Regarding the Sink: Where, Oh Where, Did Waters Go? [Hardcover]

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

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Regarding the . . .

Geyser Creek Middle School's cafeteria sink is clogged, and the smell is . . . well, P-U-trid. Of course, the savvy sixth-grade class knows just who can create a fabuloso new sink--Florence Waters, who designed the school's OTT (over-the-top) water fountain. But the famous fountain designer (and, more important, their good friend) has gone missing! Undeterred, these kids follow their hearts and noses all the way to China to find Florence . . . and sniff out a few stinkers along the way.

Sisters Kate and Sarah Klise have created a hilarious, touching, and thoroughly original sequel to Regarding the Fountain. Told in letters, newspaper articles, and BEAN-mails, this story is guaranteed to make you laugh until beans fly out your nose!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–In this sequel to Regarding the Fountain (HarperCollins, 1998), Florence Waters, the artist who designed the school fountain, is needed to design a new cafeteria sink, but she is missing. Finding her becomes the focus of the sixth-grade class from Geyser Creek Middle School in Missouri. A U.S. Senator, the principal's rich mother, Chinese Sinkiang Blinking Spotted Suckerfish, big business, and beans all play a role in this mystery that eventually leads to a class trip to China. The story is conveyed through letters, student drawings and poems, advertisements, e-mails, school assignments, facsimiles, stock reports, newspaper articles, a variety of other kinds of documents, and cartoons. Each page is designed to look like the kind of document it represents. Piecing the story and clues together is satisfying. Introduce this book to savvy readers who are ready for the jump to a clever, unconventional reading experience.–Jean Gaffney, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, Miamisburg, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. The cast, dynamic format, and some of the same plot elements that appeared in the Klise sisters' Regarding the Fountain (1998) enjoy a reprise here. This time, Geyser Creek Middle School's principal isn't pleased with the sixth-grade's enthusiasm for reconnecting with fountain-designer Florence Waters to help resolve the school's need for a cafeteria sink. While the kids attempt to contact Ms. Waters and grow increasingly concerned about her silence, the reader has an opportunity to sift through the newspaper accounts about evil Senator MOM and other stories that have a bearing on Ms. Waters. The subplot concerning the principal's e-mail attempts to get his staff to cease communication^B via nonelectronic means will amuse adults more than kids, but the array of nicely designed documentation (sketches, handwritten cards, etc.) and the twist at the end of the story will keep many young bibliophiles content. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152050191
• ISBN-13: 978-0152050191
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,245 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Good as it's Predicessor, March 20, 2005

By 

Tally "Mark" (LaLa Land, Saturn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Regarding the Sink: Where, Oh Where, Did Waters Go? (Hardcover)

I'm in 9th grade and I just got this book for christmas. It had been on my wish list for quite some time. I love all of Kate Klise's books, and this one was no exception. Kate Klise's cleverness, combined with her sister, M. Sarah Klise's, drawings make for one of the best books I have read in a while.
I would reccomend any of Klise's books to children of all ages. It's got everything a great mook should have- beans, cows, crabby old ladies, clogged sinks, and a class field trip to China.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and clever sequel, September 7, 2004

By 

A Customer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Regarding the Sink: Where, Oh Where, Did Waters Go? (Hardcover)

Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise have written a fun, clever sequel to their popular middle-grade novel, REGARDING THE FOUNTAIN. We find ourselves once again immersed in a mystery with the Geyser Creek Middle School sixth-grade class in REGARDING THE SINK.

The trouble begins with a clogged cafeteria sink. The smell is just awful and the student body can't stand it much longer. The sixth graders want their old friend, Florence Waters, to design a new sink for them. Florence previously designed a new fountain for their school when the school's drinking fountain sprang a leak. The children have many suggestions for Florence, including a winking sink and a sink with a built-in computer. But all of the letters to Florence go unanswered and the children fear the worst has happened. They then find out that Florence has gone to China to help the endangered Sinkiang Spotted Suckerfish.

The sixth grade class has their work cut out for them. While they are trying to raise money for a class trip to visit Florence, their school lunches are replaced with beans, the price of milk goes through the roof, and AIR-gate Inc. wants to replace rainstorms with man-made rain, which falls only at night. Are the sixth-graders and their patient teacher, Mr. Sam N., up to the challenge of solving these and other mysteries?

This entire story is told through letters, news reports, advertisements and drawings. At first I found this writing style distracting, but once I focused on the story contained in the letters, etc., I thoroughly enjoyed it. Children who are hesitant to read novels with small print and large chunks of text will eat up this book's lively format.

REGARDING THE SINK is a fun read for older elementary-aged students. I intend to pick up other books written by the talented author/illustrator team of Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise.

--- Reviewed by Renee Kirchner ([e-mail])

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original New Fiction for Middle Readers, August 13, 2004

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Regarding the Sink: Where, Oh Where, Did Waters Go? (Hardcover)

The cafeteria sink at Geyser Creek Middle School is clogged, and the stench arising from the pipes is getting worse and worse every single day. So teacher Sam N.'s sixth-grade class decide to do something about it. They decide to hire their friend, and fountain designer, Florence Waters to design and build an intrepid new sink for the cafeteria. However, the famous designer is missing, so the kids decide to find out where she's disappeared to. With a little research, and an expensive school trip, the sixth-graders learn that Florence is in Sinkiang, China, so that's where they head. However, while there they find many mysterious happenings, such as a company that promises the public that it will only rain at night, their principal's cranky Mother, crooked politicians, and endangered Chinese fish.

Written through newspaper articles, letters, e-mails, drawings, and class reports, this latest effort from the Klise sisters is a must-have. The plot of the story is enjoyable, and will have even the pickiest readers rolling on the floor laughing, while at the same time learning small bits of information about stocks, politics, and inventions. Whether you're a fan of previous books written by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise, or not, this is a book that everyone will adore, including adults, and older siblings.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper