Boys In Control

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

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Gr 3-6-In the ninth of this series, the Hatford boys and the Malloy girls spend more time cooperating than fighting. Eddie and Jake both play for the Buckman Badgers in the sixth-grade baseball championship; after she chokes in the first game, he decides to practice with her for the good of the team. Meanwhile the community yard sale Mrs. Hatford has volunteered to host falls on the same day as their playoff game. She enlists a reluctant Wally to take over until she returns, and Caroline sees helping him as an opportunity to talk him into acting with her in a play she's writing for their fourth-grade English class. When the girls find a photo album full of humiliating pictures of the boys, Caroline blackmails Wally to keep his word about being the husband in her play. A subplot about two relatives of Amelia Bloomer trying to steal a framed picture from Wally's house before the sale opens provides suspense but strains credulity. It turns out the frame hides her original bloomers. Still, this is a fast-paced read, and fans of the series will welcome it. It should also interest baseball fans, especially girls, since there is plenty of action on the field.-Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
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From BookList, September 15, 2003, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Gr. 3-5. The Hatford brothers and the Malloy sisters, who have battled their way through several previous books, are at odds once again. The girls get the upper hand this time after discovering embarrassing pictures of the boys. It's left to the boys to retrieve the pictures before being totally humiliated. Wally devises a successful scheme to turn the tables, proving to the sisters that boys rule . . . at least for now. Reynolds adds some mild intrigue with a subplot in which the boys devise a scheme to get out of helping at Mrs. Hartford's yard sale. Like the other books in this series, Naylor crafts a briskly paced story with a plot full of laughs and pranks. Series fans will be pleased with this lighthearted escapade; readers unfamiliar with the series will enjoy it, too.
EdSullivan.
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