Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School: We the Children by Andrew Clements

We the Children (Keepers of the School, #1)
Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School: We the Children by Andrew Clements

The blurb:
Benjamin Pratt's harbor-side school is going to the bulldozed to make room fo an amusement park.  It sounds lik a dream come true. . . or isit more like a nightmare?  Something about the plan seems fishy, and Lyman, the new assistant janitor, seems even fishier.  When Ben and his friend, Jill, start digging for answers, they find things that the people with money and power don't want them to see.  Could the history hidden deep witin an old school building actually overthrow a thirty-million-dollar real estate deal.   And how far will the developers go to keep that from happening?  Ben and Jill are about to discover just how dangerous a little knowledge can be.

Review:
The first book in the Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School series, We the Children, introduces us to a pair of amateur middle school sleuths.   When Roger Keane, the custodian of their middle school, needs help, Benjamin Pratt (Ben) steps in.  His reward of sorts is a mysterious gold coin which is given after Ben promises to keep a secret and defend the school.  The coin and the promise open Ben's eyes to mysterious and curious things at the Captain Duncan Oakes School.

The building had been a school since 1783, a gift from the eccentric and wealthy shipping Captain Duncan Oakes who has helped defend the coast from the British during the Revolutionary War.  Captain Oakes, like many eccentric millionaries, had an unusual stipulation in his donation and thousands of children have benefited from his foresight and generosity.  But the current town council and a real estate conglomerate have a deal that would transfer school from its current the grounds and relocate the school inland. Instead, on the current grounds would be a large amusement center, a profit center that would bring in tourism to the sleepy New England town.

While Ben hadn't cared about the chnge, his new awareness of the sale and Captain Oakes has changed all that.  Ben and his friend Jill have taken it upon themselves to stop the sale, if they can.  The mysterious gold coin and Ben's love for sailing have led them to find nautical clues hidden in the school grounds.  Clues to the help that Captain Oakes set aside for just such future threats to the school.

Ben and Jill are quick and funny on their own but the warmth of their friendship and their sleuthing skills make this an unusually fun adventure.  The only drawback to We the Children is that the book ends with much of the mystery unresolved -- and we must rely on the next book to find out how the adventure progresses.

Ages 9 to 12.
ISBN-10: 1416939075 - Hardcover $14.99
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (April 19, 2011), 176 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author:
Andrew Clements is the author of more than 60 books for children, including the enormously popular Frindle and the New York Times bestsellers No Talking and Lunch Money.  He lives with his wife in central Massachusetts and has four grown children.  To learn more about Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School series, head to www.keepersoftheschool.com

Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself by Julie Klam

Julie Klam is coming out with a follow up to You Had Me at Woof. I'd enjoy her mix of stories about living in NYC, loving dogs, fostering dogs, and falling in love (Read my review here). Her latest book, Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Your Life continues  where she'd left off. 

Love at First Bark: Dogs and the People They Saved


The blurb:
With with and warmth, Julie Klam chronicles her adventures in finding a home for the world's sweetest pit bull, fostering a photogenic special-needs terrier, and diving under a train to save an injured stray in New Orleans.  Along the way, she finds that helping dogs in their fight to survive puts our own problems in perspective, and shows that caring for others, be they canine or human, can sometimes be the best way to care for ourselves.  A hilarious and moving testament to the powerful bond between people and dogs, this is a book for anyone whose life has been changed -- for the better -- by an animal.

Review:
Love at First Bark picks up soon after You Had Me at Woof.  Julie and her husband with their daughter Violet and their dogs Beatrice, Wisteria, and Fiorello in a small one bedroom apartment in Manhattan's Washington Heights area.   Money's tight and their landlord raised their rent.  Julie looks for a new neighborhood and home and carries on with her vocation of rescuing dogs.

As she tells it, the dogs come to her almost by chance.  She walks around aware of abandoned dogs and with an open heart. So a family outing mutates into a rescue that takes her out of state.  And the couple's much needed vacation becomes a volunteer mission in New Orleans.  Klam is always funny and sympathetic.  Just as You Had Me At Woof, Love At First Bark has left me longing for a dog of my own.

ISBN-10: 1594488282 - Hardcover $21.95
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (October 18, 2011), 192 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author:
Julie Klam grew up in Bedford, New York. After attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and interning at Late Night With David Letterman, she went on to write for such publication as O: The Oprah Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and The New York Times Magazine and for the VH1 television show Pop-Up Video, where she earned an Emmy nomination.  She lives with her husband, daughter, and several dogs in Manhattan.