Marty McGuire

by Kate Messner, Brian Floca (Illustrator)

Overview

A fun, accessible chapter-book debut from an exciting new talent—simultaneous hardcover-paperback launch!

Marty McGuire would rather spend recess catching frogs in the pond than playing dress-up with the other girls in third grade. So when her teacher casts Marty as the princess in the class play, Marty's absolutely, positively sure that there's been a huge mistake. But after a special lesson in the art of improvisation, Marty comes up with her OWN plan to IMPROVE the play: Why use stuffed-animal frog onstage when a live one would be so much better? In the end, Marty's one-of-a-kind performance makes for an unforgettable show. Maybe Marty CAN live happily ever after, after all!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545142465
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/2011
Series:	Marty Mcguire
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,147,852
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning book Locomotive. He also wrote and illustrated Lightship and Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, both Sibert Honor Books, and illustrated Avi's Poppy Stories series as well as Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, also a Sibert Honor Book. Brian grew up in Texas and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Find him online at www.brianfloca.com.
Kate Messner is the author of The Seventh Wish; All the Answers; The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., winner of the E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers; Capture the Flag, an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner; Hide and Seek; Manhunt; and the Ranger in Time and Marty McGuire chapter book series. A former middle-school English teacher, Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family and loves reading, walking in the woods, and traveling. Visit her online at katemessner.com.

Read an Excerpt

That nice Mrs. Kramer lied to me about third grade.On the last day of school, she gave us cupcakes with sprinkles and little beach umbrellas and said have a super-duper summer and she'd wave to us in the hallway next year. She said third grade would be even more fun than second grade. She said we'd read bigger books and keep our old friends and make new ones and even get to be in the school play.None of it is true. Because Veronica Grace Smithers has stolen my best friend and taken over recess.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2–3—Marty loves playing in the mud and catching frogs, but when she learns that her teacher has cast her as the Frog Princess in the third-grade play, she is anything but happy. However, by showtime, she has found a way to remain true to herself and add a little drama to the performance. Marty's teacher gives readers a brief lesson on the variations of "The Frog Princess," and an acting coach provides tips for improvisation on stage. Though large print and many amusing black-and-white drawings make this the model format for children just stepping into chapter books, today's young audience may find the story a bit bland.—Lindsay Persohn, University of South Florida, Tampa

School Library Journal

Marty, a tomboy frog-catcher who idolizes Jane Goodall, is strikingly voiced by Cassandra Morris as the third-grader finds herself the reluctant star of the class play. Marty has no empathy for princesses, such as her nemesis Veronica Grace Smithers, who has “hair the color of a golden lab.” So Marty’s starring role in “The Frog Prince” at first bewilders and then transforms her, as she puts her own spin on it. Morris is terrific at portraying the characters—snooty girls, chummy boys, and patient adults—and her depiction of Marty’s transformation is especially elegant. Morris has the nuances and personalities of kids down pat as she shares subtle lessons about friendship and self-discovery with humor and grace. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2011 - AudioFile

When the promised land of third grade does not pan as promised, Marty McGuire finds herself playing a completely new role.

Mrs. Aloi, her maracas-shaking teacher, is putting together the parts for the class play of The Frog Prince, and she decides that Marty is perfect for the part of the princess. Marty, who prefers learning about frog anatomy to kissing or, worse, throwing a frog, is horrified. She gets little support from her scientist mother or her teacher father—a princess she shall be! On top of this bad news, Marty's best friend has joined the girly-girl group and does not seem interested in playing outside and pretending to be Jane Goodall anymore. Messner gets all the details of third grade right: the social chasm between the girls who want to be like the older kids and the ones who are still little girls, the Mad Minutes for memorizing arithmetic facts, the silly classroom-control devices teachers use and the energy students of this age put into projects like class plays. Floca's black-and-white sketches are filled with movement and emotion and are frequent enough to help new chapter-book readers keep up with this longer text.

Believable and endearing characters in a realistic elementary-school setting will be just the thing for fans of Clementine and Ramona. (Fiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews