Regarding the Fountain [Paperback]

Kate Klise (Author), M. Sarah Klise (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 1999 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Regarding the...

The Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain has sprung a leak, so principal Walter Russ dashes off a request to Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc.

...We need a new drinking fountain. Please send a catalog.

Designer Flo Waters responds:

"I'd be delighted...but please understand that all of my fountains are custom-made."

Soon the fountain project takes on a life of its own, one chronicled in letters, postcards, memos, transcripts, and official documents. The school board president is up in arms. So is Dee Eel, of the water-supply company. A scandal is brewing, and Mr. Sam N.'s fifth grade class is turning up a host of hilarious secrets buried deep beneath the fountain.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How could a simple request for a new water fountain go so very, very off-track? When Principal Wally Russ writes to fountain designer Florence Waters to ask her to replace Dry Creek Middle School's busted drinking fountain, he little suspects that he is sparking the imagination of an artiste. Kate Klise's charming mystery novel is told entirely in letters and faxes, as the glamorous Florence visits Dry Creek and becomes friends with Mr. Sam N.'s fifth-grade class. The class helps Florence design the most outrageous water fountain ever, and along the way uncovers the dirty (and rather wet) secret that dwells underneath Dry Creek Middle School. Writes Florence to her new fifth-grade friends, "Your drawings are hanging in my studio. Pure inspiration. Of course a drinking fountain should have tropical fish and chocolate shakes!" The book reads like an inspired combination of the epistolary novels Daddy-Long-Legs and Griffin & Sabine. Line drawings by M. Sarah Klise adorn every page, with "snapshots" of the fifth-grade class, pages from the local paper, and coffee-stained While You Were Out notices thickening the stew. The emphasis on visual elements should make the book a hit with kids who claim they don't like to read. Author Klise knows her audience: bad puns flow as freely as water and the plot is just convoluted enough to challenge kids without frustrating them. The Klise sisters have created a classic of comic children's literature. (Ages 8 and older) --Claire Dederer

From Publishers Weekly

What Dry Creek Middle School needs is a plain, functional drinking fountain to replace its leaking old one. What it gets is Florence Waters, impresario fountain designer who has in mind something with exotic birds, an ice skating rink, geysers and chocolate milk dispensers. This rollicking story, told entirely through letters, memos, newspaper articles and transcripts, escalates into a hullabaloo involving a fifth-grade class, an evil school board member, a sinister water company executive and an increasingly bewildered principal who fruitlessly attempts to scale back Florence Waters's grandiose plans ("Do you all have scuba gear? What about ice skates?... Also, I'm sending a parcel containing cyperus papyrus. This is the famous Egyptian paper plant," Waters jots in one postcard). The artist's somewhat primitive illustrations add to the scrapbook effect of this novel, but in the final illustration not enough is made of the eccentric new fountain to satisfy the anticipation brewing for the previous 100-plus pages. Still, it's a good-natured story with an irrepressible main character who won't take no for an answer. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (March 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380793474
• ISBN-13: 978-0380793471
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

KATE KLISE is an author of many genres. She has written picture books, as well as middle-grade novels, all illustrated by her sister, Sarah. She has also written two young adult novels and is a freelance reporter for People magazine. Kate lives and writes in Norwood, Missouri. www.kateandsarahklise.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How could running water be so much fun!, July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks (Hardcover)

I love reading good childrens books. Since I had a daughter at 40, I have had a chance to read to her and with her some of the greatest books that have come into the market since I was a child. What opportunities children have these days to enjoy the marvellous world of books.

"Regarding The Fountain" is just such a wonderful reading experience. The text and visual presentation take you to a world of fantasy that we should all experience, no matter what age we are.

The format used by the Klise sisters for this tale is so engaging and whisical.The story unfolds in such a manner that you don't want to put the book down until you have followed every character,every visual clue,every text change to the conclusion.

You are drawn into the story because you are looking for the answer to the magic thread sown into the fabric by Kate. The humor of the names and how this relates to the theme keep your interest peaked and you seek to understand not only the changing attitudes and involvement of the 5th graders in the "Water's Joy of Living Philosophy",but also the sinister evil that unfolds.

Kudos go to Sarah for the wonderful drawings,visual clues,interestingly layout pages that take the story to a new level of involvement by the reader. You feel totally involved in all aspects of the story through the visual presentatations, that become identified with certain characters, that explain and enhance the text, and that make the book a shear delight to read. What work has gone into a fabulous enterprise. The details in the illustrations are so delightful and insightful.

"Regarding The Fountain" is a triumph for the Klise sisters. But it's also a triumph for parents who want their children to read more books. Rather than watch TV, children now have a visual option that is a book. They can be visually stimulated, while reading a totally delightful story that has good guys, bad guys,crusaders, and role models. The format that the Klises have chosen keeps the child turning the pages and when the story is over, it's back to the bookshelf for another adventure, rather than turning on the TV.

There is more than just a story here as well. There is a lesson to us all that life can be exciting where ever we live and work. Florence Waters brings to the tale a joy of living in the moment and teaches us that our lives are as interesting as we choose to make them. What a great message to children (and adults).

I truly hope that Kate and Sarah continue to bring us more of their whisical and thought provoking books. I like the way they see the world and I am so glad they shared that with me.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous for bright kids who love humor, March 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks (Hardcover)

I ordered this children's book after learning that its original format features letters, memos, postcards, lunch checks and bulletin board notices. After all, what better characteristic can mark a child's book than imagination? But even after reading the Kirkus Review of this book, I was unprepared for the delightful originality of Regarding the Fountain.

The story features all the things that appeal most to fifth graders: clearly drawn heroes and villains, amazing facts of science and geography, kids that "save the day" and puns that beg to be shown to others with challenges of "Look at this! Do you get it?"

Changing formats and charming drawings accompany the reader through this romp. The style of illustrations are as quirky as the things they document: the school band's Spanish costumes, the Esther Williams-style water ballet exercises that are recommended to reduce Principal Russ's tension, the Curl and Twirl's latest hairdo fiasco-and everything in between.

Although it is peopled by fifth graders and is intended for young readers, it is so engaging that this adult smiled page-by-page throughout. Before you give this slim volume to your child, treat yourself to a charming hour as you learn how the need for a new school water fountain changes a town's future.

If your child has a love of language and a sense of humor, he or she will adore spending some time in Dry Creek Middle School where the motto is "We Thirst for Knowledge" and the school attorney is named Barry Cuda. Add this book to the collections of your favorite children and provide them with a marvelous reading experience they will want to share with their friends.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Regarding REGARDING THE FOUNTAIN, September 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Regarding the Fountain (Paperback)

In this book, Dry Creek Elementary School needs a new fountain. The old one is leaking. They go to Florence Waters, who is a designer of many fancy fountains, for a new fountain, but Sally Mander and Delbert Eel know a secret about the fountain, and the discovery of that secret could end Dry Creek's famous problem with water! I really liked this book. It's funny and it has a fast-moving plot. One funny thing is all the names in this book have to do with water, like Cora Reef and Walter (Wally) Russ. I would recommend this book to anyone from 9 to 12 who enjoys a good read and a good laugh!