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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Salem Main Library | J Spalding, E. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"Witty, full of heart and genuinely fun to read...a wacky, lighthearted romp." -- The New York Times Book Review
Welcome to the further adventures of the plucky Fitzgerald-Trout siblings, who live on a tropical island where the grown-ups are useless, but the kids can drive.
In this second installment, the delightfully self-reliant siblings continue their search for a home. This time, their pursuit will bring them face-to-face with a flood, illegal carnivorous plants, and the chance to win an extraordinary prize at a carnival. Will they finally find a place to call home?
Author Notes
Esta Spalding has lived in Hawaii, Toronto and Vancouver. Her collections of poetry include Carrying Place, Anchoress and Lost August. She is the co-author (with her mother, Linda Spalding) of a novel, Mere. Her latest collection of poems is The WifeÂs Account, which bears detailed witness to one year in the life of a marriage.
Her first book, Carrying Place, was nominated for the Gerald R. Lampert Award and her second, Anchoress, was a finalist for the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Best Specialty Book of the Year. Her third book, Lost August won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She is the editor of The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-In this sequel to Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts, Kim, Kimo, Pippa, Toby, and new baby sister Penny, along with their patient goldfish, are kicked out of the house when Kimo's wayward father, Johnny Trout, returns from years at sea and reclaims the home for himself and his unpleasant pet pig. Once again, "find a house" tops Kim's daily list. In the search for a home, the children gain, lose, and then regain a boat that Johnny and a mysterious friend are using for nefarious purposes. The siblings help their laundromat owner friend, Mr. Knuckles, find love, and they discover the reason their beloved island suffers from "knockabouts" (earthquakes). Much like the Boxcar Children or the Baudelaire orphans, the Fitzgerald-Trouts carry on, regardless of the horrible, indifferent, or horribly indifferent adults they encounter. Spunk, spirit, and ingenuity only begin to describe these fascinating children. Upper elementary and lower middle school readers will connect with determined Kim, strong Kimo, and stubborn Pippa. Toby has just started to come into his own, and who can resist sweet baby Penny? VERDICT -Libraries that purchased the first in the series should add on to the collection, and those new to the series should catch on to these engaging youngsters and purchase both titles.-Sarah Knutson, American Canyon Middle School, CA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
When last we checked in with the Fitzgerald-Trouts (Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts, rev. 7/16), a family of five kids--two older, two younger, and a baby--who live on a tropical island and manage perfectly well without their terrible parents, they had solved their biggest problem and found a house of their own. But now they are back living in their car, and things are a little tense between the siblings. There is no letup to the action that punctuates their revived quest for accommodation, this time focusing on a boat. The story begins with an earthquake (which they call a knockabout), an ax-wielding alien (she might be a scientist or perhaps a goddess), and a flood and ends with a volcanic eruption. The animated-cartoon quality of the narrative goes hand in hand with the depiction of a child-run family with shared jokes, snacks instead of meals, nonstop play, conflict resolution via smart retorts, and the satisfaction of working together to outwit the adult villains, chief of whom is not only a thief, a cheat, and a bad father but also a climate change denier. Its goofy, sweet, and buoyant with good will--Pippi Longstocking for our more hyperactive times. sarah ellis (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Natural disasters, aggressive wildlife, parental abandonment, responsibility for a baby, and looming poverty make life on a tropical island less enjoyable than one might imagine. The siblings met in Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts (2016) are back, and this time they're in search of a home, as they have outgrown the car they sleep in. Ranging in age from infant to 11, Penny, Toby, Pippa, Kimo, and Kim have "varying degrees of brown hair and brown skin" and are related via five different mothers and fathers, none of whom is reliable and all of whom have left the resourceful children soured on adults. An encounter with a mysterious stranger in a dark forest eventually leads to the discovery that one of the fathers is even more dastardly than they had realized, and it is up to the children to save the dayand their island homefrom ecological destruction. The unnamed tropical island they inhabit seems modeled on Hawaii in its flora, geographical features, residents' fondness for ham, and local speech (a pseudo-pidgin described dismissively), but it is a bland and characterless rendition of the original. With the exception of Smith's delightful pen-and-ink illustrations, the book does not quite pull off its attempt at a wry and whimsical tone: the children's lives seem more like drudgery than adventure, their personalities are two-dimensional, and the world they live in is neither fantastical enough to inspire delightful escape nor realistic enough to evoke deep immersion in the story. A miss. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Siblings Kim, Kimo, Toby, Pippa, and baby Penny are once again looking for a home after Kimo's father, Johnny Trout, returns and heartlessly takes back the cabin where they had been living. Meanwhile, a series of strange phenomena are shaking up the island: animals are acting strangely; knockabouts, or tremors, are occurring more frequently; and a major flood almost takes the car the children live in. In this follow-up to Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts (2016), the hopeful, optimistic siblings simultaneously search for a place to call home and try to help their friend Mr. Knuckles find love, and in the midst of both missions, they discover that Johnny Trout, along with mysterious Professor Mumby, may have something to do with the occurrences on the island. Spalding offers enough background that it will be easy for kids to start with this volume, even if they haven't read the first installment. With quick chapters, a compelling mystery, clever kid characters, and humorous antics galore, this lighthearted, cheer-worthy adventure should find an easy audience among middle-grade readers.--Paz, Selenia Copyright 2017 Booklist