Greenwald, Tommy. Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Summer Vacation.

Greenwald, Tommy.  Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Summer Vacation.      Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press      2013  222p  ISBN 978-1-59643-757-9 ms/jr  VG-BN  Realistic fiction

Charlie Joe Jackson makes another appearance, this time at a super-academic summer camp to which he is ill suited.  But he makes the best of it, and ends up having a pretty good time, with lots of laughs along the way.  Charlie Joe is a happy-go-lucky guy who purports to hate reading and academics in general.  At every opportunity he reiterates his hatred of reading and the lengths to which he will go to avoid it.  But when push comes to shove, he reads a book about Lech Walesa and is inspired to stand up for his beliefs, and become a leader among his peers at the summer camp.  With enough plot twists and humor to keep the narrative going, this one will find its readership among middle-school boys.

Summary: Charlie Joe Jackson makes another appearance, this time at a super-academic summer camp to which he is ill suited.  But he makes the best of it, and ends up having a pretty good time, with lots of laughs along the way.                 

Boys-Fiction, Humor                                         --Carol Kennedy

Greenwald, Tommy. Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit.

Greenwald, Tommy.  Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit.  Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press  265p  $14.99  978-1-59643-692-3      2012      elm/ms                  VG-BN           Realistic fiction

                                   

Charlie Joe Jackson just got his report card and his parents are not smiling. His punishment is summer school, but not if he can get out of going.  Thus begins his plan for getting extra credit to raise his grades.  He is going to get all As –- well, not all As, maybe one B.  But he only has one quarter semester left before the school year is out.

As he begins to implement his plan, Charlie realizes that luck is not on his side, and every time he tries to win the teacher over he falls flat on his face and is in even deeper trouble.  Then his teacher offers him an olive branch and Charlie takes it, until he realizes he will have to perform in the school play. Everything seems to go from bad to worse, until he begins to see things in a new light.

To win you don’t always have to be perfect, but you do have to try!
This is a good, funny story with a good ending, and a book that reluctant readers just might enjoy.        

Middle school-Theater-Fiction, Humor                                                                                                                              --Magna Diaz

 

Greenwald, Tommy Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to NOT Reading

Greenwald, Tommy  Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to NOT Reading      

 Roaring Brook Press see macmillan children's pub      2011      220p  14.99 978-1-59643-691-6 ms/jr VG-BN Realistic Fiction  

    Charlie Joe Jackson hates to read, and goes to great lengths to get other kids to do his reading for him.  He also has some “tips” for weasling one’s way out of having to read.      

    This humorous story of middle-school life is a refreshing read, ostensibly aimed at students who don’t like to read.  Charlie Joe, who has been caught red-handed in getting another kid to do his reading, is given the punishment of having to write his own book over the summer.  The result is this hilarious tale of how he managed to get through the school year without reading his assigned books, how he got caught, and all the other things that happened along the way regarding his friends and potential girlfriends.  Interspersed with the story, Charlie Joe offers tips to other students who don’t like reading either.  Kids will relate to. this very funny tale.                         Carol Kennedy

 

Greenwald, Lisa. Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes

Greenwald, Lisa Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes
Amulet see Abrams, Harry 2010 291p 16.95
978-0-8109-8990-0 elm/ms friendship VG


Forced to be creative on their snow day while cooped inside their Brooklyn apartment building, Kate, Georgia and Olivia decide to deliver fortune cookies to bring out the love they know is around their building!
With wholesome characters, plots and language, Lisa Greenwald writes a good book for the preteen. In Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes, she combines 3 delightful 12-year olds with a snowstorm, sets them in a large, old apartment building in Brooklyn with a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor and ends up with a book that is sure to please the young female audience. With the aid of Georgia’s parents, the girls bake fortune cookies and decide to deliver them to everyone in their building. What they discover along the way is an interesting cast of characters, a novel way to bring everyone together and boys. As the girls deliver their fortunes, they meet Crying Girl, whose relationship has just broken up, law students who are studying at the local Brooklyn law school, flower lady who delivers flowers to cheer up strangers, and boys. They are delighted that many of the fortunes that they deliver seem to be coming true! With the bounty of Chinese food which has been prepared for Valentine’s Day by Georgia’s parents, the apartment dwellers come together for a big party, and there, they find new relationships. Greenwald presents the plot through the perspective of the 3 girls, and she captures the voice and relationships of a 12-year old. She creatively begins each chapter with a fortune, and the young reader will have fun seeing how the chapter’s content revolves around that fortune. All young girls have been forced to evaluate their friendships, and all young girls have crushes that seem to be all-encompassing. Greenwald has creatively woven both themes together. Realistic Fiction Squaresky, Martha