Ivy + Bean: No News Is Good News

And even better news is that Annie Barrows's eighth book in her series is as fresh as her first. Ivy and Bean are back and this time the two best friends are obsessed with cheese. Well, not cheese exactly, more with the red wax that covers "lowfat Belldeloon cheese in a special just-for-you serving size". The peeled off wax can be squished and molded into any number of shapes, such as a unicorn horn, a soccer ball, or a fake mustache. Every student in the lunchroom brings the cheese tidbits to school. Everyone, that is, except Ivy and Bean.

Barrows clearly hasn't lost her feel for what it's like to be a child. She understands the yearning the girls have to get their hands on that wax. When their parents refuse to buy them the treats, the girls decide to earn money and buy their own. Bean's father mentions that when he was a boy he wrote a newspaper and sold subscriptions. Ivy and Bean are off and running.

The newspaper they produce, The Flipping Pancake, has more in common with the National Enquirer than the New York Times. The two friends spy on their neighbors in order to get the real scoop on what's happening on Pancake Court. They even print a nudie photo of a neighbor (as a baby). Of course, eventually the neighbors receive their copies of the scandal sheet. As revenge comes a-knockin', Ivy and Bean put their heads together and come up with a solution that allows them to escape harm. Hint: It involves cheese rind.

No News Is Good News is another hilarious triumph for Barrows. Young readers will keep flipping the pages to find out what new plan the girls come up with next. Sophie Blackall's delightful illustrations add to the fun.

Ivy + Bean: No News Is Good News
by Annie Barrows
illustrations by Sophie Blackall
Chronicle Books, 128 pages
Published: November 2011

Ivy + Bean: What's the Big Idea?

In the seventh book in the series, second-graders Ivy and Bean take on a pretty big challenge: saving the world from global warming. After Ms. Aruba-Tate's class hears a report by fifth graders on the subject, they take the problem to heart. Their wise teacher channels their concerns into a project for the science fair. Their mission? To cool down the Earth. Bean and Ivy team up, but each new idea they come up with gets squashed. Their decision to toss ice cubes into the sky is ridiculed by Bean's older sister and her snobby friend. They bind their wrists so that animals will have a better chance of survival only to find themselves at the mercy of a small child who forces them to play Bad Orphanage. They attempt to pound energy out of rice and are again mocked for their efforts. Then, while watching an ant colony, the girls finally get their big idea.

On the night of the science fair, Ivy and Bean show their parents the other projects, the funniest of which is classmate Vanessa's. She has her siblings hold their breath 1 minute 15 times a day in an effort to cut down on carbon dioxide. Then it's time for Ivy and Bean's project. With the help of Ms. Aruba-Tate, the girls shepherd all the parents outside and have them stretch out on blankets under the starry night sky. The parents grumble at first but gradually unwind as they experience nature. Not clear what this has to do with global warming? Let Bean and Ivy explain. "We wanted you all to feel happy in nature." (Ivy) "So you would care about global warming." (Bean)

Oh, I see. Well, truthfully, I don't. But that one of the strengths of this series. Author Annie Barrows has an unerring instinct for getting inside a second-grader's mind. From Ivy and Bean's perspective, anything is possible. So go outside and throw some ice cubes into the sky. It can't hurt, and, who knows, it just may do some good!

Ivy + Bean: What's the Big Idea?
by Annie Barrows
illustrations by Sophie Blackall
Chronicle, 128 pp.
Published: November 2010

Ivy + Bean = A Fun Read

Growing up were you ever pressured to be friends with the kid next door? I was. Ester L. and I were the same age so it was assumed by our well-meaning families that we should and would be friends. And while I did play with her, it was only when there was no one better around. (I'm pretty sure she felt the same about me.) Luckily for Ivy and Bean, two next-door neighbors in an early chapter book by the same name, their friendship--after a rocky beginning--has a happier ending. Written by Annie Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, Ivy + Bean features two spunky seven-year-old girls, each one pressured by her mother to become friends.

Bean, a sassy, puddle-stomping spitfire, takes an instant dislike to Ivy when she moves into the house across the street. Ivy seems boring and nice, not friend material at all. The pair unite when they take on Bean's eleven-year-old sister Nancy. Ivy, although quiet and seemingly demur, has hidden qualities--she can belch on demand and she's a witch, or at least a witch in training. The two girls join forces to create a spell that will have Nancy dancing nonstop. By the end of the day the pair have pulled off the spell with hilarious results and in the process have become fast friends. Since that first book, six more in the series have been published.

The latest just came out and is titled Ivy + Bean: What's the Big Idea? This time out the girls team up as scientists for the school's science fair. They have a modest project. End global warming. Should be a blast!