Goofballs: The Crazy Case of Missing Thunder by Tony Abbott

A boy who shoves french fries up his nose. Another boy parading in underwear outside wearing his pants on his head like bunny ears. Girls twisting off the top of cheese crackers and poke-a-dotting their faces with the gooey middle. Hmmm. I'm thinking... is this another Captain Underpants? Nope, it's the one and only goofballs. Jeff, Brian, Mara, and Kelly are detectives who have one thing in common - goofiness. When rich boy Randall Crandall loses his beloved pony, the four set-out to solve the mystery.

This series is similar to Nate the Great, Jigsaw Jones, or Cam Jansen. Jeff uses a notebook and words are repeated that help the beginning reader. There are silly puns such as "leaf" me alone or "water" you doing, wordplays such as "keep your plants on" or "The Magic School Bug", and sayings such as "You're a poet and you know it"  or "the butler did it". The language is simple and some of the more difficult words defined.

Early readers are hard to find and good ones are even harder. It is tricky and challenging not to bore the reader when writing with a limited vocabulary and using repetition as a reading aid. Abbott tries something a little different here with all the puns and wordplays that is refreshing. Kids will like the jokes and silliness. What I think is lacking in this book is character depth. I can't really picture Jeff, the narrator, in my head. I don't know how old he is or what he's like. I do know he tries to pay attention to details, because he writes clues in his notebook. But this seems more like a writing technique to help the reader understand the language than get to know Jeff. He only writes facts. Abbott starts out by having Jeff tell us what makes a good private eye: A private eye has to notice everything... A private eye has to ask questions, but this gets dropped by the last third of the book. I think he should have sprinkled more of this throughout the story, such as a private eye has a sense of humor or a private eye must not show what they are thinking. Something to give us more of a feel for the character, Jeff. Or maybe that is too much like Nate the Great who uses the phrase, "I, Nate the Great..."

I love rip-roaring unforgettable characters. Who doesn't? Junie B. Jones is mouthy, self-centered, and mean. Marty Mcguire is a don't-mess-with-me tomboy who has no problem kissing a frog and is NOT gonna wear a dress, not matter what her mom says. The Cat-in-the-Hat is a flamboyant, fun, troublemaker. Ling & Ting are forgetful and hyper. So while this story is fun and silly I didn't find Jeff memorable.  I did find Brian however. Anyone who runs around with underwear on their head is pretty unforgettable. Maybe the problem lies in the first person point of view of Jeff. I am not sure. I will definitely be buying this series for our library.

No Reading Level

3 out of 5 Smileys

Marty Mcguire by Kate Messner

Ask any 3rd grade teacher. Ask any librarian. Ask any publisher. There are not enough books for readers who are just starting to read longer chapter books. We need more Marty Mcguire books. It’s well-written, funny, and entertaining.

Meet tomboy, Marty. She is having problems with her best friend, Annie, who has embraced dancing, frilly things, and new friendships… like Veronica Grace, the ultimate girly girl. In order to win back Annie, Marty tries to play dress up and learn to dance with the other girls at recess, but she keeps getting distracted by the boys catching a bullfrog at the pond. It looks like so much fun! Eventually, she wanders over to the boys not only catching the frog but falling in the pond with her dress up clothes.

When the teacher tells the students they are going to have a play called, The Frog Prince, most of the girls want to be the princess and dress up, but not Marty. Ugh! She wants nothing to do with the play. When the teacher chooses her to be the lead, she refuses, but mom and dad won’t take no for an answer. Marty becomes the Frog Princess. And not only does she embrace her the role, she comes up with a few surprises of her own.

Words are repeated that will help early readers with reading and if the word is difficult like, “improvise,” it is used multiple times throughout the story to help the child learn it. That is probably the hardest word and “spontaneous” but they are defined for the reader. Messner does a nice job of weaving frogs into the story either in nature or in the fairy tale.

This story deals with conflicts and girls not being nice to each other. Marty can have an attitude at times but she also recognizes when to apologize to another person. It is a good story to use about discussing kindness toward each other and how to deal with conflicts at school. My husband told me Marty sounds like Junie B. Jones except Junie B. doesn’t always apologize when she calls people names. Guess I will have to read one of those books. If you are looking for a book at this level but about sibling conflicts try, “The Stories Julian Tells.”

Reading Level 2.8
4 out of 5 Smileys