones No 26

Junie B First Grader Aloha ha ha Junie B Jones No 26

Kindergarten-Grade 2–Readers will happily board the plane with precocious Junie B. as she sets off for Hawaii with her parents. Her school assignment is to complete a photo journal documenting her vacation, but from the start its clear that her adventures are really misadventures. Her first photo captures two grouchpots, one in the seat in front of Junie B., and the other behind. Clearly, neither passenger is pleased with the girls seat kicking, endless chatter, or imaginative games with stuffed elephant Philip Johnny Bob and Barbie doll Delores. In the hotel gift shop, Junie insists on purchasing a parrot swim ring that proves much too small and gets stuck on her body for the entire trip. Later episodes include an unfortunate encounter with eels and jellyfish while snorkeling, and a bird that nests in Junie B.s hair when she adorns herself with exotic flowers. Clever language and outrageous antics make this irrepressible youngster a standout character. Brunkuss delightful black-and-white illustrations are a delight.–Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT
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My Weird School Daze 2 Mr Sunny Is Funny

My Weird School Daze 2 Mr Sunny Is Funny

A.J.’s family rented a beach house for the summer, and you’ll never guess in a million hundred years who rented the house next door. Well, you have to read the book to find out. So nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you!*

*Okay, okay, it’s Andrea and her family. And she has a monster crush on Mr. Sunny, the hunky (but weird) lifeguard. Ooooh! When are they gonna get married?

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Weird school Daze
My daughter, who was in 2nd grade, couldn’t get into reading.

We found the series “Weird School” and she LOVED them. She read the

entire series. Now with this follow-up series “Weird School Daze” she

is thrilled to be able to keep reading!!

4 Stars Summer vacation with a teacher
Reviewed by Matthew Feliciano (age for Reader Views (9/08)

“Mr. Sunny Is Funny!” is about a teacher from Ella Mentry School who rents a beach house for the summer. The house he rents is next door to the house that one of his students is staying in for the summer. At first, A.J. (the student) is not at all happy his teacher is next door. Summer is supposed to be months of “anti-teacher” zones. Eventually, A.J. and Mr. Sunny start doing things together. They build a huge sandcastle, invent solar-powered panels for ipods and they go surfing.

Another student named Andrea and her family rent the house on the other side of where A.J. is staying. Then things start to get really messy! Andrea is annoying to A.J. and he always wants to get rid of her. She doesn’t care and insists upon hanging around him.

I liked “Mr. Sunny Is Funny!” by Dan Gutman and thought it was really, really funny. I liked reading about teachers who make kids go crazy and about kids who make teachers go crazy!

5 Stars CLASSIC!!!
Okay. I am not 13 years old, more like Jack Benny’s 39. I have a brain tumor and I am very, VERY slow. But this book was GREAT.

The book is called “Mr. Sunny Is Funny” and it takes place at the beach near the ocean and there is a shark! This was a CLASSIC! Believe it or not, there were lots about Shakespeare — even the real stuff! At the last chapter, it says “The Big Surprise End That Will Completely Shock You, Unless You Already Guessed It”. Does this sound like George Kirgo? (He was an author, wrote books, movies, etc.) His book was called “How to Write Ten Different Best Sellers NOW in Your Spare Time — and Become the First Author on Your Block, Unless There’s an Author Already on Your Block, in Which Case You’ll Become the Second Author on Your Block, and That’s Okay, Too AND OTHER STORIES”.

Thanks, George.

4 Stars continues the weird school tradition
My 8 year old son loved this book. It is interesting in that it takes place away from the school, but still has most of the familiar characters. The reader gets a fun introduction to Mr. Granite, who makes an appearance in another book, later. If your child likes the weird school series, don’t pass this one up!

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Sleeping Arrangements

Sleeping Arrangements

Wickham (The Gatecrasher; also, the Shopaholic series as Sophie Kinsella) spins a delightful story of British families forced to spend their vacation together after a mutual friend promises them the same week in his Spanish villa. Chloe Harding hopes that a holiday will soothe the strain between her and longtime partner Philip Murray, who is worried that a recent takeover of his company may cost him his job. Their hopes are dashed when they arrive and find another family already settled at the villa. To Chloe’s disappointment, she’ll be sharing the space with Hugh Stratton, the beau who broke her heart 15 years ago. Now married to high-maintenance Amanda and with two children, Hugh apologizes, and though Chloe initially expresses nothing but hurt and disdain (all the while keeping their past a secret from Philip), she eventually considers beginning life anew with Hugh. Wickham does a bangup job of creating believable characters—even Amanda is less vapid than she at first seems. Surprises abound as the plot unfolds, and the families begin to wonder whether their mutual friend made an innocent mistake in getting them together. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Not up to her later standards
Sophie Kinsella (writing here as Madeleine Wickham) is a fabulous writer, but this book does not let that show. Sleeping Arrangements is full of characters that are hard to like and situations that are just awkward. After you slog through the book you come to an absolutely boring ending, but in all honesty you’re just glad it’s wrapping up. Don’t give up on Sophie’s later work because of this; she gets much better!

1 Star Don’t Waste Your Time
I usually love this author. I knew exactly what was going to happen next. Very disapointing.

2 Stars Really not for me
Maybe I’m outgrowing chick lit? Or maybe this was just crap. I’m not sure. The last few chick lit books I’ve read have not really been enjoyable to me, so I’m sort of leaning towards the former; but maybe I’m just making bad choices. There were not any characters in this book that I liked. They are all reprehensible, selfish and annoying. Two families are thrown together in the same house for a week of holiday and it’s starting to look like it wasn’t an accident. The books that Wickham wrote under the pen name Sophi Kinsella are highly enjoyable fun. But the ones written under her own name have been barely more than average in my opinion. This one is just pretty bad. I wish I could go back to my self two weeks ago and take this away.

3 Stars Not as good as I expected.
Two separate families are anxious to go on a holiday. Chloe and Philip are both frustrated with work. Chloe is a seamstress who is tired of squeezing women in dresses a size smaller than they really wear and a recent takeover in Philip’s company has left him wondering if he will have a job in the near future.

Amanda and Hugh are going through a rough patch in their marriage. Philip is obsessed with work and spends so little time with his family that his children barely even know him and Amanda is currently stressing the redecoration of their home.

When both families receive an invitation to their friend Gerard’s villa they each look forward to a restful week in Spain. What they find out when they arrive is that Gerard has accidentally double booked his villa and they end up having to share it as every hotel in the area is fully booked.

To make matters worse Chloe and Hugh were once a couple whose relationship ended badly and their respective spouses have no knowledge of the past relationship. Faced with the shared sleeping arrangements stress mounts between the couples and soon all the adults are fighting between themselves and Chloe and Hugh are drawn to each other again.

Overall I thought the book was an okay read but I was a little disappointed in it. I love Wickham’s writing as Sophie Kinsella in the Shopaholic series and really enjoyed The Wedding Girl by her but Sleeping Arrangements was a let down. The characters were not as likeable as characters in her other books. Hugh is a major jerk throughout the whole book, Philip’s lack of a backbone was annoying, Amanda is too uptight and Chloe was just not likeable. The only bright spot in the book was the nanny, Jenna. She had a weird sense of humor and always made the scenes she was in surprising. I’m really on the fence about recommending this one so I’ll say read it if it’s readily available but I don’t recommend searching it out.

4 Stars another fine read by Wickham/Kinsella
I thoroughly enjoy this author’s books, whether she is writing as Madeleine Wickham or Sophie Kinsella, and though this was not my favorite of hers, I would still recommend it. This is the story of two families who are struggling — one with tension about a possible job loss, the other with redecorating crises. Both desperately need a vacation, and both have been promised the loan of a lovely villa in Spain by a family friend. Unfortunately, they have all been promised the same villa on the same week. Hilarity ensues. Well, no, not actual hilarity, but a more mature variation of hilarity — hidden pasts, new beginnings, uncertain endings. Wickham is a clever writer and she creates believable, complex characters within a few lines, but I didn’t find this cast too likable, nor was I very interested in their problems. Still, it’s always a pleasure to read a master, and Wickham is a gifted writer.

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