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MELONHEAD AND THE WE-FIX-IT COMPANY by Katy Kelly

MELONHEAD AND THE WE-FIX-IT COMPANY

From the Melonhead series, volume 5

by Katy Kelly ; illustrated by Gillian Johnson

Pub Date: Sept. 10th, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-74165-1
Publisher: Delacorte

Melonhead, always brimming with good intentions, once again successfully enchants.

In this, his fifth adventure, Melonhead and his best friend, Sam, still cannot keep themselves out of trouble. Melonhead’s aunt gives them a challenge: If they can go 30 days without getting into a “situation,” she will reward them by taking them to an amusement park. Hoping to meet the challenge, Melonhead finds himself trading in the term “situation” for “snafu.” (Aunt Traci didn’t say anything about snafus, after all.) After a snafu involving a silver teapot, the boys must find a way to earn money. They are hilariously ill-equipped to run their We-Fix-It Company: Sneakers become glued to fingers, and hedge trimming turns into an exercise in abstract design, among other mishaps. But triumph awaits. Utilizing everything they’ve learned, the boys convert their mistakes into a brilliant creation, and Melonhead’s final act of kindness will endear him to readers. Breezy sketches accompany the buoyant repartee—“You’re wrong, King Kong”—and overall silliness that includes copper-cleaning supersonic vomit.

In this lively and light entertainment for middle graders, Melonhead and his friends inhabit a world without sarcasm or texting, where inventiveness and camaraderie reign supreme.

(Fiction. 8-12)