Ivy and Bean Get to Work!

Gr 1-4–In the latest “Ivy and Bean” tale, the principal visits the girls’ classroom to announce a career fair. There, the second graders are inspired to become treasure hunters. The classmates uncover various treasures including a broken plate, a lost toy, a hoard of cans, and a bunch of change. Feeling left out, Ivy and Bean use a divining rod (and some creativity) to locate things in each others’ yards—they have each hidden items for the other to find. After a show-and-tell among the classmates, an exchange ensues, and Ivy and Bean are content to return to their pre–career fair plans for their futures. As always, Barrows’s concise, clever text captures a child’s voice and perspective. Characters are fully realized with age-appropriate thoughts, actions, and attitudes. This accessible story will appeal to children ready for short chapter books and will work equally well read aloud. Depicting a diverse classroom of distinctive students, Blackall’s signature black-and-white illustrations break up the text and bring Barrows’s characters to life. Though this is the 12th in the series, it stands on its own; however, new readers will want to discover the duo’s previous adventures. Ivy and Bean are both cued as white.