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| Perma-Bound Edition ©2009 | -- |
Kelly, author of <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me and its sequels, launches an appealing, boy-centric series starring Lucy Rose's friend, Adam Melon (dubbed Melonhead). The hyperkinetic nine-year-old's knack for finding trouble surfaces immediately, when his foot gets stuck in a tree and he must be rescued by firefighters (“My mom said my shoe is ruined. I told her, 'Not to me.' I nailed it to the wall over my bed so I will always have the memory”). Though Melonhead's subsequent conundrums are (slightly) less dramatic, they are no less engaging or energetic. Adam's goofy sense of humor and his comic interactions with his parents, teachers and best friend Sam (the two are amateur inventors) are just right for the target audience. “I love the feeling of having a pet in the house,” he says of the snake he's hiding from his parents. “Two pets, actually, even though as soon as Cobra has his next lunch, I'll be back to one.” The book has an excellent shot at winning over reluctant readers. Final art not seen by <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW. Ages 9–12. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)
ALA Booklist (Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)Adam Melon (Melonhead) from Kelly's Lucy Rose books begins his spin-off series, and if Lucy Rose is an older Junie B. Jones, then Adam is a nine-year-old Stink, from the eponymous series by Megan McDonald. Adam is at that growing-up stage where possible consequences take a backseat to enthusiasm, resulting in a lot of learning, a lot of parental bafflement, and a lot of laughs. Other than getting his leg stuck in a tree, cutting open a saturated diaper, and scouring the kitchen for lost reptiles, Melonhead enters the school reinvention fair and trades creative rhyming phrases with his best friend, such as Don't be silly, Willie and You're smart, Fart. The everyday adventures, set in Washington, D.C., and relative lack of conflict are precisely what provide the appeal here, and readers will enjoy meeting an average kid.
Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)In this Lucy Rose spinoff, energetic ten-year-old Adam Melon, a.k.a Melonhead, has a knack for trouble (e.g., he gets stuck in a tree, requiring a Jaws of Life extraction). Also a budding inventor, he helps with his class's "reinvention" contest, making something new from recycled materials. Adam's good-natured hijinks, shown in spirited black-and-white spot art, make for an entertaining read.
Kirkus ReviewsIn this spin-off from the Lucy Rose series, Lucy's friend Melonhead, an adventurous, clever nine-year-old, takes center stage. <p>In this spin-off from the Lucy Rose series, Lucy's friend Melonhead, an adventurous, clever nine-year-old, takes center stage. Trouble is, he isn't always forthcoming and is often heedless of the possible repercussions of his actions. He goes from being the school hero--for getting his foot stuck in a tree--to a bumbler and back again. While he and his buddy, Sam, create dud after dud for the school contest called "Reinvention," they perpetrate a series of minor calamities (like plaster all over the bathroom) and secretly harbor a snake and a mouse. Discovery is unavoidable, though a stern conversation seems scant punishment, and Melonhead and Sam are able to combine all their recent experience to produce a crafty invention. The breezily paced text flows with wit and loads of jocular dialogue. Melonhead learns a thing or two from his mistakes, but it may give adults pause when he sums his scientific discoveries up with, "Umpteen wrongs equals one right." (illustrations, not seen) <i>(Fiction. 8-12)</i></p>
School Library Journal (Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)Gr 2-5 Adam Melon, Melonhead to his friends, brings his own brand of logic to his endeavors. The 10-year-old concocts grand plans that never quite come off as intended. His climb up a tree requires the Jaws of Life to free him, a first for the Washington, DC, fire department. His essay on head lice wins him the Homework of the Week award and his mother's consternation. When Adam and his friend Sam catch a snake, Sam's baby sister carts it around at night and drops it in her parents' bed. Adam struggles with the right idea for his science project; his experiments with plaster of Paris (never pour it down a drain), diapers, and mosquitoes produce typical Melonhead disasters. The final invention will entertain and educate readers. This is the first book in the series, a spin-off of the author's "Lucy Rose" books (Random). It is laugh-out-loud funny, rivaling Stink and Fudge in its troublemaker quotient. Adam never quite understands consequences until it is too late, but young readers will see potential trouble ahead while appreciating his ingenuity. The capital setting and a unique cast of secondary characters round out this strong chapter-book offering. Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT
Starred Review for Publishers Weekly
ALA Booklist (Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal (Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)
Wilson's Children's Catalog
This one started when I was climbing up Madam and Pop's magnolia tree with a rope in my teeth. It was for hoisting my best friend, Sam. Our plan was to get high enough to leap onto the breezeway roof that connects Madam and Pop's house to their carriage house. That's the same as a garage. We were going to lie on our stomachs and terrorize people down below by calling out, "We're watching you," in wavy voices and then make creepy "heh-heh-heh" sounds like we are deranged. We've done it before and it's hilarious. People can't figure out where the voices are coming from. Sometimes they talk to the air and say, "You're not scaring me," but we are. Believe me. Once a lady blamed a man who was doing nothing but trying to get to the corner before the light turned red.
I could have taken the tree-free route to the roof by going in their front door, cutting through the morning room, then racing up the back staircase, into the bathroom, and out the window. I'm allowed because I am one of Madam and Pop's good friends. I met Madam last year when I was in her tree box collecting good-smelling weeds for my deodorant-making experiment that was supposed to make me rich. I could tell that she was a friendly lady because she came rushing outside waving at me with both arms. I told her, "Don't worry. You don't have to pay me for pulling up this scraggly junk."
It was a big shock to me when she said she planted it on purpose. "Our yard is going to be on the Capitol Hill House and Garden Tour next week," she said. Then she told me everything there is to know about the plant scraps that were in my hands.
"I am sorry," I said. "I never heard there was a plant called lavender. And who would ever guess since it's mostly green? Not me."
By the time we finished reburying roots we were friends and she said, "Drop by and see us sometime, Adam."
"It's a deal," I said.
I keep that deal three or four times a day. A lot of times I go to get a snack or to visit Lucy Rose, who is their granddaughter. She sleeps at their house when her mom is working late. Other times I go to help Pop. He's Madam's husband and he has tons of chores. That's how come I know how to patch window screens and caulk sinks and pick about 1,000 apricots in only one day. It was when we were apricot picking on the breezeway roof that Pop said, "Feel free to climb out our bathroom window and wander around out here on the roof anytime."
"Thanks," I said. "But I'd rather go by tree."
"Anyone would," Pop said.
He and I think alike.
But yesterday Sam said, "Let's take the bathroom window shortcut to save time."
"It won't take me seventeen seconds to shimmy up the tree," I said. "I need to practice the improved climbing method I invented after the old method overstretched my ribs and Dr. Stroud had to tape them back together."
"Explain this new method," Sam said.
"Step One: I stand on your shoulders," I said. "Step Two: I throw my arms around the fattest branch."
"Cheese, Louise," Sam said. "Your new sneakers are poking ditches into my collarbones."
"So sorry, Mata Hari!" I said.
One of our habits is making up rhymes that are like "See you later, alligator." Only ours are ten times better.
"I like the old method better," Sam said.
"I'm almost up," I said. "I'm hooking my legs around the branch."
Flipping right-side up is the hardest part. Sliding down the branch is the most stomach scraping. The rest is E-Z P-Z.
Excerpted from Melonhead by Katy Kelly
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Melonhead, the first book in author Katy Kelly's laugh-out-loud chapter book series, is now in paperback!
Adam Melon's friend Lucy Rose gave him a nickname—Melonhead—and it caught on fast. Melonhead is a self-proclaimed inventor. All his life, which is ten years and counting, great ideas have been popping in and out of his melon head. And sometimes they work! This year Melonhead's class is entering an inventing fair, so he and his friend Sam are dreaming up plans. And Capitol Hill has a ton of places to find invention parts. But they have to be sure they find what they need and get home on time with no excuses. That might be hard, because Melonhead and Sam have a way of forgetting. But their work will all pay off if they win first place—they'll be headed to even bigger and better things!