Dan Gutman may be weird, but he is also beloved by kids, parents, and teachers across the country. His books include the My Weird School series (more than 23 million copies sold), the Baseball Card Adventures (more than 2 million copies sold) and the New York Times bestselling The Genius Files. We also publish his spoofy picture book, Casey Back At Bat, and one of Dan's favorites, Johnny Hangtime. Dan lives in New York (a very weird place), with his weird wife, Nina.
Gr 3-6-Gina, 11, dreams of making her first million this summer and becoming the next Bill Gates, and she recruits two of her classmates, as well as the annoying neighborhood twins, to help her. They call themselves the Get Rich Quick Club. With Gina as the CEO, they devise their company charter and bylaws and decide to fake a UFO sighting and sell their bogus photos to the tabloids for profit. The antics that follow are sure to tickle readers' funny bones. When it seems that the kids will succeed with their plan, the rug is pulled out from under them and their dreams are quickly dashed. However, a fun twist at the end pokes fun at tabloid papers and alleged alien encounters. Gutman's fans will not be disappointed by this fast-paced, comedic tale, and it's ideal for reluctant readers.-Linda Zeilstra Sawyer, Skokie Public Library, IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Gutman's (Honus & Me; the Baseball Card Adventures) light, sprightly-paced story introduces a quintet of kids who start a club with the intention of making lots of money fast. Eleven-year-old narrator Gina ("CEO") believes that money makes the world go around ("My goal is to make my first million by the time I'm a teenager"). She masterminds the club's plan along with Rob, who Gina explains "sees the world differently from other people" and is "probably a genius," Quincy, an Australian girl whose colloquialisms are translated (rather annoyingly) with footnotes at the bottom of the pages; and a pair of eight-year-old twins with a penchant for stretching the truth very far. After the kids decide against several suggested money-making schemes marketing microwavable ketchup-filled pillows; writing a rap song ("Rappers make millions of dollars," says one twin) Rob proposes photographing a phony UFO and selling the picture to the media. The tale grows taller as the twins embellish their UFO story for TV crews and the "sighting" makes national headlines, bringing masses of "UFO nuts" to town. Readers will hardly be surprised when the hoax is revealed, yet Gutman adds an unexpected final twist to this kid-pleasingly over-the-top tale. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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