Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Regarding the Sink
Illustrator: M. Sarah Klise
Fiction Series
For ages 9 to 12
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2006 ISBN: 978-0152055448
A new school year has started, and it is soon clear to everyone in the town of Geyser Creek, Missouri, that this year is going to be a little different. Thanks to Senator Sue Ergass, the schools have lost a lot of funding for things like school trips, art teachers, librarians, and cooks. The students in Geyser Creek Elementary have to reconcile themselves to eating pre-prepared bean-centric meals and putting up with a clogged cafeteria sink. If the sixth grade wants to go on a class trip, they are going to have to raise the money themselves, which they proceed to do.
Not that long ago a fountain designer called Florence Waters designed a new water fountain for Geyser Creek Elementary that put all school fountains to shame. Now the sixth grade students and their teacher, Sam, would like her to design a new cafeteria sink for them. The students and their teacher write to Florence hoping that she will help them out. Florence has become a dear friend, and the children are hopeful that she will have some wonderful ideas.
While they wait for Florence to get back to them, the children wash cars, do yard work, and do all kinds of jobs for the people in their town in an effort to raise some money to pay for their class field trip.
Meanwhile, strange things are happening out in the big world. A company called AIR-igate is offering people all the over the world the opportunity to schedule their rain showers. AIR-igate will provide rain where and when you want it, which means no one needs to put up with rained out picnics, ballgames, and outdoor weddings. Not surprisingly, the value of AIR-igate’s stocks is going up by leaps and bounds. The value of the Rainy-Day Rainwear Company’s stocks is falling rather rapidly.
Senator Sue Ergass is working hard on her campaign to get more people to eat beans, thus earning the adoration of beans farmers. She is even talking about sending cans of beans to China so that the people there eat beans instead of consuming the rare and endangered Siakiang Blinking Blue Spotted Suckerfish. Her environmental activism is earning her a lot of respect and support, even though she is the one who cut funding to schools.
When they don’t hear anything from Florence, Sam’s sixth grade class starts to worry. Something is not right. Florence has never ignored them before. Could she be sick, or did she get into trouble whilst on one of her world travels? The children don’t know the answers to these questions, but they are determined to find out what has happened to their friend.
Told using letters, emails, newspaper articles and other written documents, this delightful story brings back the characters that we met in Regarding the Fountain, taking many of them on another escapade that is full of adventures, secrets, and surprises. Readers will find the pun-filled names and the colorful characters amusing, and will be eager to see how the Geyser Creek Elementary students once again try to save the day.
