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Ivy + Bean Make The Rules (2013)

by Annie Barrows(Favorite Author)

4.27 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0606322965 (ISBN13: 9780606322966)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Turtleback Books

series

Ivy & Bean

review 1: If Goodreads allowed for 1/2 stars, this one would have gotten 3 1/2 stars. This book ties with Book 3 (Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record) as my favorite of the series so far. (We have only Books 6 and 7 left to read.) Bean isn't old enough to attend the week-long girls camp that Nancy is going to, so she and Ivy decide to make their own camp. The two girls show initiative, creativity, and leadership! I like that this book introduces readers to a real-life historical figure, Boudicca, the queen of a British tribe who died around 60 AD. (Similar to how Book 3 introduced readers to Mary Anning.) I also really liked the more sympathetic portrayal of Nancy in this book, and how the girls mostly got along, especially in the end. Like Book 3, this book had the potential for 4 s... moretars, but it just didn't quite get there, for me. There's no mean-spirited behavior, but Bean does steal some string from Nancy's room, and a bunch of kids dangerously swing sticks at each other, unsupervised. At least, in the end, the kids re-direct the sticks towards garbage, and some nearby mothers point out the safety issue. Also, I didn't like that in the end, Nancy's camp turned out to be lame. It almost supports Bean's self-justifying thinking, "That camp is stupid, I don't want to go anyway." Instead, I would have liked to see Nancy have fun at her camp, Bean have fun at her camp, and in the end, both girls realizing that everyone had a good week of age-appropriate fun. Finally, I'll mention that at one point, the kids play zombies, which is okay with me, but I can imagine there might be some parents out there who might not like that.
review 2: When Bean's older sister Nancy heads off to a female empowerment day camp, Bean wishes she could do the same. Her best friend Ivy convinces her that they don't need to wait until they're old enough for the camp; instead, they will be in charge of their own camp at the park. While things start off very slowly, by the time the book finishes, the two have attracted many other children and have hunted Komodo dragons, led a tap dancing troupe, bandaged themselves and wandered about the park as zombies, and chased trash as Briton soldiers. It's all wonderfully silly and plenty of good fun. The creativity of the two friends shines through the activities they design and their disinterest in formalizing the camp with brochures and t-shirts as Nancy suggests. The ink illustrations made me smile several times since they portray two girls having the time of their lives across the book's pages. less

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