From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Archie believes that he is mature beyond his years and considers his classmates beneath him in this title by Pete Johnson. He's a good kid, a great student, and very unpopular at school. Miranda, the class troublemaker, is an angry girl who mistrusts adults and authority. When Archie's dad's girlfriend and her obnoxious daughter move into his house, Archie feels like a stranger in his own home. Miranda decides to take Archie under her wing. She begins slowly, by getting him to go to school with the top button of his uniform unbuttoned (Archie feels terribly exposed initially but then quite daring). Archie begins to sympathize with Miranda, always made the scapegoat by teachers because of her troublemaking reputation. She tells Archie that adults are the same as kids, only with much worse clothes. Archie eventually becomes a bit of a troublemaker himself, albeit an uneasy one. Once Miranda realizes how lonely Archie is at home, she smuggles him into her attic to live. As events ensue, listeners are carried along with this rollicking tale by British actor Karl Theobald's superb narration. He has a great sense of timing, and he brings to life the maturing of these two children. A jolly good listen.-
B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Audio Cassette
edition.
Review
"** 'Pete Johnson certainly keeps the reader's eye whizzing down the lines with a compulsive readability' JUNIOR BOOKSHELF ** 'Pete Johnson has proved himself time and time again to be an author of exceptional talents' THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN 'Pete Johnson is a master storyteller of hair-raising ghost stories... readers will love the experience but ultimately they will also learn about themselves and their world' THE BOOKSELLER"