Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage...
This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007), picking up just a few days later, focuses on how the fourth graders take justice into their own hands after learning that the main suspect in the case of the missing lemonade-stand money now owns the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are followed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ultimately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integrity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham's Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understanding. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “circumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage with the characters enough to care about how the justice actually pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-27967-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In these retooled versions of Max’s Logbook (2003) and Max’s Mystical Logbook (2004), Moss discards the graph-paper backgrounds, expands the role of a small green pencil-topper that is (at least in the young narrator’s mind) a visitor from space with telepathic powers and remixes lightly revised text and art. In the setup episode Max draws comics, lays out simple science demonstrations (“Experiment #1: What happens when you microwave a marshmallow?”) and turns a bucket full of pencil erasers into action figures by drawing faces on them—all while watching and fretting about his parents’ separation. Max Disaster #2: Alien Eraser Unravels the Mystery of the Pyramids (ISBN: 978-0-7656-3385-5; paper: 978-0-7636-4408-6) features more of the same as he and his best buddy Omar work on a school project offering “proof” that aliens built the Egyptian pyramids. Max’s narrative being thickly interspersed with small color illustrations and neatly lettered captions, comments and dialogue balloons, even novice chapter-book readers will have no trouble following along—and could well catch Max’s interests in science, or at least eraser decoration to boot. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3577-0
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartening recovery tale, with a budding eco-activist at its heart.
In this simply told tale, a child nearly overcome by floods of both water and grief finds unexpected comfort in an environmental recovery project.
As if her father’s death weren’t a heavy enough blow for fifth grader Cari, a flood washes out her new home and the riverside cafe she and her mom had worked so hard to establish, leaving both physical and emotional devastation in its wake. There seems no point in rebuilding—until a friendly neighbor offers a glimmer of hope by explaining that if beavers could be reintroduced to the nature preserve upstream, their dams would ameliorate the danger of flash floods. Many local farmers and other residents view beavers as pests that eat crops. How can Cari help change their minds? The eventual arrival of busy, buck-toothed “Gracie” and “Harold” not only leads to a better outcome the next time a wild storm hits, but touches off a rush of visitors to join Cari in fond beaver watching—particularly after the appearance of a clutch of baby beavers. The text is legibly laid out with plenty of open page space; running along the bottom of the pages are Goldhawk’s images of a peaceful, tree-lined river flowing through low hills. This gentle tale will draw even younger readers into its rising wash of good feelings. Lewis offers neither racial cues for the cast nor a specific locale for the story, originally published in the U.K.
A heartening recovery tale, with a budding eco-activist at its heart. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781454962809
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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