Great fun. Wallace disards his shoes for the whole summer (with dramatic flair). He competes with a new girl (Rose) to kick a playground ball over the high backstop. Amelia hands out underhanded compliments. The kids are shocked to encounter their teacher out of context- at the beach on summer vacation. There’s continual expeditions to hunt down Sasquatch and make bug collections (plus frogs, salamanders, etc.) Spud gets mistaken for a raccoon by a near-blind old-man animal control officer (I guess because Spud was wearing a striped shirt, but it seemed really exaggerated to me). He’s loaded in a cage in a truck and Wallace uses a bowling ball to rescue him! Wallace falls in the mud, goes home with Spud along- the friend fully expects his mom to be upset. But she’s just as dirty, from working in the garden! I loved that. And all the wacky only-a-kid-would-think-of-it adventures. Trying to leap a pogo stick over a manure pile. Maneuvering a trash can boat across the bay with ping pong paddles. Making up crazy inventions (an aquarium hat). Shocker when school starts again. Ameila and Wallace defend Spud against a bully. Amelia hurls a pumpkin off the school roof. It was an epic smash. Wallace trades shoes with a friend on the bus, to his parents’ dismay. Not quite as funny as the previous volumes somehow, but still really enjoyable.
The back page crafts include how to make bubbles and a wand for blowing ’em, and a recipe for corn cakes that looks so simple I might try it.
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/10/24.
