A sweet, multicultural easy chapter book with a lovable main character. The parents of the protagonist are a truck-driver and a shoe salesperson, which is a nice change from the office jobs of typical kids' book parents.

Note: I received an ARC from the publisher. ( )

A fun summer story for middle grade readers about a young girl who befriends a young boy in her neighborhood.

You can read my full review here: https://laurasbooksandblogs.com/my-litpick-review-of-cody-and-the-fountain-of-ha... ( )

My son really enjoyed it. He sat down and read it in one sitting. He seemed reluctant to talk about it though except to say it was good and that he'd read more books about Cody. Flipping through it myself, I didn't notice anything negative. The illustrations are delightful. ( )

Usually, I really don't care for these slice-of-life type of books and rarely buy them since the kids don't check them out often. But this one really grabbed me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cody is excited about the start of a wonderful summer. She's going to enjoy it with reading, watching ants, and hanging out with her family. But it's a little bumpier than expected with her teen brother Wyatt struggling at his science camp and in love and a maybe new friend named Spencer who has a lost cat. Not to mention her mom's new job that isn't going as well as she'd hoped. Fortunately, after some tears and struggles, all ends well.

I loved the depiction of a warm and loving family going through everyday problems. The characters are realistic and have fights and arguments, especially when Cody's ideas don't turn out as well as she'd hoped, but underneath they're basically kind and trying to do the right thing. Nobody dies, gets divorced, has life-threatening illnesses, etc. It's just a simple story of a happy summer with ups and downs.

Verdict: I really loved this - the writing was lovely, the characters realistic and people I'd want to meet, and whole story was just very happy. I liked that the main characters were diverse without it being the point of the story and that Springstubb didn't fall into the "diverse best friend" trap. On the other hand, I'm not sure how many kids would actually check this out. It's a little long for a beginning chapter book, but not quite long enough for the middle grade kids that will read this type of slice-of-life story. It would make a nice read-aloud for younger kids though. I'll have to think about it some more.

ISBN: 9780763658571; Published 2015 by Candlewick; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

This is an adorable story about a young girl, Cody, scheduled to begin summer vacation at the same time her mom gets a promotion at work and has to spend more hours away from the house. Cody’s dad, a trucker, is on the road a lot, so they have planned for Cody to go to camp. But Cody’s camp closed at the last minute and all the other nearby camps are filled. Cody’s older brother, 14-year-old Wyatt, is attending to a summer program for young science students. So they need to find someone older to help watch Cody during the day.

When Cody’s dad finds a girl, Payton Underwood, to kidsit Cody, it turns out to be the girl on whom Wyatt has a crush. I particularly enjoyed the way Payton, “a hardhearted shampoo commercial” as Cody calls her before she gets to know her, uses “upspeak.” As Cody gets to know Payton, she finds she likes her, and she makes some other summer friends as well.

This book contains a number of subtly conveyed positive messages, including the “meta” message of the friendship between Cody and a young African American boy. Also, Cody is blessed with a kind and loving family. In addition, I liked the fact that Wyatt, though struggling with the beginnings of adolescence and worried about Cody embarrassing him in front of Payton, is still supportive and affectionate toward his sister.

The kid-friendly illustrations by Eliza Wheeler add interest and warmth to the text.

Evaluation: This story is bound to delight middle-grade readers. ( )