It is very appropriate in this Drop Everything and Read Day set in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday, that I review a book whose characters would have been good friends with Ramona, the star of many of Beverly’s books. Beverly set a new pattern of writing with realistic children as her protagonists that many writers have adopted including Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall, the author and illustrator of the Ivy and Bean book series. As a former second grade teacher, I can visual Ivy and Bean in my classroom with Ramona sitting between them.
In the twelfth and last book of the series about the two friends, Ivy and Bean Get to Work, Annie Barrows once again begins with a humorous look into life in second grade at Emerson Elementary School. Bean gets distracted from her math problem of how long it will take Carlos to save for a $14.50 bicycle seat when he gets $3 a week for walking his grandmother’s dog. She wonders why grandmother didn’t walk her own dog and then wonders what happened to Carlos’s old seat and thinks you should get more than a bicycle seat for $14.50. Fortunately, math is soon replaced by a Career Fair Day with people who have different kinds of jobs coming for the children to observe and interview.
Bean already knows she wants to be an arborist since they get to climb trees while Ivy wants to be a witch. Unfortunately, neither of these are represented at the fair. However, there is Herman, the Treasure Hunter, who entrances everybody in second grade. Soon everybody hunts for hidden treasure with some success, except for Ivy and Bean who hurry to get their shovels and improvise.
The book is delightful for anyone who knows second graders and how their minds work. It is delightful for independent readers of that age who will enjoy the humor and puzzle of finding treasure that will stand up to the scrutiny of classmates. An enhancement to this story or even a story in itself comes with Sophie Blackall’s illustrations. Barrows and Blackall have made an amusing pair for this series. I shall miss Ivy and Bean.
P. S. If you are an adult book reader and the name Annie Barrows sounds familiar – yes, she is also the co-author with her aunt Mary Ann Shaffer of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.