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sean67's review against another edition
3.0
Second book in the series follows on from the first, and again feels slightly flat, although it does have some good moments. Not Anglebergers best that I have read, and I am looking forward to one day reading the origami books, this one was OK but not that great.
s_hay's review against another edition
3.0
This is a quick read about the Qwikpick Adventure Society, three kids who live in the same town and hang out a lot at the local Qwikpick. When all of them are looking for something to do on Christmas Day they decide to travel over to the water treatment plant to hopefully see the fabled poop fountain that is soon to be replaced by a new, state-of-the-art facility. What ensue is a very stinky adventure.
Good for ages 8 and up.
Good for ages 8 and up.
scostner's review against another edition
3.0
Fans of Tom Angleberger (author of the Origami Yoda books) have another book to laugh their way through. Lyle, Dave, and Marilla form a club and name it the Qwikpick Adventure Society. (The club is named after the convenience store where Lyle's parents work. The club's meetings are held in the break room of the store.) When they realize that all three of them have free time on Christmas Day, they try to think up a really big adventure to go on together. A news article shared by another student during Current Events time causes them to decide on a visit to the local waste management plant to see the "Poop Fountain." On the big day they prepare themselves with a camera, PB&J sandwiches, pennies to throw into the fountain, a map, and a compass. To reach the plant they must cross fields full of cow pies, a construction site (where there is an incident with a bulldozer), and a farm full of abandoned pumpkins. Once there, things become even more interesting.
The style of the book is similar to the Origami Yoda stories with Lyle typing up an official report of the adventure, written comments inserted by each of the club members, and photos and drawings added to illustrate different points. The kids and the things they do are funny - like watching old movies left at the Qwikpick (gas station convenience store) from when there used to be movie rentals. Lyle mentions "The Princess Bride" as one of the videos. They also listen to old record albums in the store's break room and are proud to be the only kids at their school who know about the Electric Light Orchestra. All the details just add to the humor of the story and the sense that it could actually happen.
If you enjoy the Origami Yoda stories, Jeffrey Brown's Star Wars: Jedi Academy, and other books written in a journal or report style - or if you like the humor of Captain Underpants, then give this a try.Readers will laugh out loud and wait eagerly to see if there is another club adventure.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
The style of the book is similar to the Origami Yoda stories with Lyle typing up an official report of the adventure, written comments inserted by each of the club members, and photos and drawings added to illustrate different points. The kids and the things they do are funny - like watching old movies left at the Qwikpick (gas station convenience store) from when there used to be movie rentals. Lyle mentions "The Princess Bride" as one of the videos. They also listen to old record albums in the store's break room and are proud to be the only kids at their school who know about the Electric Light Orchestra. All the details just add to the humor of the story and the sense that it could actually happen.
If you enjoy the Origami Yoda stories, Jeffrey Brown's Star Wars: Jedi Academy, and other books written in a journal or report style - or if you like the humor of Captain Underpants, then give this a try.Readers will laugh out loud and wait eagerly to see if there is another club adventure.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
federo999's review against another edition
3.0
Laugh out loud funny. For kids who like bathroom humor.
hollowspine's review
4.0
For kids who like series such as Diary of a Wimpy kid, but find those stories just a bit too average, The Qwikpick Papers add a little something more. The story is about three kids who want to find adventure in their very boring town. When they discover that the local sewage treatment plant is closing after Christmas to get renovated/enlarged along with their town. The story also takes place in 2000, when computers were a newer thing that not every person had and things like Facebook and youtube didn't exist. So the kids needed to find adventure outside of browsers.
I like the fact that the characters represented are not middle class kids, Lyle's family lives in a trailer park and his parents both work full time at a convenience store, both his parents have crippling student loans. For his Christmas present, instead of a computer or a video game system, his parents buy him a used typewriter. Although readers can tell that Lyle isn't thrilled about it, he doesn't complain and instead makes use of the typewriter to start his career as a reporter, and types up his report on the Poop Fountain. Marilla Anderson is also a Jehovah's Witness, which is another group that is little known or represented in YA (or anything else really), she is also moving into the same trailer park as Lyle, her family's house is being foreclosed on. Marilla is also mixed race and adopted. Dave is Jewish, a nerd, good at basketball and wears really old hand-me-down clothing.
So when the Christmas holiday comes around, Marilla's family doesn't celebrate, Dave's family has already finished their celebrations and Lyle's family always works double holiday shifts. The three kids decide that they should hang out together and have a big adventure. Everyone else will be celebrating, the whole town will be empty, but what to do?
When they hear about the upcoming changes to the treatment facility and the prospect of being the last people to witness the great poop fountain, spurred by Marilla the two boys agree to bear witness to 20 million gallons of sewage.
I also enjoyed the use of illustrations and photographs in the story, which were provided by the other two members of the club, illustrations by Dave and photos by Marilla. Marilla also mentions right away that just because she's friends with Dave and Lyle, she's not going out with either of them and doesn't plan on falling in love with them. Which was funny and I appreciated it. Though both boys do have crushes on her and seem to be in competition for her attention.
Even though the time period is the 2000s it feels about the same as now, dealing with a lot of issues that I foresee coming up, parents with student debt, families being forced to sell houses and move into apartments or trailer parks, kids growing up feeling self-conscious about having old technology when their parents cannot afford the newest iPhone.
I also have to mention that the author Daniel M. Pinkwater was mentioned twice in the book. When I told this to my brother his immediate response was, 'that's dangerous.' At first I didn't understand what he meant, because I was just thinking how it added to the plot that Lyle's favorite author was Pinkwater and he thinks the best book ever is the Hoboken Chicken Emergency (which coincidentally is another book I'm planning on reading this December). It's dangerous to mention a great author like Pinkwater in one's book, because that will automatically draw a comparison between one's book and Pinkwater's, which could be dangerous. I think Angleberger gets away with it, his book is a bit zany, has elements that are added to give kids some exposure to different lives, but with a story that brings characters/readers together.
I would recommend this to kids who like zany stories, will laugh at the word poop no matter how many times it's brought up and adults who are looking for something to read with their kids and enjoy just as much. Oh yeah and for urban explorers of any age.
I like the fact that the characters represented are not middle class kids, Lyle's family lives in a trailer park and his parents both work full time at a convenience store, both his parents have crippling student loans. For his Christmas present, instead of a computer or a video game system, his parents buy him a used typewriter. Although readers can tell that Lyle isn't thrilled about it, he doesn't complain and instead makes use of the typewriter to start his career as a reporter, and types up his report on the Poop Fountain. Marilla Anderson is also a Jehovah's Witness, which is another group that is little known or represented in YA (or anything else really), she is also moving into the same trailer park as Lyle, her family's house is being foreclosed on. Marilla is also mixed race and adopted. Dave is Jewish, a nerd, good at basketball and wears really old hand-me-down clothing.
So when the Christmas holiday comes around, Marilla's family doesn't celebrate, Dave's family has already finished their celebrations and Lyle's family always works double holiday shifts. The three kids decide that they should hang out together and have a big adventure. Everyone else will be celebrating, the whole town will be empty, but what to do?
When they hear about the upcoming changes to the treatment facility and the prospect of being the last people to witness the great poop fountain, spurred by Marilla the two boys agree to bear witness to 20 million gallons of sewage.
I also enjoyed the use of illustrations and photographs in the story, which were provided by the other two members of the club, illustrations by Dave and photos by Marilla. Marilla also mentions right away that just because she's friends with Dave and Lyle, she's not going out with either of them and doesn't plan on falling in love with them. Which was funny and I appreciated it. Though both boys do have crushes on her and seem to be in competition for her attention.
Even though the time period is the 2000s it feels about the same as now, dealing with a lot of issues that I foresee coming up, parents with student debt, families being forced to sell houses and move into apartments or trailer parks, kids growing up feeling self-conscious about having old technology when their parents cannot afford the newest iPhone.
I also have to mention that the author Daniel M. Pinkwater was mentioned twice in the book. When I told this to my brother his immediate response was, 'that's dangerous.' At first I didn't understand what he meant, because I was just thinking how it added to the plot that Lyle's favorite author was Pinkwater and he thinks the best book ever is the Hoboken Chicken Emergency (which coincidentally is another book I'm planning on reading this December). It's dangerous to mention a great author like Pinkwater in one's book, because that will automatically draw a comparison between one's book and Pinkwater's, which could be dangerous. I think Angleberger gets away with it, his book is a bit zany, has elements that are added to give kids some exposure to different lives, but with a story that brings characters/readers together.
I would recommend this to kids who like zany stories, will laugh at the word poop no matter how many times it's brought up and adults who are looking for something to read with their kids and enjoy just as much. Oh yeah and for urban explorers of any age.
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