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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Jefferson Public Library | J KLISE, K. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain has sprung a leak, so principal Walter Russ dashes off a request to Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc. asking
"...We need a new drinking fountain. Please send catalog. "
Florence Waters responds:
"I'd be delighted. . . But please understand that all of my fountains are custom-made."
And so begins the hilarious chronicle, in letters, cards, transcripts, and official town documents, as collected by Mr. Sam N.'s fifth-grade class...
Flo Waters, an artist who looks everywhere for inspiration, solicits suggestions from the fifth graders-- ...a fountain big enough to splash around in; ...a glass-sided fountain with fish; . . . buttons for dispensing lemonade and root beer; and from Mr. Sam N.-- ...a hot tub and whirlpool for the teachers.
Flo is thrilled. Mr. Russ is beside himself-- . . ."We don't need a fountain like you create for palaces and hotels. Send bid as soon as possible, or sooner. "
But it's too late. The fountain project has taken on a life of its own. Flo is supplying designs from all over the world. The school board president is up in arms. So is her friend, Dee Eel, of the water-supply company. A scandal is brewing, and the fifth-grade class is researching Dry Creek's history. Something very fishy is going on...and the secrets are buried beneath the fountain and within this delightful, thoroughly original novel.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6ÄA mystery with an unconventional, yet fun and effective approach. Through a series of graphically designed letters, newspaper articles, telephone and interview transcripts, postcards, faxes, memos, school assignments, and other types of communicative devices, a mystery is solved in a suspenseful, amusing conclusion. Dry Creek Middle School is in need of a new drinking fountain. The principal sends a letter of inquiry to the owner of Flowing Waters Fountains for an estimate on the installation of a new one. To his frustration and the enjoyment of the students, Florence Waters is no ordinary fountain contractor, but an artistic designer, ready to create a unique piece of sculpture that will also pump water. As the correspondence continues among the characters, various clues are left in the communications. In addition, a subplot involves a fifth-grade class's research for a town history project that ultimately reveals the villains and main deception in the plot. In addition to the planted clues, there are lots of puns and quirky sayings throughout. All works out in the end as the author cleverly establishes character traits and motive. Even if readers guess what's going on halfway through, it is still fun to continue reading the diverse pages, all in different fonts with eclectic drawings just to see how the mystery will be revealed and solved. Fresh, funny, and a delight to read.ÄRita Soltan, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
What Dry Creek Middle School needs is a plain, functional drinking fountain to replace its leaking old one. What it gets is Florence Waters, impresario fountain designer who has in mind something with exotic birds, an ice skating rink, geysers and chocolate milk dispensers. This rollicking story, told entirely through letters, memos, newspaper articles and transcripts, escalates into a hullabaloo involving a fifth-grade class, an evil school board member, a sinister water company executive and an increasingly bewildered principal who fruitlessly attempts to scale back Florence Waters's grandiose plans ("Do you all have scuba gear? What about ice skates?... Also, I'm sending a parcel containing cyperus papyrus. This is the famous Egyptian paper plant," Waters jots in one postcard). The artist's somewhat primitive illustrations add to the scrapbook effect of this novel, but in the final illustration not enough is made of the eccentric new fountain to satisfy the anticipation brewing for the previous 100-plus pages. Still, it's a good-natured story with an irrepressible main character who won't take no for an answer. Ages 8-12. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
This novel documents with letters, memos, telegrams, newspaper clippings, etc., a school's efforts to replace its old water fountain. The vendor (Flo Waters) pits the principal (Wally Russ) against his secretary (Goldie Fisch) and sends a teacher (Mr. Sam N.) and his class out to solve a mystery surrounding the drying up of Spring Creek. The hilarious shenanigans are unremitting, and the puns flow faster than the leaks in the old fountain. From HORN BOOK Fall 1998, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
It starts off innocently enough, with principal Walter Russ asking artist Florence Waters to sell him a drinking fountain for the Dry Creek Middle School. But art and bureaucracy are about as different as, well, flood and drought, and this book pits such opposites with hilarious results. Town villains Dee Eel (president of Dry Creek Water Company) and Sally Mander (chief executive of the Dry Creek Swimming Pool) absconded with the town's water supply, turning what used to be Spring Creek into Dry Creek. This all gets uncovered by ""Sam N.'s fifth-grade class,"" who is doing a project on the history of the town. What makes this tale an unequivocal delight is that it's told through letter, memos, newspaper clippings, school announcements, and inventive black-and-white drawings; even less-skilled readers will be drawn in by the element of perusing ""other people's mail"" to find out why Spring Creek went dry, and to decode the water-related names of the characters. Florence and her intriguing attitude and art win over the class, Sam, and even the stuffy principal--how she does it is part of a tale overflowing with imagination and fun. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-6. The school in Dry Creek needs a new drinking fountain, but a simple request for a catalog turns the town upside down when the Auntie Mame of fountain designers, Florence Waters, begins corresponding with the fifth-grade class. The humor is right on target, and the entire story is told through letters, memos, newspaper articles, and other narrative devices. There are also a number of faxes exchanged between the nefarious Sally Mander and Dee Eel, who mysteriously want to prevent the old, leaky fountain from being removed. It's a trifle gimmicky, but Kate Klise and her sister, M. Sarah Klise, who contributed the artwork, carry it off extraordinarily well, and the lively presentation, with copious drawings, sketches, postcards, and handwritten notes, will keep even reluctant readers turning the pages to reach the satisfying conclusion. --Susan Dove Lempke