Making the Sale: Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business by Lyla Lee

I'm seven and one-half years old--not old enough to have a puppy--or at least, that's what my dad says.

Our apartment in California wasn't big enough for a puppy. I looked it up and the internet says that puppies need lots of room to run outside. Now that we have moved into a house with a big backyard, we can really get a puppy!

Mandy Kim has got her work cut out for her. Her mom had been sick for a while and died only a few months ago and her dad is still sad and seems overwhelmed with everything. Their old things look unfamiliar and lost in their new house. Mindy is sad, too, and worried about starting at a new school in Florida. Dad says they both need a fresh start, but Mindy feels a little lost in this new place, too.

Wishbone School looks nice, but her best friend Diya is not there. And the kids all look the same, and no one looks like Mindy. And lunch is terrible. One kid says her kimchi smells bad, and all the boys laugh at her seaweed snacks.

But she likes her after-school babysitter, Unni. Her mom makes kimchi. amd she has an adorable Maltese dog to play with. Mindy feels much better about her new life, so the next day she asks the one girl she knows if she can sit with her, and when she opens her first packet of seaweed snacks, Sally asks to try one. All the other kids try them out, and only one doesn't like them.

Suddenly I had a brilliant plan. A very yummy seaweed business plan!

Mindy stocks up on seaweed snacks and next day at lunch she trades them to her table-mates instead of giving them away. And then Sally gives her another idea.

"Did you ever think of selling your snacks?"

Hey! ... "Maybe I could sell my snacks! Then I could buy a puppy for dad and me!"

I didn't even know it was against the rules to sell food at school! Nobody told me!

On only her her third day at Wishbone School, Mindy finds herself in the principal's office. Dr. Mortimer lets her off with a stern warning and orders her to study the rules for the school on-line over the weekend. Sally is angry because she is blamed for telling Mindy to sell snacks, and now Mindy has no money for a puppy and no friends either.

The only thing to do is to tell her dad everything. He understands and tells her he's sure she will do the right thing, in Lyla Lee's first book in her new beginning chapter book series, Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (1) (Aladdin Books, 2020). Being the new kid in school is always hard, especially when her new school is so different from her old school, but Mindy is soon on her way, with a new friend and perhaps a new puppy to look forward to. Author Lee's realistic chapter fiction has her doughty character take on tough issues, dealing with problems of diversity and death of a parent with honesty and strength. Share this one with Lyla Lee's next in this series, Mindy Kim and the Lunar New Year Parade (2)

No Fear Here! Sam Wu Is NOT Afraid of Ghosts by Katie and Kevin Tsang

You are probably wondering why Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third calls me Scaredy Cat Sam.

Listen carefully. I am only going to tell this story ONCE.

The Event that Must Never Be Spoken Of Again occurred on a field trip to the Space Museum where, emboldened by his Space Blasters shirt, Sam Wu climbs into the Astro Blaster mockup and sets off the blast-off simulation and is convinced that he meets up with the Space Ghost of his favorite TV show. Sirens screech, lights flash, and the Astro Blaster seems about to blow up. Suffice it to say, the worst thing that can happen on a field trip happens to Sam.

I looked down.

Rising above the laughter, comes Ralph's voice.

"Sam Wu peed his pants."

To overcome his reputation as Scaredy Cat Sam at school, he settles on becoming the owner of the scariest pet in the pet shop, a snake which he names Fang. Now what can Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third say? Just wait till he sees Sam's deadly constrictor!

His best friends, Zoe and Bernard, are impressed. Immediately they wangle a visit to Sam's house to see the Super-Dangerous Predator, and while they are there, the power goes out, and when the lights come on and Sam takes his friends up to see his snake, his tank is open and--Fang is GONE! After an almost sleepless night wrapped in pickle juice-soaked aluminum foil to save him from being strangled by Fang, Sam is desperate. The next day he begs Zoe and Bernard to come back and help save him from the Super-Dangerous snake, which seems to be living--and screeching--inside his very walls! Has Fang joined forces with The Space Ghost? Is Sam Wu is doomed to be a scaredy cat after all?

Sam gets by with a little help from his friends, in Katie and Kevin Tsang's Sam Wu Is NOT Afraid of Ghosts! (Sterling Books, 2018). In an intriguing combination of early chapter book and graphic novel with Nathan Reed's wild and crazy illustrations, somewhat reminiscent of the Captain Underpants series, kids will agree that Sam Wu comes through, with his reputation as not-a-scaredy-pants intact--at least as far as space ghosts and snakes go. Sam is a sympathetic multicultural protagonist, enjoying the differences in his Chinese family's food, finding new friends, and making his way through the trials of elementary school bullies and his own fears. Readers will want to see how Sam fares with another fear in Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Sharks!

Journalistic Integrity: Nancy Clancy--Late-Breaking News! by Jane O'Connor

"The Gazette! It's here!" Nancy and Bree shouted. They were both waving the latest issue of the Third Grade Gazette. A gazette was the same thing as a newspaper but sounded much more elegant and French.

"Nothing in here is big news," said Bree. "See what's on the front page. 'Fun at the Planetarium' was a story about a class trip. "This doesn't even count as news."

"True," said Nancy. "I want to uncover big news."

Nancy is determined to uncover some BIG news for the next issue of the Gazette. But the news she stumbles upon at home is disturbing news. Dad is considering doing accounting from home instead of going to the office. That's news, but that's not all. Nancy's parents are thinking about moving to a bigger house, one with room for an office for Dad! That's awful news. Nancy just can't leave her school and her best friend Bree!

And then there's more bad news. When Nancy gets sick at recess the next day, she goes to her classroom for her backpack so she can leave early. Outside the door she hears her teacher Mr. Dudenay talking to someone on his phone.

"You know, it's something I've been thinking about for...at least a year." Mr. Dudeny said. "Yeah, of course it'll be hard after being here so long."

Nancy didn't mean to eavesdrop. but it was impossible not to hear.

Mr. Dudeny said, "Of course, I'm sure going to miss them. But I keep telling myself--time for a change. Listen, gotta go. The kids will be back any minute. Later, dude!"

Mr. Dudenay is leaving? That's the kind of big story Nancy wanted, but one she doesn't want to have to write. But she just has to tell her best friend Bree. She calls Bree from her bedroom so she won't give her any germs. The sensible Bree listens carefully and cautions Nancy.

"You may be jumping to conclusions. You have to make sure of what the facts mean." Verifying facts was something every reporter did, Mr. Dudeny has explained, to make sure their story was accurate.

Bree promises not to share the story, but lets it slip when the empathetic Clara asks her why she looks so worried. And when Nancy goes back to school she discovers that her news has somehow leaked throughout both third grades. Not only has she lost control of her big story, but it's not even news anymore. In fact, when Nancy goes to apologize to her teacher for eavesdropping, she learns that her big story is not accurate, either. Mr. Dudeny is not changing schools; he just changing apartment mates for a new place.

But there is a bombshell news story for the Clancy clan, in Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Late-Breaking News! (Harper, 2017). In this eighth and last in the Nancy Clancy chapter book series, Nancy does comes up with a lead on why her her parents are thinking of a new house and why Dad is going to work from home. But this big news is good news, when she learns that little sister JoJo is going to be a big sister, too--in about six months. The family is growing and so is their house, with a new addition for Dad's office and for a new bedroom with--Ooh-La-La! a private bath--for Nancy. Now Nancy understands the reasons for not leaking unproven "facts" before getting the whole story, that "journalistic integrity" that Mr. Dudeny has been teaching them about.

For young Nancy fans and readers moving on to chapter books, this series offers a transitional step toward middle reader novels, with longer chapters and more a more complex plot line. Other books in the series include Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth, Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Secret of the Silver Key, Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Secret Admirer and Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy Sees the Future.