“Oh…oh, right.” I was still staring at the poster of him-blue jeans, T-shirt, baseball cap, shades-he was the coolest superhero ever. He put my super-sized Sticky aside and said, “Well, you get to meet Chase Morton, the boy who plays The Gecko.” I looked at the giant The Gecko and Sticky poster on my wall and whispered, “I get to meet The Gecko?” She said, ‘By all means, bring him along. “That's right! I told their publicity coordinator that it was your birthday and that you were a huge fan. “And,” he said, leaning in, “I've arranged an interview with ‘The Gecko. And because I'm the Gazette 's number one reporter, I get to cover the event!” They think Cedar Valley's Old Town will make the perfect setting and have rented the entire Historian Hotel for four days. Sorry.” He cleared his throat and said, “The whole cast and crew of The Gecko and Sticky are coming into town to film back-to- back episodes. A reporter's reporter! A fellow investigator! A man after my own-” “That's my boy, asking the who, what, when, where, and why! A chip off the old block. “Do you… ? You don't… I mean, they can't…”īoingy-boingy-boingy, went my dad and Sticky on my bed. “Da-ad! What are you talking about?” And then every hair on my body shot straight out. “Hey, hombre,” he said in the worst Mexican accent ever, “Aaay'm comeeeeeng to your town. Then he whipped his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on Sticky. He bounced about two feet in the air, laughing like a madman. He picked up Sticky, my giant stuffed gecko, and shook it at me, saying, “Ay cha-wow-wow.” It just happens to be happening on your birthday.” “Well, this isn't exactly your birthday present. “Oh,” he said, then started bouncing again. “Even if that's how you get exactly what you want?” “I hate it when you tell me what my present is. “I couldn't have come up with a better birthday present for you if I'd tried.” His smile was practically cutting his face in two.īoingy-boingy-boingy. He stepped outside my room and started making big knocking motions on the signs taped to my door. His head was bobbing like it was on the end of a big, boingy spring. So Dad barging into my room as I was working on my secret Shredderman site wasn't a problem. A month ago Mom and Dad didn't know that Shredderman-Cedar Valley's very own cyber-superhero-was just an ordinary fifth grader.īut my parents had discovered my secret identity, which turned out to be okay. “Dad, you're supposed to knock!”Ī month ago this would have been a mammoth problem. I shot straight up, banging my knee against the desk. A realistic intergenerational tale and a fun take on what it means to be a kid during summer vacation.I was in the middle of updating my Shredderman Web site when Dad barged through my bedroom door. The book ends with simple directions on how to make a mussel shell penguin. The narrator does an excellent job of punctuating Frazee's alliterative phrases and the young male narrators wonderfully reflect the mood of the closing scene as James and Eamon excitedly show the grandparents their Antarctica creation. As Eamon and James become more and more attached to each other, they are given the moniker "Jamon." Despite Grandpa Bill's repeated attempts at luring the boys to nearby penguin exhibits and outdoor adventures, they prefer to enjoy nature and visit the beach by gazing at the waves from an upstairs window. For example, James "arrives with just a couple of his belongings," while the illustration shows a boy surrounded by a multitude of boxes, toys, and luggage. The boys embark on a week of "nature camp." Based on real people and events, the story is punctuated by comical contradictions where Frazee's wonderful pencil and gouache carton illustrations and text clearly represent opposing points of view. Narrators Fred Berman, Teddy Walsh, and Jasper Newell bring the characters to life as young Eamon is joined at his grandparent's beach house by his pal James. "Light-hearted music sprinkled with hints of campfire songs opens Marla Frazee's humorous Caldecott Honor book about two boys and their summer vacation experience.
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