Customer Reviews

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Got a kid who reads well but is afraid to open any book that a) doesn't have pictures; and b) has more than 100 pages? Well, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls will cure him/her of that!

Take 4 girls who distrust each other, introduce some magical shoes, a sinister woman trying to steal the shoes, some Wizard of Oz mythology, and a magical piano teacher with 2 talking dogs, and you get the makings of a great story. The girls aren't always as well defined as they should be, and the plot is a little confusing in places (hence 4 stars instead of 5), but that won't make a bit of difference to most readers. There's mystery, excitement, magic, danger and humor enough to keep all but the most stubborn readers entertained.

Best of all, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street girls is told in an easy, humorous style, with great line drawings on every page (much like those in Roald Dahl's books)--a magic formula that makes kids forget it's over 400 pages long. My daughter (9 years old) read 200 pages in the first 2 days--and that's 100 pages more than she's ever read in any book!

So forget about whatever weaknesses the book has. Ms. Primavera has more than made up for them by creating an exciting, humorous and ultimately moving novel that fills the wide gap between Judy Moody and Harry Potter.
This is a must-have for any school or library.

when my mom got the book I thought it was going to be really boring but every time I read it it got so interesting that I couldn't put it down. My mom makes me read 30 min each night so I can get smarter and I'm in love with this book I'm so excited for the second one to come out I hope I'll be the first one to read it. I hope my younger sister will read it it is so,so,so,so good and I hope who ever reads it nex will love it she is a great author I wish I can meet her that is how much I love her book I'm trying to find other books she as written.

My eldest daughter is seven and we were having a really hard time getting her over the hump of only wanting to read the thin paperback chapter books. This book was the solution because it still had little line drawings every few pages so she didn't "feel" as if she was reading a larger hardback book. This was the transition to other, more substantial, books. And, as she said, "it was the best book EVER Mama!!" (What more endorsement do you need??)

I am a very cautious person when it comes to buying books. My nine year old neice loves to read and I love to get her books she will enjoy, but I am very cautious with books I do not know the author to. I have read The Wizard of Oz and I am familiar with Harry Potter books because I read four of the seven, but when I came across this book I was intrigued to get it for my neice because as a kid I can remember having adventures with my friends in the summer and so I thought this would be a great book for her. It turns out I was right. This book is an excellent read for even the pickiest readers. It has pictures and the characters are endearing. But and I do say but because this book has an age level set at certain target age at least I think. There are stuff like new age beliefs and some supernatural which is rather mild, but is alot to take in for a seven year old to understand. As well one of the girls like to say words that could sound offensive to some. So I caution that parents/guardians read the book before handing it over to a child because in some parts the book is rather scary to some children. But otherwise like I said I would recommend this book as a great read.

My 9 year old daughter who hates to read has quickly come to love this book and looks forward to reading together at bedtime. We are not finished yet, but look forward to finding out all the mysteries that are developing as we go along. It's a good book to read together because it's as interesting to me as to her. I'm already excited about the sequel!

I loved this book very muc. I recommend the book to all girls who love the book " The Wizard of OZ". This is a book of friendship.

I bought this book for my 8 year old daughter (who is a voracious, precocious reader) on a whim this year: I read the flyleaf and thought it sounded interesting. My daughter had read several of the Wizard of Oz books and enjoyed them. Then, as I usually do when I choose books for my children, I randomly opened the book to multiple places in the book and started to read. It was a wildly engaging read! I finally tore myself away and bought the book. My daughter read it and ADORED it. For days, she went around imitating each of the four girls (and the book's hilarious witches). She even asked if I could change my cell phone ring to go "bling bling blingy bling bling," like one of the witches' cell phones in the book (she promised me that it's because she liked the sound of it, not because she thought I resembled the witch). The book is a fast-paced read for good readers, and it's a lot of fun to read out loud. We particularly liked how Ms. Primavera stayed true to L. Frank Baum's Oz books, not confusing the famous ruby red slippers of the movies with the magic silver shoes of the books. Bravo for this novel -- we can't wait for the sequel!

I started reading this book aloud to my 10 year old who initially turned up her nose at the common theme of girls who dislike each other ultimately becoming fast friends. But in just 1 or 2 pages she was hooked and frankly so was I. Humorous, fast, intriguing and more, this book finds you looking at the clock long after it should be their bedtime simply because it's impossible to put down! Even my 8 year old son got immersed in the story regardless of the fact that it was all about girls! I highly recommend this book not just for the kids, but parents should use this as a great opportunity to read aloud to your children because you will love it too! Even though the story uses The Wizard of Oz as a backdrop, it pulls in many more aspects of the imagination, like the story behind the story, and keeps you going and wishing for more. I just learned there will be a sequel and I'm really looking forward to reading it to my kids!

My 8 year old son read this book and loved it. We found it by accident when we were looking for some "Fred and Anthony" books by the same author. He read it in two days and he has never read a book this big before. It got him over the hump of short chapter books to long novels because there are pictures on most of the pages. He loved it so much he told me he wanted to dream about it and he read it again (twice in one week!). He is really looking forward to the next book in this series, and I heard it has been optioned for a movie. We hope so! GREAT book to get your kids motivated to read novels!

I've given 5 away as presents. The girls can not put them down.