Melonhead

Katy Kelly

Book 1 of Melonhead

Language: English

Published: Mar 10, 2009

Description:

From School Library Journal

Grade 2–5—Adam Melon, Melonhead to his friends, brings his own brand of logic to his endeavors. The 10-year-old concocts grand plans that never quite come off as intended. His climb up a tree requires the Jaws of Life to free him, a first for the Washington, DC, fire department. His essay on head lice wins him the Homework of the Week award and his mother's consternation. When Adam and his friend Sam catch a snake, Sam's baby sister carts it around at night and drops it in her parents' bed. Adam struggles with the right idea for his science project; his experiments with plaster of Paris (never pour it down a drain), diapers, and mosquitoes produce typical Melonhead disasters. The final invention will entertain and educate readers. This is the first book in the series, a spin-off of the author's "Lucy Rose" books (Random). It is laugh-out-loud funny, rivaling Stink and Fudge in its troublemaker quotient. Adam never quite understands consequences until it is too late, but young readers will see potential trouble ahead while appreciating his ingenuity. The capital setting and a unique cast of secondary characters round out this strong chapter-book offering.—Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT
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From Booklist

Adam Melon (Melonhead) from Kelly’s Lucy Rose books begins his spin-off series, and if Lucy Rose is an older Junie B. Jones, then Adam is a nine-year-old Stink, from the eponymous series by Megan McDonald. Adam is at that growing-up stage where possible consequences take a backseat to enthusiasm, resulting in a lot of learning, a lot of parental bafflement, and a lot of laughs. Other than getting his leg stuck in a tree, cutting open a saturated diaper, and scouring the kitchen for lost reptiles, Melonhead enters the school reinvention fair and trades creative rhyming phrases with his best friend, such as Don’t be silly, Willie and You’re smart, Fart. The everyday adventures, set in Washington, D.C., and relative lack of conflict are precisely what provide the appeal here, and readers will enjoy meeting an average kid. Grades 3-5. --Andrew Medlar