Herbie Jones - Hardcover

Suzy Kline, the author of nineteen previous Horrible Harry books and four books about Song Lee, lives in Willington Connecticut with her husband, Rufus. Suzy and Rufus have been married for thirty-eight years. They met in the state where they both grew up: California. Suzy grew up in Berkeley and Rufus in Sacramento. Suzy graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in European history. She met Rufus at the Davis campus while attending that campus for a year. They got married and lived in different places, including Canada, before settling into Connecticut, the state they now call home.

Suzy taught in 5th and 6th grades at Shannon Elementary School in Richmond, California for 3 years, and 2nd and 3rd grades at Southwest Elementary School in Torrington, Connecticut for 24 years before retiring this past June. She now enjoys writing full-time and visiting schools and libraries. The couple share their home with two cats, Teeter and Hoag. They have two daughters, Jennifer and Emily, and four grandchildren: Jake, Kenna, Gabby and Saylor. A fifth grandchild is due in September, 2006. Suzy's mother just turned 96. She dedicated her most recent book, Horrible Harry Takes the Cake to her.

Suzy and Rufus enjoy attending UConn football and basketball games, and Suzy uses the UConn library as a reference for her writing facts.

 

Grade 2-4 Third-grader Herbie Jones is one of only two boys in his class who is in the lowest reading group. As he attempts to get out of the "Apples," he becomes involved in some typical elementary school hijinks, including some gross humor which children delight in. Raymond barfs at a birthday party, after which the other children refuse to eat the cake because of its yellow icing. In another episode, the girls are afraid to use the "haunted" school bathrooms. Readers never learn who is responsible for the vandalism on the walls, but Herbie does manage to rescue one of his terrified classmates from the girls' room. Totally unnecessary are the all-caps words used for emphasis. Illustrations are shaded pencil drawings that have an old-fashioned quality about them. Herbie is a younger Aldo Applesauce (Morrow), and the reading level is also a shade easier than in the Johanna Hurwitz titles. Very light humor for the in-between grades. Rita S. Padden, Wenatchee Public Lib . , Wash.
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