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JOSIE TO THE RESCUE by Marilyn Singer

JOSIE TO THE RESCUE

by Marilyn Singer

Pub Date: March 1st, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-76339-3
Publisher: Scholastic

Second-grader Josie, with a new baby sibling, finds out that her parents are having financial troubles; she wants to help by coming up with an idea so “wonderful, fabulous, terrific” that it will not only solve their problems, but prove once and for all that she’s a more helpful girl than her cousin and rival, Mary Jane. And Josie doesn’t lack for ideas. In quick succession she plants a vegetable garden so that her folks won’t have to spend money on greens, writes a bogus letter of complaint in an effort to get free goods, and attempts to win a contest for a baby stroller. In this gently humorous tale from Singer (Stay True, 1998, etc.), all Josie’s efforts backfire. She ruins her mother’s flower garden by mistaking tulip bulbs for onions, gets chided for dishonesty when a diaper company responds to her fraudulent letter by sending her a truckload of disposables, and loses the stroller contest. The story culminates in a satisfying fashion; Josie learns several predictable but important life lessons. It’s sweet and smooth, with the rivalry between Josie and Mary Jane spicing up the plot. (Fiction book. 6-9)