Ever since Ed was given a strange coin, bizarre things have been happening. In these outings, pigs appear in his kitchen, weather changes drastically, and a blue dinosaur follows him home. Ed and the neighborhood kids must embrace the strangeness to get out of each mess. The kooky, lightweight chapter books for freshly independent readers include fittingly offbeat illustrations.

It's all about the chocolate in this episode, but Ed's struggles with the literal-minded magic coin he found in the series opener (Stranger Things, 2013) continue. Ed unwisely chooses a carton of chocolate bars to sell for a school fundraiser and then compounds the error by urging a helpful friend to carry them out of the hot sun "as fast as possible!" Ed arrives home to discover that traveling at just under the speed of light has melted the bars into unsalable mush. As if that's not pickle enough, thanks to the magic coin in his pocket, references to certain well-known proverbs leave money talking and the temperature zooming up and down after Ed's little brother Derwin does something about the weather by making a cardboard thermostat (instead of just complaining about it). Even mentioning "pigtails" and a "ponytail" to his sisters has livestock leaving messes under the kitchen table--and "bangs" nearly results in a catastrophe. Easy of language and liberally endowed with jokes, twists and comical line drawings, the tale scrambles its way energetically to a chocolaty resolution based on an old saw about lemons and lemonade. A goofy romp through suddenly fungible reality, not as self-consciously clever as the previous episode and all the better for it. (Fantasy. 7-10)

LUBAR, David . Meltdown Madness . illus. by Matt Loveridge. 96p. (Looniverse Series). ISBN 978-0-545-49603-2 ; ISBN 978-0-545-49604-9 ; ISBN 978-0-545-49686-5 . LC 2012035575. MAY, Kyla . Coco: My Delicious Life . illus. by author. 96p. (Lotus Lane Series). ISBN 978-0-545-49615-5 ; ISBN 978-0-545-44514-6 ; ISBN 978-0-545-49681-0 . NEES, Susan . Class Pets . illus. by author. 80p. (Missy's Super Duper Royal Deluxe Series). ISBN 978-0-545-49610-0 ; ISBN 978-0-545-43852-0 ; ISBN 978-0-545-54010-0 . LC 2012035575. ea vol: Scholastic/Branches. Bk. 2. 2013. RTE $15.99; pap. $4.99; ebook $4.99. Gr 1-3 Of these books, Boris and Class Pets competently fill the gap between easy readers and early chapter books, while Meltdown Madness and Coco are a bit more challenging. Boris really wants a komodo dragon. He writes to the zoo to see if their komodo dragons ever take vacations. Turns out, they don't, and Boris's plans are ruined. He puts his skink in the komodo cage and tries to pass it off as a baby dragon. After it escapes, Boris reopens his letter from the zoo, finds tickets for free admission, and his whole family has an outing. Missy wants to take home the class pets for the weekend but her plans are derailed when a new girl is determined to have what she wants. In the end, Missy bests the bully. Boris's and Missy's stories are told through traditional text, many speech bubbles, and comic-book panels. Both books incorporate full-color artwork throughout. Meltodown Madness looks the most like a traditional early chapter book, with many black-and-white sketches accompanying the text. The young narrator has a magic coin that translates his words into reality (sayings like "money doesn't grow on trees" spawn a dollar bill under the tree). The boy's powers often cause more trouble than good, but in the end he is able to reason his way into a solution. Coco is in the form of a diary and includes black-and-white lists and doodles. The little girl uses her love of baking cupcakes to help save snails from becoming extinct. Words like "extinct" and "fund-raiser" are defined in doodled bubbles. All four books should be popular. Amy Commers, South St. Paul Public Library, MN