ALA Booklist (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Third-graders Beatrice Zinker and Lenny Santos have a great idea for Operation Upside: they'll give their classmate Wes an award for his unfailingly happy, helpful spirit (he holds the school door open each morning and always has an art-related surprise to give someone "just because"). But, as usual, Beatrice jumps the gun and messes up the plan. This time she gives their teacher an award for "Most Strict." Why did Beatrice ever think Mrs. Tamarack would consider such a certificate an honor? Now, how to backtrack? Johannes' second illustrated chapter book in the Beatrice Zinker series is as much fun as the first. It takes the duo in unforeseen directions, and, through the school week, they make a new friend, right two wrongs, and learn some valuable lessons. Readers can't help but love Beatrice, the Upside Down Thinker, whether she's hanging by her legs in a tree or trying hard to keep her feet on the floor and her creative impulses under control. The two-toned, caricature-like illustrations are delightful and make the book inviting to emergent readers.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Beatrice and her best friend, Lenny, launch Operation Upside, distributing classroom recognition awards for being kind, warm, or (in the case of their third-grade teacher) the most strict. When one award falls into the wrong hands, Beatrice's efforts to recover the certificate lead to an unexpected friendship development. Lively, exaggerated eggshell-blue drawings enliven every spread of this humorous school story.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Beatrice Zinker returns.The second installment of this promising series for newly independent readers doesn't exactly stand alone. Readers new to the series must sort out the diverse cast of stock characters—quiet and kind Wes, the somewhat bossy Chloe, mysterious new girl Sam Darzi—while Beatrice continues her struggle to find her place in the school hierarchy. Once they do, they'll find it's the second week of third grade, and Operation Upside, begun in Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker (2017), is fully underway. But as with all too many endeavors undertaken by Beatrice and her best friend, Eleanor "Lenny" Santos, things are not going according to plan. Staying incognito, much less focused, is not easy for the impetuous and fidgety protagonist. An unexpected disguise for a spy who prefers hiding in trees and hanging upside down—dressing in pink—doesn't help her escape notice. Mrs. Tamarack (a teacher reminiscent of Viola P. Swamp) strictly enforces a long list of rules and seems to have it in for Beatrice. Predictably, everything turns out fine, and as in the first book, Beatrice adds another friend to her social circle. Twenty-five short chapters and line drawings on almost every spread (depicting Beatrice with pale skin and her classmates as racially diverse) ensure success for readers not yet used to tackling longer texts.Beatrice Zinker is a positive model for conflict resolution, third-grade style. (Fiction. 7-10)