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shighley's review against another edition
4.0
I like the comparison of this book to Lucy and Ethel, or Bosom Buddies (many of you may be too young to remember those). The book manages to combine humor, a few lessons without being preachy, and even a bit of science. (And a cool librarian, with a slam at reference librarians, though). Other than having to suspend a bit of believability (really, virtually no one could tell they were boys over a period of months?), it was a fun book. I had to re-read the chapter with Jeremy's sister calling him out--guess she had put two and two together, but the moment slipped in and out quickly.
book_nut's review against another edition
3.0
Highly implausible, and I kinda hated the whole Cupcake Cadets as an organization, but fun in the end.
tcbueti's review against another edition
5.0
I was planning to just glance at this, but could not help reading "just one more chapter" to find out what would happen to these two guys.
REALLY funny--laugh-out-loud-and-read-parts-to-other-people funny. Jeremy messes up the engine of his dad's beloved Chris-Craft boat by spilling soda and paint on it. He and his best friend Slater decide that their only chance of earning the money is winning a lame balsa-wood boat race("The Windjammer Whirl")--but they have to be Cupcake Cadets (read Girls Scouts) to enter, AND they have to first sell a full quota of cupcakes and earn three Caliber badges. So they dress up as cadets Jenna and Samantha(in Jeremy's older sister's old uniforms), and they just gradually get in deeper and deeper into the deception. Tootsie, anyone?
Along the way they absorb many of the values of the Cupcake Cadets--"teamwork, cooperation, innovative thinking and a little vanilla frosting"--mostly by studying (memorizing) the handbook and learning corny, frosting-laden sayings--and how it feels to be total screw-ups at something they thought would be a (cup)cake walk. They go from being so bad that the other girls in their troop think they are saboteurs, to actually (accidental) saboteurs of a camping trip, to thinking of a great money-raising idea and working WITH their main "Whirlwind" competitor. A boy's-eye view of girldom, quick-moving and full of slaptick.
A couple of reviewers have mentioned "I Love Lucy"-That came to mind for me, too. And thier school is "The Thomas Scolari Academy"--Peter Scolari played opposite Tom Hanks in the 80's cross-dressing TV comedy series "Bosom Buddies". Hmmm.
REALLY funny--laugh-out-loud-and-read-parts-to-other-people funny. Jeremy messes up the engine of his dad's beloved Chris-Craft boat by spilling soda and paint on it. He and his best friend Slater decide that their only chance of earning the money is winning a lame balsa-wood boat race("The Windjammer Whirl")--but they have to be Cupcake Cadets (read Girls Scouts) to enter, AND they have to first sell a full quota of cupcakes and earn three Caliber badges. So they dress up as cadets Jenna and Samantha(in Jeremy's older sister's old uniforms), and they just gradually get in deeper and deeper into the deception. Tootsie, anyone?
Along the way they absorb many of the values of the Cupcake Cadets--"teamwork, cooperation, innovative thinking and a little vanilla frosting"--mostly by studying (memorizing) the handbook and learning corny, frosting-laden sayings--and how it feels to be total screw-ups at something they thought would be a (cup)cake walk. They go from being so bad that the other girls in their troop think they are saboteurs, to actually (accidental) saboteurs of a camping trip, to thinking of a great money-raising idea and working WITH their main "Whirlwind" competitor. A boy's-eye view of girldom, quick-moving and full of slaptick.
A couple of reviewers have mentioned "I Love Lucy"-That came to mind for me, too. And thier school is "The Thomas Scolari Academy"--Peter Scolari played opposite Tom Hanks in the 80's cross-dressing TV comedy series "Bosom Buddies". Hmmm.
corncobwebs's review against another edition
Well, I’m pretty much going to be a fan of any book where boys are dressed in drag. But personal biases aside, this was a quick, funny read. Jeremy Bender is obsessed with his dad’s antique Chris-Craft boat and wants to fix it up on the sly - if he can impress his dad, maybe he’ll be allowed to take the boat out himself. But the fixing up goes horribly wrong, and ends with the boat’s engine being flooded with two cans of soda and sprayed with sticky, corrosive green paint. Jeremy is horrified, and sets out to fix the engine without his dad finding out. Even though Jeremy may have the know-how to do the repairs, it’ll cost $500 to replace all the damaged parts - and that’s about $470 more than he has. So the scheming begins - how will he come up with that kind of cash before spring (and boating season) arrives? On a serendipitous trip to the public library with his friend Slater, Jeremy spots a flier for the “Windjammer Whirl” - a competition held by the local Cupcake Cadets (a thinly veiled version of the Girl Scouts) that’ll award $500 as the top prize. Jeremy figures that he can easily whip up a model boat that’ll cream the competition, which just leaves the not-so-small matter of passing as a Cupcake Cadet. Amazingly, Jeremy and Slater are able to pull off a successful gender swap...but then they proceed to (unintentionally) wreak havoc on every Cupcake Cadet activity they participate in. It doesn’t help when Margaret Parsley, a snotty Cadet with a mean competitive streak, finds out their secret and only agrees to keep quiet if the boys give her half the prize money (assuming they win the Windjammer Whirl). By the time they make it to the actual competition, their secret is hanging on by a thread - which finally snaps when Jeremy passes out just seconds away from victory, losing his wig and outing himself as a boy. Even though the prize money is history, Jeremy and Slater have a new friend in Margaret, who happens to be a Chris-Craft aficionado. This comes in handy when Jeremy finally comes clean to his dad and is ordered to repair the ruined engine - Margaret is more than happy to pitch in. So even though their original plan is a bust, Jeremy and Slater still end up with a passable solution to the whole boat debacle.
GREAT recommendation for upper-elementary boys who are looking for a funny book.
GREAT recommendation for upper-elementary boys who are looking for a funny book.
mrskatiefitz's review against another edition
4.0
Jeremy Bender is eleven years old, and he has a serious problem. He and his best friend, Slater, are working on his dad's boat when they aren't supposed to be, and next thing they know, it needs some pretty substantial repairs - to the tune of $470! Even if the boys pool their allowances, they know they don't have that much, so they start searching for other ways to bring in some cash. When an advertisement at the public library alerts them to a sailboat race sponsored by the Cupcake Cadets, they're thrilled by the possibility of a 500-dollar prize, but disappointed that they can't enter because they're not girls. Desperate and determined, Jeremy decides they will pose as girls, infiltrate the Cadets, and win the prize. But being a Cupcake Cadet is nowhere near as easy as it sounds, and the boys have to jump through many hoops before they can even enter the contest.
I am not usually crazy about stories where boys disguise themselves as girls or vice versa, because I don't find them very believable, and that annoys me. But I really enjoyed Eric Luper's YA novel, Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto, and decided it would be worth braving the possible pitfalls of the plot to read some more of his work. I was right. Eric Luper is a master of "buddy comedy" stories. Like Seth Baumgartner and his best friend, Dimitri, Jeremy and Slater have a humorous rapport. Their dialogue comes right off the page, bringing the characters to life, and investing the reader in their success. Luper has a great understanding of friendship between middle school boys, and also does a great job of portraying the logic that leads the eleven-year-old mind to do some pretty unusual things.
I also thought this book explored a lot of interesting gender issues without being preachy or overly obvious about it. It was great to see a couple of boys who aren't especially sporty thrown in with a group of girls who play lacrosse very aggressively, for example. This book turns a lot of gender stereotypes on their heads, and plays with them a bit, giving the reader a lot to laugh - and think - about.
I was also thrilled to see that this book has a librarian in it who is not a walking, talking cliche. I get so tired of seeing fictional librarians saying "shush" or refusing to help kids, or kicking them out for talking. Yes, it happens, but it's not very interesting to read about, and often it adds nothing to the story. The librarian in this book, Ms. Morrison, is actually three-dimensional. She talks to Slater and Jeremy like they're people with minds of their own, and even confides in them a little bit about some library politics vis a vis teens and making noise in the library.
Here's just one little snippet of a library scene:
Ms. Morrison propped her feet on the lower shelf of the book cart. Her fuzzy rainbow socks looked like twin puppets. "What do I know about windjammers?" she said. "I'm just a children's librarian. Anyhow, I've got troubles of my own."
"What sort of trouble does a children's librarian have?" Slater asked. "Isn't it all cats wearing hats and boy wizards with facial scars?"
That cracked me up, mostly because I think plenty of people have that attitude, including lots of eleven year old boys.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander or Liar Liar and Flat Broke by Gary Paulsen. All are about boys looking to make money, and all deal with friendships among adolescent boys. It's also a good one to recommend to girls, particularly girl scouts, who will undoubtedly get a kick out of the idea of boys trying to secretly join their troop.
I am not usually crazy about stories where boys disguise themselves as girls or vice versa, because I don't find them very believable, and that annoys me. But I really enjoyed Eric Luper's YA novel, Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto, and decided it would be worth braving the possible pitfalls of the plot to read some more of his work. I was right. Eric Luper is a master of "buddy comedy" stories. Like Seth Baumgartner and his best friend, Dimitri, Jeremy and Slater have a humorous rapport. Their dialogue comes right off the page, bringing the characters to life, and investing the reader in their success. Luper has a great understanding of friendship between middle school boys, and also does a great job of portraying the logic that leads the eleven-year-old mind to do some pretty unusual things.
I also thought this book explored a lot of interesting gender issues without being preachy or overly obvious about it. It was great to see a couple of boys who aren't especially sporty thrown in with a group of girls who play lacrosse very aggressively, for example. This book turns a lot of gender stereotypes on their heads, and plays with them a bit, giving the reader a lot to laugh - and think - about.
I was also thrilled to see that this book has a librarian in it who is not a walking, talking cliche. I get so tired of seeing fictional librarians saying "shush" or refusing to help kids, or kicking them out for talking. Yes, it happens, but it's not very interesting to read about, and often it adds nothing to the story. The librarian in this book, Ms. Morrison, is actually three-dimensional. She talks to Slater and Jeremy like they're people with minds of their own, and even confides in them a little bit about some library politics vis a vis teens and making noise in the library.
Here's just one little snippet of a library scene:
Ms. Morrison propped her feet on the lower shelf of the book cart. Her fuzzy rainbow socks looked like twin puppets. "What do I know about windjammers?" she said. "I'm just a children's librarian. Anyhow, I've got troubles of my own."
"What sort of trouble does a children's librarian have?" Slater asked. "Isn't it all cats wearing hats and boy wizards with facial scars?"
That cracked me up, mostly because I think plenty of people have that attitude, including lots of eleven year old boys.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander or Liar Liar and Flat Broke by Gary Paulsen. All are about boys looking to make money, and all deal with friendships among adolescent boys. It's also a good one to recommend to girls, particularly girl scouts, who will undoubtedly get a kick out of the idea of boys trying to secretly join their troop.
beecheralyson's review against another edition
4.0
When I read this, I couldn't stop myself from comparing Jeremy & his buddy Slater to Lucy & Ethel (I LOVE LUCY). After damaging his father's boat, Jeremy has to come up with an idea to raise some money fast. He talks his friend Slater into dressing up as a girl and joining the Cupcake Cadets and entering their annual Windjammer Whirl for a chance to win $500. Like with Lucy & Ethel, Jeremy's plans nearly never turn out as he expects which makes for quite a few mistakes and laughs and maybe even a few lessons learned along the way.
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