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Dump Days. by Jerry Spinelli. 1988. Little, Brown and Company. 159 pages. ISBN: 9780316807067

Best friends JD and Duke spend their summer days digging in the dump for possible treasures, terrorizing rats and dodging bullies, interacting with various quirky neighbors, and wishing for enough money for a zeppoli, an Italian ice, or a comic book. One lazy afternoon, the boys map out a perfect day, filled with all the things they love. They’ll save every penny, look for ways to make extra cash, and by the end of the summer that perfect day will be theirs. With parents, bullies, siblings, and neighbors to contend with, however, their best laid plans go swiftly awry, making them question not just their plans but even their faith in each other.

Jerry Spinelli’s books are about very different subjects and use very different tones of voice, but they all have one thing in common: heart. Spinelli understands his characters and their relationships in such a fundamental way that these fictional kids seem very real, and they stick with the reader long after the story ends. In the case of JD and Duke, it is their friendship that comes so vividly to life. The two boys are different - one is Protestant, one is Catholic, one has a big family, one has a small one, one has more permissive parents, one’s parents have stricter rules - and yet what brings them together is a desire for simple things that are just out of a kid’s grasp - snacks, comics, and video games. Though the journey toward the perfect day is the focus of the plot, the real story is in the interactions between the two boys, and in how they relate to one another with regards to their goal.

Another strength of Spinelli’s writing is how he portrays setting. Not only could I imagine the dump and the neighborhood where JD and Duke spend their time, I could also picture and hear their neighbors and family members. In this book, as in Jake and Lily and Loser, Spinelli evokes a whole world of childhood that feels very real and believable. The boys’ issues with bullies and interactions with their own siblings are some of the most memorable portions of the book. I especially like the way Spinelli gives characters little quirks, like the toddler who likes to go outside without clothes and the bully who has to wear a special shoe because one leg is shorter than the other. These are the kinds of things notice about each other, and the tiny details that resonate with readers.

Dump Days is the rare book on the shelf at my library that looks old and outdated, but is checked out almost all the time, especially in the summer. Though it is out of print right now, I don’t see any reason why a contemporary reader couldn’t pick it up and enjoy it. Readers who loved Maniac Magee will want to read this one, too, because it is set in the same town, and the legend of Maniac Magee is mentioned in passing by JD as he narrates the story. Like most Spinelli stories, this is also a great one for dealing with bullying and discriminations, as both issues become important to the story.

I borrowed Dump Days from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Fourth Grade Rats. by Jerry Spinelli. 1991. Scholastic. 86 pages. ISBN: 9780590442442

Though Fourth Grade Rats has recently received a makeover in time for the publication of its prequel, Third Grade Angels, it’s actually an older title, which was first published in 1991. While Third Grade Angels focuses on Suds’s attempt to be the most angelic member of his class, Fourth Grade Rats is about his quest to follow his friend Joey’s lead and become a rat. According to Joey, rats say no to their mothers, carry their lunches in bags, not lunchboxes, and they never cry or get scared. Suds tries to live up to all these rules, but he’s so used to being good, it’s hard to change his ways.

The first thing I noticed about this book, sadly, was an error in continuity. In the prequel, which I read just a few days before reading Fourth Grade Rats, Suds meets Joey on the first day of school. In Fourth Grade Rats, though, the boys reminisce about something that happened to them two summers ago on the Fourth of July. For them to have this shared memory, they would have had to meet prior to the first day of third grade. I read a paperback edition of Fourth Grade Rats, with a 1991 copyright date, so I guess it’s possible that the story line has been edited in the 2012 version so that the two books match, but even so, this error is going to be obvious to kids who are reading aged library copies of Fourth Grade Rats alongside their brand-new copies of Third Grade Angels.

Another thing I noticed quickly is that I didn’t like Fourth Grade Rats as much as Third Grade Angels. This surprised me, because I almost always think the original story is better, but in this case, I didn’t think the writing was quite as distinctive in this book as it is in the newer one. Though Suds takes baths in both stories, I thought the effects of the bath on his well-being were described much more effectively in Third Grade Angels. I also thought his crush on Judy, and Judy herself, were more interesting in Third Grade Angels.

All of this is making it sound like I didn’t enjoy Fourth Grade Rats, and that isn’t true. The story is quick, funny, and clever. Parents who worry about stories that glorify disobedience will love the moral, and kids will enjoy the silly things the boys do to prove they are rats. I also enjoyed the illustrations in the particular edition that I read, which were filled with great early 90s fashion and hairstyles like this:


And this:

I think it’s especially hilarious that there was a time in my childhood where we all dressed exactly like that! I also love these illustrations. Though they are apparently not done by the same illustrator, they really remind me of the drawings in the Baby-sitters Club Little Sister books.

Fourth Grade Rats has really stood the test of time, but I think it’s also interesting to note how much Jerry Spinelli has evolved as a writer in 20 years. Fourth Grade Rats was good, but Third Grade Angels is even better. I will definitely recommend both books to my library’s third- and fourth-grade chapter book readers.

I borrowed Fourth Grade Rats from my local public library. 

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Third Grade Angels. by Jerry Spinelli. September 1, 2012. Arthur A. Levine Books. 112 pages. ISBN: 9780545387729

Third Grade Angels is a prequel to Fourth Grade Rats, a beloved Jerry Spinelli chapter book originally published in 1991. As of writing this review I have not yet read Fourth Grade Rats (though it is on my to-read list), so my evaluation of this book is based solely on the story itself, and not how well it does or does not complement the first one.

George, better known as “Suds” due to his love for taking long baths has always heard the rhyme that says first grade babies/second grade cats/third grade angels/fourth grade rats. This year, as he enters third grade, he learns that his teacher, Mrs. Simms, literally wants her students to be angels, and that she will award one student per month with a halo for their efforts. Suds, who never likes to come in second, decides that he must be the first one to receive a halo, and he immediately starts doing extra nice things with the sole intention of impressing his teacher. But it turns out that being an angel is a lot harder than it sounds, and it might involve more than simply being good when the adults are watching.

I have no doubt that the lesson of this story - that being good is less about ourselves and more about how we treat others - will be the delight of parents and teachers alike, especially those who believe the purpose of children’s literature is always to instruct and to educate children on how to be better citizens. I like it for that reason, too, because I’m an adult, and I like knowing there are books out there still protecting childhood innocence and promoting good morals. For kids, though, the moral will probably not be as appealing as the other positive qualities of this book - mainly its sense of humor, fast-paced dialogue, and memorable characters.

Suds is by far my favorite character of the story. He just comes across as so real, with all the innocence and mischief of a real eight-year-old boy. A great example of why I love Suds comes early in chapter three:

[Joey] held out his first. I stared at it. “Bump me, dude,” he said.

“Oh,” I said. I bumped him. I guess I did it right because he didn’t laugh or sneer. It my first-ever fist bump.

I love that he is the kind of kid who has never fist bumped, but who would take note of the first time he does so.

I also love the connection he was with his mom, and the discussions they have while he is in the bathtub, especially about Suds’s longtime crush on Judy Billings. These moments remind me quite a bit of the discussions between Clementine and her parents in the Clementine series. Another similarity to Clementine is that Suds call his little sister Zippernose in the same way that Clementine calls her brother different vegetable-related nicknames.

Third Grade Angels is the perfect early chapter book. Its sense of humor, characterization, and storytelling style are all spot-on, and there is never a dull moment in the entire story. This is definitely one of the best books I have read this year, and I’m eager to see how it compares to the first book, especially with 20 years between the two.

Third Grade Angels will be published on September 1, 2012.

I received a digital ARC of Third Grade Angels from Scholastic via NetGalley.

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Jake and Lily. by Jerry Spinelli. May 8, 2012. Balzer + Bray. 352 pages. ISBN: 9780060281359

 Jake and Lily are twins with a special, almost psychic connection they call “goombla.” This connection allows them to hear each other’s thoughts and even share the same dream every year on their birthday. As they approach adolescence, however, Lily feels Jake pulling away from her. While Lily pines for their close twin relationship and wishes to cling to it, Jake falls in with a gang of rowdy boys who pick on marginalized people they call “goobers.” Lily wants everything to go back the way it was, but with the help of the twins’ hippie grandfather she learns to let go and have a life of her own, which complements but does not destroy her bond with her brother.

I loved Jerry Spinelli when I was in eighth and ninth grade, but I sort of lost interest when Stargirl was published. To me, it felt like Spinelli had lost the unique point of view that created characters like Maniac Magee, and I couldn’t stand the overly sentimental tone of Stargirl. But the concept of this book appealed to me, and I have to say that Jake and Lily sounds more like the Spinelli whose writing I loved at thirteen. The book has lots and lots of heart, as do all Spinelli titles, but these kids feel authentic. They feel like real people, and their feelings mattered to me.

I really like the way the story is divided into two parts - one, which the twins tell together, trading short chapters to get the whole concept of “goombla” down on paper; and one which they tell separately in their journals as their painful period of separation begins. I like this unique approach because it gives the reader a sense of the twins as a unit and as individuals. It also really brought their two voices to life in such a way that I could practically hear them speaking to me.

Another wonderful aspect of this book is the concept of “goobers”. In a way, all of Spinelli’s books focus on “goobers” in one way or another, but the one I really couldn’t stop thinking about while I was reading was Loser. Ernie, who Jake and his new friends call a “supergoober” reminded me so much of Donald Zinkoff in Loser that I think there almost has to be a real person on whom these characters are based. The entire concept of “goobers” really gets at the heart of middle school bullying, but never in a preachy way. The adult voice never steps in to tell the reader picking on Ernie is wrong; Jake himself must decide the morality of his actions. The entire story is well written, but the way things unfold between Jake and Ernie is my favorite plot thread.

This wonderful book will affirm the growing up process for any tween struggling with change, and it’s a great read for both boys and girls. I think the best read-alikes I can recommend for it, aside from Loser and Maniac Magee, are Wendy Mass’s birthday books, 11 Birthdays, Finally, and 13 Gifts. Though I’m not completely sure that “goombla” is a magic power, the twins’ birthday dream and details surrounding it have a definite flavor of magical realism, as do these Mass titles. I think some of Andrew Clements’s books - especially titles like No Talking and Extra Credit, which are about relationships between two main characters - also compare well to Jake and Lily.

I borrowed Jake and Lily

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