Joe Casimir needs help with the choice he has to make. But how do you choose the person who will help you make that choice? Mr. Boulderwall, the millionaire, knows exactly what he wants Joe to choose. And millionaires are experts at making choices--aren't they? Joe can't find good advice from relatives, but good advice is right across the street. There are many good things waiting. You'll see. For upper elementary readers.

00012816

00012824

Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Chapter book
This book is about Joe, a 12 year old boy who has always wanted to study the moon because he is afraid that it might one day disappear. Joe lives with his grandma and he goes away for the summer to stay with his aunt because his grandmother breaks a hip. Joe is not very excited to move for the summer but there he meets a beautiful girl and also an owner of a millionaire company! Mr. Boulderwall tells him that he is looking for someone to take over his spot when he retires and he thinks Joe is just perfect. This story is set in the 1960s and is different from any other modern novels that students are reading nowadays. Joe is faced with the challenge of deciding whether he wants to give up his dream of studying the moon or not.

When twelve-year-old Joe Casimir goes to visit a distant relative for the summer, he anticipates a slightly boring few weeks. However, when a chain of circumstances brings him in contact with the wealthy Mr. Boulderwall, Joe's life could change forever. Mr. Boulderwall is looking for an heir, someone he could train up to be his replacement at the factory he started. Joe, an orphan of Polish descent, reminds Mr. Boulderwall of himself at that age. Why shouldn't he adopt the boy, he wonders, and mold him into the perfect factory manager? It would be a fantastic opportunity for Joe . . . but Joe has plans of his own, dreams that reach as high as the moon.

This is a gentle, almost folksy read. The style is typical of Natalie Babbitt, and similar to that of Patricia MacLachlan. I must admit that I found the story a bit flat. Nothing in the plot, characters, or setting made the book particularly distinctive. It reads like a lazy summer afternoon -- the sort of afternoon that leaves your inner child pacing around moaning "I'm bo-ored!" Babbitt has written some lovely books, but this is not one of her strongest works. ( )