EllRay Jakes Is a Rock Star (EllRay Jakes Series #2)

by Sally Warner, Jamie Harper (Illustrator)

Overview

All the boys in EllRay's third-grade class have something they can brag about. Corey's on the swim team, Kevin is super tall, Jared's dad has an ATV. But EllRay's dad is a geologist - not much to brag about. After all, rocks are boring. Then EllRay sees the crystals in his dad's office, and they are really cool looking. If EllRay just "borrows" them to show his classmates, he knows they'd be impressed. And his dad will never have to know. It's a perfect plan . . . until things go awry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142419892
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/02/2012
Series:	EllRay Jakes Series , #2
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	54,945
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	750L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sally Warner (www.sallywarner.com) has published more than twenty novels for young readers, including the Emma and EllRay Jakes series. She lives in Altadena, California with her husband and their not-so-miniature dachshund, Rocky. 

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2–4—All of the kids in EllRay's third-grade class have something to brag about—Kevin is really tall, Corey's on the swim team, and Jared's dad has an ATV. EllRay doesn't have anything to boast about, except that his dad, a geologist, collects rocks. And that isn't very exciting—or is it? EllRay decides to "borrow" six of the crystals in his dad's office to show his classmates in his attempt to become a "rock star." Unfortunately show-and-tell turns into giving the prized crystals away, and EllRay finds himself in a tough spot when his dad realizes that they are missing. Will the child get the crystals back by his dad's deadline? The protagonist's voice is humorous, and the charming cartoon illustrations make this beginning chapter book approachable for reluctant readers.—Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma, OH

School Library Journal

This second series entry (EllRay Jakes Is Not a Chicken, 2011) features an unofficial popularity contest and EllRay's struggles to extricate himself from the fix he gets into after he tries to take a shortcut to earn the respect of his classmates.

This time, the kids in Ms. Sanchez's third-grade class are engaging in one-upmanship; Jared's dad has a new ATV, Cynthia's dad has a really cool car, Kevin's dad has a lot of money and so on. EllRay can't think of anything his geologist dad has that would impress, except crystals, which his father personally collected from all over the world. EllRay brings the valuable rocks to school and somehow finds himself giving them out to his classmates, which is a problem, since he didn't have permission to borrow them in the first place. EllRay's attempts to right the situation ring true; he resists adults' attempts to fix the problem and manages to solve it himself, though not without paying a bit of a price in allowance money and embarrassment. As in the previous book, the dialogue, setting and plot are accessible and realistic. Young readers can identify with EllRay, who is neither a bad seed nor a goody-two-shoes; he and his sense of humor are just right.

A welcome addition to the tales from Oak Glen Primary School. (Fiction. 7-11)

Kirkus Reviews