It's New! It's Improved! It's Terrible! [Paperback]

Stephen Manes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For his 12th birthday, Arnold gets his heart's desire, a pair of Helicopter Shoes, the latest in overpriced athletic footwear as advertised on TV. But his long hoped-for gift falls short of his expectations: he gets a killing blister and the tongue rips out of one of the shoes. Disgusted, Arnold heaves the broken sneaker at the TV screen when next he sees the Helicopter Shoes commercial. To his dismay, the screen shatters and Will, one of the kids in the ad, appears in Arnold's living room. Will can only spout commercial slogans and jingles at top volume, which gets Arnold in trouble at home and at school. For 24 hours, Arnold's life is a nightmare, until he and best friend Eddie figure out how to get Will back to his home in TV-land. This slim (98 pages) novel, with its one-note theme and compressed time frame, seems to be nothing more than a puffed-up short story. The richness of character and joyful exuberance evidenced in Manes's last work, The Obnoxious Jerks , is sadly lacking here. Ages 7-11.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-- Arnold Schlemp covets Helicopter Shoes. The TV ads have convinced him that these expensive shoes will improve his basketball game, his social life, and his chance for real happiness. He receives the shoes for his birthday, but his joy soon turns to dismay as they give him blisters and start to fall apart. In disgust, he heaves a shoe at the TV, which, by coincidence, is showing the Helicopter Shoes advertisement. The TV explodes and, when the smoke clears, Will Flack, one of the cast in the commercial, is standing in Arnold's living room. Arnold faces the problem of hiding the broken TV from his parents and explaining the presence of the strange boy who spouts TV jingles and ads. By the time Arnold has discovered a way to get Will back into the TV, he has learned a good deal about deceptive advertising. This contemporary fantasy tries to incorporate pre-adolescents' fascination with brand-name products plus their gullibility to advertisements into a humorous story with a lesson. Unfortunately, the writing lacks development and polish. The dialogue is flat and simplistic, and the characters remain two-dimensional and predictable. While the story idea is clever, the lesson on being a prudent consumer is rather heavily presented. --Carrol McCarthy, Tower Hill School, Wilmington, Del.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback
• Publisher: Skylark (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553156829
• ISBN-13: 978-0553156829
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,193,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bestselling author Stephen Manes has written more than thirty books and hundreds of articles in a long career of making arcane worlds accessible to the uninitiated. Four years in the making, his new book, "Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet," was born of his desire to discover how ballet really happens. Now the book has arrived--with an unprecedented amount of inside information about the world he calls the Land of Ballet, from intense rehearsals and lighting sessions to closed-door casting conferences and business meetings.

The book has already earned acclaim from around the globe. In the United States, BalletScoop and ExploreDance called it a "must-read," and Ballet-Dance Magazine deemed it "not to be missed." In Great Britain, a former dancer writing for Balletco found it "engrossing" and "unparalleled." In Australia, Dancelines said "'Snowflakes' reveals all. . . . I can't imagine any other company allowing a writer the same access . . . " James Fayette, a former Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet, calls the book "a truly in-depth exploration that should be recommended to anyone who craves insight into the very private world of professional ballet and the dancer subculture."

Manes co-wrote the bestselling and much-acclaimed biography "Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America." He wrote long-running columns on personal technology for The New York Times, Forbes, PC World, PC Magazine, and many other publications. He was a creator and co-host of the weekly public television series "Digital Duo."

Manes is also the author of dozens of books for children and young adults. His "Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!" won kid-voted awards in five states and is a curriculum staple in American and French schools. The sequel, "Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday!", quickly became a Publishers Weekly bestseller. His books have been adapted for stage and television productions.

Manes has a degree in cinema from the University of Southern California. His writing credits for the screen include programs for ABC Television and KCET/Los Angeles, as well as the 'seventies classic movie "Mother, Jugs & Speed." A native of Pittsburgh, he lives in Seattle.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hysterical! Worth tracking down!!, March 7, 2001

By 

Chess Heart "paxbear" (Canton, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: It's New! It's Improved! It's Terrible! (Paperback)

Oh, why o' why is all the good stuff out of print?!

Stephen Manes, author of the extremely popular "Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!" has written a fantastically funny and poignant tale in "It's New..."

Our hero, Arnold Schlemp, is a typical kid. Like many typical kids, he's obsessed with how he looks, and he's convinced that a pair of Helicopter Shoes (promoted by the famous basketball player, Ralph "Helicopter" Jones) will make his life complete. Doors will open for him, the heavens will part and a ray of light will shine down on him if ONLY he could get a pair of those shoes!! One small problem: Helicopter Shoes are ridiculously expensive (is this starting to sound familiar?? Any parent dealt with this same problem??)

Well, he DOES get his shoes after much fussing n' fighting and hint dropping, only to find out that they hurt his feet. In a fit of frustration, he hurls one of his poorly-made, expensive shoes at the very TV commercial selling the shoes only to have one of the characters from the commercial COME OUT OF THE TELEVISION!! What happens next is simply hysterical, fast-paced, odd and 100% pure Manes.

It's a shame that this book is out of print, because it's as relevant now in 2001 as it was when it was first published in 1989 at the beginning of the Nike shoe craze. The boy who comes out of the TV commercial comes from a world where everyone sells a product, your personal worth is based entirely on the stuff you own and everyone is ecstatically happy about the things they can get. One (of many) small problem: people in the TV commercial world never use money, their stuff is just given to them!

As a piece of social satire for young folk, "It's New..." is simply fantastic. It's message of "you are more than the sum of your possessions" is neither overly subtle nor obvious. Just because you see some grinning idiot on TV selling you WhizzoPops doesn't mean A) you need them or B) they're any good for you. This is an important lesson that I think many of our young people are missing today: commercials are brainwashing our children into becoming possession-grubbing little Perfect Consumers. If we all had to deal with some wild commercial person for a few days, I think we too would be a bit more dubious of the claims made on commercials!!

"it's New..." is a fast read, weighing in at just under 100 pages. The story is fast-paced and draws the reader in right away. While it's not illustrated like some of Manes's other works and a bit more text heavy, it's still an excellent choice for intermediate readers. Read aloud to younger or less skilled readers, it's a fine example of why one shouldn't believe everything one sees on TV!! Definitely worth the time and energy to track this one down!!