This is a fairly nostalgic look at the author's childhood, well-written and funny... kinda like The Great Brain series, but set in a later decade.

The chapters are self-contained stories, which makes it possible to skip over any you find problematic. There's one chapter where the kids make acorn pipes and smoke cornsilk - they get incredibly sick, and it's highly unlikely that any child will decide to emulate them.

There's another one where the children get it into their head that they MUST see the double feature movie, and since they don't have the money they decide to trade in their foil for cash. Lacking enough foil, they decide to cheat the man who owns it, because one of them was told that it's okay to cheat Jews. It's pretty clear from the discussion (how this man is nice and always jokes with them) and from the aftermath (they get paid full price, but there are no smiles and the stone they wrapped the foil over is given back to them, so they know they got caught and aren't being punished, a shameful thing) that they feel guilty and that, in fact, it's not okay to go around cheating anybody... but it's not stated outright and either way, understandably, many parents and especially teachers aren't going to want to bring this issue up at all. I strongly suggest that you read this book before you buy it. ( )

These fall under the "reading whatever is lying around" category. My little sister was into them, and I was way too advanced for them, so I do not have good opinions of them. I might have liked them at a younger age. ( )

SLJ starred review!

Lexile: 740
Reading Recovery: 24
DRA: 40
Fountas Pinnel Guided Reading: R