Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Ivy and Bean break the fossil record
Illustrator: Sophie Blackall
Fiction Series
For ages 6 to 9
Chronicle Books, 2007 ISBN: 0811856836
It is Drop Everything and Read time, which means that all the children in Bean’s class are supposed to be reading, and they are not allowed to talk. For Bean this is turning out to be terrible trial because she is bored. The book she is trying to read is boring. She is so bored in fact, that she dares to talk to her best friend Ivy, even though she knows that she is not supposed to be talking to anyone. Thankfully, Bean’s teacher, Ms. Aruba-Tate, comes to the rescue. She gives Bean a book that she brought from home just for Bean. The book is called The Amazing Book of World Records, and in no time at all Bean is hooked.
Bean decides that very day that she wants to set a world record of her own. She wants to be mentioned in a book, and she wants to be famous. That very afternoon, at home, Bean tries to get two hundred and fifty-seven plastic straws in her mouth. She barely manages forty-four, and she sadly gives up on that particular record. Bean next tries to break the record for washing up dishes, but the only thing she breaks is a plate. Then she tries to be the youngest person to break glass with her voice. Unfortunately, the only thing that happens when she shrieks is that she almost gives her father a heart attack. Isn’t there something that Bean and Ivy can do to make them world record worthy?
This delightful third title in the Ivy and Bean series is sure to appeal to young readers who wish that they could do something noteworthy, something that might even get their name mentioned in the newspaper. With humor and an obvious appreciation for what it is like to have great dreams, Annie Barrows tells a tale that young readers will find hard to resist.
