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jmitschke's review against another edition
3.0
Fun boy-friendly chapter book about a kid who's always getting into scrapes.
abigailbat's review against another edition
4.0
I asked for suggestions of diverse titles I could potentially booktalk to 3rd graders and this was one of them.
Calvin Coconut (yes, his real last name; it's a long story) is a trouble magnet. It seems no matter how hard he tries to follow the rules, trouble follows him around. Trouble might appear in the form of the school bully who just won't leave him and his friends alone, forgetting to fix the lock on his bedroom door so that their new houseguest gets trapped inside, or accidentally having a huge food fight after his teacher had provided a special treat lunch on the first day of school.
Calvin's adventures are humorous, but with a lot of heart. Kids who like funny stories or kids who always seem to find themselves in trouble will identify with Calvin. Details about Calvin's Hawaiian home make this a good choice for exposing kids to diverse cultures.
Calvin Coconut (yes, his real last name; it's a long story) is a trouble magnet. It seems no matter how hard he tries to follow the rules, trouble follows him around. Trouble might appear in the form of the school bully who just won't leave him and his friends alone, forgetting to fix the lock on his bedroom door so that their new houseguest gets trapped inside, or accidentally having a huge food fight after his teacher had provided a special treat lunch on the first day of school.
Calvin's adventures are humorous, but with a lot of heart. Kids who like funny stories or kids who always seem to find themselves in trouble will identify with Calvin. Details about Calvin's Hawaiian home make this a good choice for exposing kids to diverse cultures.
tami_provencher's review
2.0
I just finished reading Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet for the second time. The first time I read it was two summers ago because I found it at our local library and it looked like it might be a fun read. I read it and thought it was OK.
I didn’t really give it any more thought until I saw that it was one of the Lovelace Award nominees for the coming school year (2012-13). I decided to re-read it. This time I read it aloud with my children (ages 8 and 9-1/2). They LOVED it. My 9-year-old now wants to read the rest of the Calvin Coconut series! I have to say that I enjoyed the book MUCH more when I read it this second time. Maybe it was because I read it with children for whom Mr. Salisbury intended. Reading Calvin with my kids helped me to see some of the humor and fun that I missed the first time around by myself.
Calvin is starting Fourth Grade in his hometown of Kailua, Hawaii. Kind, earnest and ready-for-fun, Calvin has good intentions but somehow those intentions backfire into situations that require difficult explanations to parents and teachers. Along with his friends, Julio, Maya and Willy, we accompany Calvin as he brings a centipede to class, spills juice on the prized Wrestling T-shirt of the biggest, meanest kid at school and accidentally locks the teenage daughter of his mother’s friend in her bedroom–requiring her to crawl out of the window in her pajamas. (This last situation had my kids roaring with laughter while we read it!)
In conclusion, Calvin Coconut is an easy romp of a read for 2nd-5th Grade. It offers an enjoyable independent reading opportunity and, if my experience is any indication, it will provide a rollicking good time as a read-aloud for bedtime, family time or the classroom!
I didn’t really give it any more thought until I saw that it was one of the Lovelace Award nominees for the coming school year (2012-13). I decided to re-read it. This time I read it aloud with my children (ages 8 and 9-1/2). They LOVED it. My 9-year-old now wants to read the rest of the Calvin Coconut series! I have to say that I enjoyed the book MUCH more when I read it this second time. Maybe it was because I read it with children for whom Mr. Salisbury intended. Reading Calvin with my kids helped me to see some of the humor and fun that I missed the first time around by myself.
Calvin is starting Fourth Grade in his hometown of Kailua, Hawaii. Kind, earnest and ready-for-fun, Calvin has good intentions but somehow those intentions backfire into situations that require difficult explanations to parents and teachers. Along with his friends, Julio, Maya and Willy, we accompany Calvin as he brings a centipede to class, spills juice on the prized Wrestling T-shirt of the biggest, meanest kid at school and accidentally locks the teenage daughter of his mother’s friend in her bedroom–requiring her to crawl out of the window in her pajamas. (This last situation had my kids roaring with laughter while we read it!)
In conclusion, Calvin Coconut is an easy romp of a read for 2nd-5th Grade. It offers an enjoyable independent reading opportunity and, if my experience is any indication, it will provide a rollicking good time as a read-aloud for bedtime, family time or the classroom!
librarianbeck's review
5.0
Benji says: he likes the part about squishing the centipede but then they saved it.
pussreboots's review against another edition
4.0
Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet is the first in a new series by Graham Salisbury. Trouble always seems to find Calvin even when he's doing his best to avoid it. At home he has to give up his room to a girl from Texas. At school he's got a couple of bullies to avoid. To make matters worse, one of the bullies has a crush on the girl from Texas!
The Calvin Coconut books are set on the island of Oahu. As Graham Salisbury explains on the series website, he has set the books in his old elementary school. What this means is that the characters in Calvin Coconut seem real without being an obvious lesson on Hawaiian multiculturalism.
Instead of focusing on Hawaiian culture being different, Calvin and his friends learn through trial and error how different Texas culture. What strikes them as normal strikes Calvin's house guest as weird. Being in a Pacific rim state too, I find Hawaiian culture more normal than Texan, so I can relate to Calvin's bewilderment.
The books are best for children in second through fifth grade. There are delightful illustrations by Jacqueline Rogers to accompany the silliest of the scenes in the book.
There are four books planned and I've read two. I hope to read the others.
The Calvin Coconut books are set on the island of Oahu. As Graham Salisbury explains on the series website, he has set the books in his old elementary school. What this means is that the characters in Calvin Coconut seem real without being an obvious lesson on Hawaiian multiculturalism.
Instead of focusing on Hawaiian culture being different, Calvin and his friends learn through trial and error how different Texas culture. What strikes them as normal strikes Calvin's house guest as weird. Being in a Pacific rim state too, I find Hawaiian culture more normal than Texan, so I can relate to Calvin's bewilderment.
The books are best for children in second through fifth grade. There are delightful illustrations by Jacqueline Rogers to accompany the silliest of the scenes in the book.
There are four books planned and I've read two. I hope to read the others.
mrskatiefitz's review against another edition
5.0
Up until reading this Calvin Coconut book, my interest in this series focused mainly on the immersion in Hawaiian culture and the boy-friendly humor that have been at the center of each of the books I've read so far. In Man Trip, however, author Graham Salisbury shows us a whole new layer to Calvin's character that elevates this book from simple fluff to true literature.
Calvin begins the book faced with a dilemma. He's been asked to mow the lawn, but there are a bunch of bufos - or toads- lurking in the grass, which must be removed before he can actually start the lawn mower. His solution is pretty typical of his mischievous character: he starts violently hurling the toads into the nearby pond. When Ledward, his mother's boyfriend sees him doing this, though, he encourages him to think about how his actions might be hurting the toads. After that, Ledward takes Calvin on a special fishing trip - a man trip, for men only - where he learns to appreciate and respect the beauty of the natural world.
I am reading this series out of order, mainly because I read the books as I am able to find them, so it's possible that earlier books have shown a quieter, more contemplative side of Calvin. But for me, after reading Trouble Magnet and Zoo Breath, where Calvin is mainly causing trouble and investigating the disgustingness of life, the Calvin of Man Trip feels like a brand new character. I absolutely loved being inside Calvin's mind, and actually seeing the transformation he undergoes on the fishing trip. I also enjoyed seeing him deal with the admiration shown to him by his classmate, Shayla, and his interaction with his teacher, Mr. Purdy. The details of the fish which Calvin helps to catch, tag, and release, are so well-written, and so action-packed, I can't imagine an adventure-minded boy would be able to resist them.
Calvin Coconut is one of those series that just never grows stale or runs its course. Each book is richer than the last, and I love seeing Calvin's growth from a prankster and a troublemaker to a thoughtful and responsible young citizen.
Calvin begins the book faced with a dilemma. He's been asked to mow the lawn, but there are a bunch of bufos - or toads- lurking in the grass, which must be removed before he can actually start the lawn mower. His solution is pretty typical of his mischievous character: he starts violently hurling the toads into the nearby pond. When Ledward, his mother's boyfriend sees him doing this, though, he encourages him to think about how his actions might be hurting the toads. After that, Ledward takes Calvin on a special fishing trip - a man trip, for men only - where he learns to appreciate and respect the beauty of the natural world.
I am reading this series out of order, mainly because I read the books as I am able to find them, so it's possible that earlier books have shown a quieter, more contemplative side of Calvin. But for me, after reading Trouble Magnet and Zoo Breath, where Calvin is mainly causing trouble and investigating the disgustingness of life, the Calvin of Man Trip feels like a brand new character. I absolutely loved being inside Calvin's mind, and actually seeing the transformation he undergoes on the fishing trip. I also enjoyed seeing him deal with the admiration shown to him by his classmate, Shayla, and his interaction with his teacher, Mr. Purdy. The details of the fish which Calvin helps to catch, tag, and release, are so well-written, and so action-packed, I can't imagine an adventure-minded boy would be able to resist them.
Calvin Coconut is one of those series that just never grows stale or runs its course. Each book is richer than the last, and I love seeing Calvin's growth from a prankster and a troublemaker to a thoughtful and responsible young citizen.
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
4.0
Calvin is Henry Huggins. Calvin is Tom Sawyer. Calvin is the all-American boy we’ve come to know and love. In trouble most of the time, but somehow it’s not really his fault.
So we know this character, but do we? Calvin lives in Hawaii. His dad is a pop singer who hit it big and left the family for the mainland. One of Calvin’s new friends has just come to Hawaii and is having difficulty fitting in because he is white.
I like it. And it is my first official 2010-2011 Bluebonnet book. Nineteen more to go.
So we know this character, but do we? Calvin lives in Hawaii. His dad is a pop singer who hit it big and left the family for the mainland. One of Calvin’s new friends has just come to Hawaii and is having difficulty fitting in because he is white.
I like it. And it is my first official 2010-2011 Bluebonnet book. Nineteen more to go.
xterminal's review
4.0
Graham Salisbury, Trouble Magnet (Wendy Lamb Books, 2009)
Salisbury kicks off his Hawaii-set series featuring pre-teen Calvin Coconut with Trouble Magnet, a cute book that introduces the characters and some basics of Hawaiian life to younger readers. I think he may underestimate the knowledge of mainlanders sometimes (is there a kid who's been to a county fair anywhere in the country who doesn't know what shave ice is?), but readers will get “ooh, gross!” kicks out of Calvin's out-of-this-world descriptions of traditional Hawaiian snack food (and I gotta say, anywhere you can buy dried squid in cellophane packages to snack on is all right by me). Salisbury does keep things universal with school bullies, canny-but-not-too-canny adults, and what promises to be a standard romantic subplot as things progress, and it's a nice blend. I liked this one. *** ½
Salisbury kicks off his Hawaii-set series featuring pre-teen Calvin Coconut with Trouble Magnet, a cute book that introduces the characters and some basics of Hawaiian life to younger readers. I think he may underestimate the knowledge of mainlanders sometimes (is there a kid who's been to a county fair anywhere in the country who doesn't know what shave ice is?), but readers will get “ooh, gross!” kicks out of Calvin's out-of-this-world descriptions of traditional Hawaiian snack food (and I gotta say, anywhere you can buy dried squid in cellophane packages to snack on is all right by me). Salisbury does keep things universal with school bullies, canny-but-not-too-canny adults, and what promises to be a standard romantic subplot as things progress, and it's a nice blend. I liked this one. *** ½
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