Max and Jax in Second Grade - Hardcover

JERDINE NOLEN is the author of Raising Dragons, which won the Christopher Award and was a Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children. She lives in Maryland.

KAREN LEE SCHMIDT is the illustrator of What Do You Love? Like Max and Jax, she loves the outdoors. Ms. Schmidt divides her time between New York City and Maryland.

Grades 1-3--Second grade is just about over and the alligator twins are looking forward to summer vacation. Jax is planning her sleepover party and Max is anticipating a fishing trip with his father. The colorful new lure that he ordered by mail will hopefully allow him to fish as well as his sister. Just in case, Jax puts together her secret bait recipe for him. Schmidt gives readers a playful peek at this bacon bit, peanut butter, and wormy combination. As this beginning chapter book proceeds, Max discovers his sister's homemade concoction to be far more effective than the "Guaranteed to work" mail-order lure. When he catches a big, beautiful rainbow trout, he gives it to his sibling. As in her magically tender Raising Dragons (Harcourt, 1998), Nolen shows a gift for straightforward dialogue that leaves readers feeling enchanted without being otherworldly. Schmidt's appealing artwork matches this tone perfectly, creating playful characters that are distinctively human in nature and alligator in form. Young children are sure to find the colorful clothing and smiling faces of the alligators endearing. The uncontained pictures of fish, writings, and numbers that swirl around many of the pages meld the text and illustrations seamlessly.
Louie Lahana, New York City Public Schools
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