Piper Reed Book Review #5

TITLE: Piper Reed, Rodeo Star

AUTHOR: Kimberly Willis Holt

COPYRIGHT: 2011

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

NUMBER OF PAGES: 149

PLOTLINE: Piper Reed gets a surprise one day: her parents are going on a second honeymoon to France! Piper and her sisters, Sam and Tori, will have to stay with their two sets of grandparents in the little town of Piney Woods, Louisiana.

Even though it might be lonely spending winter break---and Christmas---without her parents, Piper comes up with a surefire way to have fun. She’s going to have four adventures while she’s in Piney Woods.

It turns out that Piper and her family have several adventures together, not counting when they have to trek to Uncle Leo’s house to check their e-mail (why don’t their grandparents have a computer?)

But the biggest adventure of all comes when Piper’s parents arrive home with a surprise . . . and this time, it’s a good one!

*****

“ ‘Zero plus five equals five,’ Sam said.

‘That’s right, Einstein,’ I said.” - Piper Reed, Rodeo Star

Piper Reed Book Review #4

TITLE: Piper Reed, Campfire Girl

AUTHOR: Kimberly Willis Holt

COPYRIGHT: 2010

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

NUMBER OF PAGES: 148

PLOTLINE: Piper Reed is excited about Halloween this year. Possibly more excited than she’s ever been before. That’s why she’s disappointed when her dad tells her that their family is going camping---on Halloween!

Even though she tries to convince her parents to postpone the camping trip, they’re off in their camper on October thirty-first. Piper’s friends, Nicole and Michael, are also coming, which makes it a little better. Then Piper finds out that Stanley, a new boy in her class, has been invited, too. Stanley is the most annoying person she’s ever met, because he talks so much!

Things keep going wrong after they reach the campsite. Piper gets poison ivy, discovers she doesn’t like fishing, and then her dog, Bruna, goes missing. Can she still have a good Halloween in spite of so many problems?

The next book in the series, Piper Reed, Rodeo Star is now available for pre-order from http://www.amazon.com/

*****

“{Tori} turned around and rolled her eyes. ‘Piper, Halloween is for little kids. I’m almost thirteen. I don’t do dress up.’

‘You mean you have to stop having fun when you’re a teenager?’ I was sure glad I was in fifth grade. That meant I still had a few good years left.” - Piper Reed, Campfire Girl

Piper Reed Book Review #3

TITLE: Piper Reed, Party Planner

(originally titled Piper Reed Gets a Job)

AUTHOR: Kimberly Willis Holt

COPYRIGHT: 2009

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

NUMBER OF PAGES: 149

PLOTLINE: Piper Reed wants to get a job, so she can buy a clubhouse for the club she started. She decides to become a birthday party planner, which ought to be a really fun job.

But it’s not as easy as it looks. Her first customer, almost-three-year-old Brady, expects a lot more of Piper than she can handle. But Piper’s determined to fulfill her promise to plan a good party, so she gets her friends to help her.

As the birthday draws near, Piper tries to make sure everything’s set, but she has several dilemmas. She’s supposed to illustrate her little sister’s book, babysit the triplets that her older sister doesn't want to sit for, and write a school paper about someone she’s never heard of before.

Can Piper still plan a good birthday party despite so many problems?

*****

“ ‘Your deadline is September 12,’ Sam told me,

‘That’s three days before Brady’s birthday party!’

‘And two days before my book signing.’

‘Where are you going to do a book signing?’

Sam rolled her eyes as if she couldn’t believe I wouldn’t know. ‘At a bookstore.’

I didn’t have anything to worry about. No bookstore would allow a six-year-old to sell books, even if she was a prodigy.” - Piper Reed, Party Planner

Piper Reed Book Review #2

TITLE: Piper Reed, Clubhouse Queen

(originally titled Piper Reed, the Great Gypsy)

AUTHOR: Kimberly Willis Holt

COPYRIGHT: 2008

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

NUMBER OF PAGES: 152

PLOTLINE: Piper Reed comes up with the best idea she’s ever had: her club will have a pet show in July. She plans to teach her dog, Bruna, some amazing tricks and win first prize.

But Bruna is more than a little reluctant to learn new tricks. As a matter of fact, she won’t perform even the simplest trick unless Piper’s two-year-old neighbor, Brady, tells her to.

Piper doesn’t think she can win first place now, but she really wants to do something that will make her dad proud when he comes back from Navy ship duty. And how can she devote extra time to teaching Bruna tricks when her teacher assigned her eight books to read during the summer?

*****

“Sam surprised me and said, ‘Yeah, let’s get the saddest {Christmas} tree and make it happy.’

‘A Charlie Brown tree,’ I said.

Mom eased down the trunk of the pretty tree. ‘That would be different.’ ” - Piper Reed, Clubhouse Queen

Piper Reed Book Review #1

TITLE: Piper Reed, Navy Brat

AUTHOR: Kimberly Willis Holt

COPYRIGHT: 2007

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

NUMBER OF PAGES: 146

PLOTLINE: Nine-year-old Piper Reed doesn’t want to move. She’d rather stay in San Diego with her best friends, the members of the Gypsy Club. But her dad, who is a navy chief, has just been assigned to Pensacola, Florida, which is very far away.

When Piper’s family arrives in Pensacola, there are many problems with the new house. There are only three bedrooms, which means Piper has to share with her little sister, Sam. And there’s no room for a treehouse, because the lawn is so small. And there are vents in the walls, which means that Piper’s older sister Tori can listen in on her conversations . . . but maybe that’s a good thing, because it works the other way around!

Then Piper finally receives what she’s always wanted---a dog! There’s just one snag. She thought they were getting a German shepherd, but this dog is a poodle. And there’s a snag at school, too---she needs to make some new friends, but her efforts aren’t working very well so far. And on top of all that, her dad’s going off on navy duty for six months! Can Piper figure out how to cope with the changes in her life?

This book is very cute, and has illustrations by Christine Davenier that go well with the text. The audiobook of Piper Reed, Navy Brat, which is available from http://www.amazon.com/, is read by the talented Emily Janice Card and is extremely fun to listen to.

*****

“Sometimes when it was too quiet, words floated into my head and before I knew it they’d popped out of my mouth. ‘I’m a vegetarian,’ I announced.

Collin pointed to my hamburger. ‘What’s that then?’

‘Except for hamburgers,’ I said.” - Piper Reed, Navy Brat