Authors: Annie Barrows, Sophie Blackall
ISBN-13: 9780811862509, ISBN-10: 081186250X
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Date Published: December 2007
Edition: Reprint
Best known as the author of the award-winning children's series Ivy and Bean, Annie Barrows also collaborated with her aunt, the late Mary Ann Shaffer, on the epistolary novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
World-record fever grips the second grade, and soon Ivy and Bean are trying to set their own record by becoming the youngest people to have ever discovered a dinosaur. But how hard is it to find one?
Gr 1-3
Rambunctious second-grader Bean and her more conservative friend, Ivy, are back for another easy-chapter-book adventure. This time, a book of world records gets the class thinking of feats they can accomplish. Bean unsuccessfully (and hilariously) tries to break some records, then decides to be the youngest person to discover dinosaur bones and starts digging in the backyard. Ivy has read a book about Mary Anning, who found a dinosaur skeleton at the age of 12. Anning is held up as a model of patience and perseverance, two qualities from which Bean would benefit. Her father is home during the day, and readers see their wonderful, positive relationship. He supports their efforts and agrees that the bones they've discovered are mysterious. It's not a terribly original story idea, but Barrows has a fine touch. Blackall's humorous drawings add to the fun. This is a great chapter book for students who have recently crossed the independent reader bridge.