Jason Beene

I was prejudiced against this book from the start. First, the cover is so...stereotypical. White kid forefront, fat kid and kid of color obviously the sidekicks. Of course the fat kid is eating, since that's what fat kids do. Then I flipped open the cover and read the author's note, basically saying that they wrote the book because there weren't any books "featuring modern, spirited boy heroes" etc.

Now, this may or may not be true, depending on how you look at it, but I have found in the show more past that the minute you see the "there are no books like this so I had to write one" it spells danger. On the other hand, Chronicle is a pretty good publisher.

So I read it. And you know what? It's not bad. Not as stunningly unique and wonderful as the publisher claims in their marketing, but not bad. Fish Finelli and his friends are trying to get enough money together to build a boat engine and along the way they run into rich, privileged bullies, a mysterious recluse, buried treasure and a mysterious librarian.

The book includes the average amount of artwork for a beginning chapter book and also has facts woven into the story and included in panels (this, btw, is not a new and daring idea - several other publishers, notably Capstone and Lerner, have been doing this for some time although the literary quality is not always high). It's a nice length - only about 150 pages and the overall adventure/mystery plot is fun.

My main complaint about the book, and why I probably won't buy it, is that just like all the other "they don't write good adventure books for boys so I had to write one" books, there's a distinctly old-fashioned flavor to the story. Lots of stereotypical characters and the plot revolves around the kids being on their own, including sneaking out at night. I live in a small town and while I agree that there are kids out and about on their own all summer, they are not doing anything remotely like this. I could tell you what they are doing, but I've already washed the descriptions off the walls...they wander around, get drinks at the gas station, hang out at the library, and basically...do nothing. The kids who would read this book are programmed every second of the day into after school and summer activities and would never be allowed to go off for the whole day on their own without adult supervision.

Of course, there's suspension of belief and the whole mystery/buried treasure plot is obviously a fantasy, but the book's intent of portraying the kids as realistic and then throwing them into a 1950s kids mystery just doesn't work for me.

Verdict: I'll think about this one some more, but I'm probably going to pass on it. Most boys ages 8-12 like more exciting adventure stories, fantasy, and straight nonfiction. I already have several fiction/nonfiction blend series (Doyle and Fossey, CSI Club, Can You Survive...?) and don't feel like I need any more right now.

ISBN: 9781452108209; Published April 2013 by Chronicle; ARC provided by publisher at ALA Midwinter 2013 show less

"Seagulls Don't Eat Pickles" is the first in a new series by authoress and mother Erica Farber. The series will feature an extremely smart young boy and the adventures he has with his two best friends. They live on a small seaside town and crack jokes with the innocence of nine year olds and smarts of the more educationally advanced. Farber sprinkles the book with interesting non-fiction facts both in the dialog and small fact boxes placed throughout the text.

What I loved:

- The Characters. show more They are fun, quirky, and lovable. Boys can relate to them, and I think girls could too. I believe they are good role models in the sense that they find fun things to do by using their own wits and imagination. A great inspiration to this age of plugged in children wasting countless hours behind a screen.

- The Idea. A children's book that sprinkles in factoids of interesting non-fiction information. It is a marvelous idea that I know my younger brother would absolutely adore ( if executed properly ).

What I didn't love:

- There could have been a clearer moral to the story. As it is, bad behavior ( though not explicitly encouraged) is liberally applied and never discouraged. The book could be such an example of regular kids doing extraordinary thing, yet it lacks any strong morals. As mentioned earlier, it is the kind of book that might inspire kids to get off the couch, use what they know, and have their own unique adventures and discoveries. But the boys role modeling this kind of a childhood have some rather questionable motives. Although I don't expect children stories heroes to be perfect goody goodies ( that would be boring and unrealistic), I can't agree that Fish and his friends could bet ( and we are not talking candy bars and marbles, we are talking a real bet of fifty dollars), trespass, lie, and steal without a single consequence for their actions.
Instead of showing the negative side of bad behavior, the book almost glorifies it. A rash decision and huge lie premise the entire story, and yet everything turns out fine. The boys steal, trespass, and disobey in almost every set of adventures they have ( except the innocent bug capture at the beginning of the book), and yet never feel regret or suffer consequences.
Once again I am not saying they need to behave better or be perfect. The fact that one co-star likes to annoy his sister is a normal part of being a young boy and doesn't bother me. The fact that the main character can steal an extremely important historical document and never be punished... well that doesn't go down quite so well. It is a delicate balance between realistic and role model, but I think it could be accomplished with a little more grace.

All in all - I think the concept of the Fish Finelli books is wonderful. I hope these books continue to grow in number and popularity. I wish the author every success. But there are a few things I'd love to see changed: I don't want to give a book to a child and then worry that it will inspire him to commit adult level crimes. I don't think it would be too difficult to weave a good moral into these stories, even if it just means giving the boys a good hardy grounding or a slice of humble pie at the end of the story. show less

I got this book through the Early Reviewers program. I had my 7.5 year old son in mind when I requested it. Here are his thoughts on the book:

At first I didn't like this book. I thought it was going to be horrible and the adventure wasn't going to be very nice. Then my mom kept on telling me to read the first chapter, so I did. A couple days later I decided to read the rest, so I did.

It was pretty good! It has lots of adventures, parts of an average book that you would like, such as a happy show more ending, very very very funny parts, and it's not too hard to read by yourself. It actually has pretty big printing so it's easier to read than most chapter books.

It is funny. I thought it would be scary, and there even were some scary parts, but not TOO scary. The best part is the end, but, so I won't spill the beans (you know what I mean) I'm just going to tell you the parts that I liked and that I didn't like.

I liked the facts on the sides in the book. I really liked the one about Nicola Tesla. He's one of my favorite scientists. I liked the pictures even though most of the ones in this early copy were just sketches. My favorite character, I actually have two, were Roger and T.J. I would want to be friends with them in real life. There were lots of cool things about this book.

There's a second book coming out in 2014 (sadly). I want to read it. I wish it was coming out sooner, like Fall 2013. I recommended this book to my school friends at lunch time. Tomorrow I'm going to tell my teacher about it. I'm going to suggest that he get it for his classroom. I'm a second grader. I think kids who are interested in new books, treasure, pirates, adventure, inventions, humor, and fun would like this book a lot. show less

I received an advanced copy of this book and used as a read aloud to a first grade class. Although it was a little advanced for them (often had to explain words), we loved the story. It was filled with vivid descriptions and comical characters. I highly recommend this for students 3rd grade and up.