School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Kansas, a new boy, and Francine, a veteran of the fourth-grade Media Club, go head-to-head in a dare war competing for the role of news anchor. Kansas has never turned down a dare in his life, and Francine will do anything for the job she has wanted "forever." Readers will be hooked by the first chapter: Who will be the first to slip up? How far will they go to win? Is there any dare they won't do? Chapters alternate between the protagonists' points of view; initials at the top of the page indicate whose turn it is. Amid the competition, readers get an inside look at what it is like to be a kid experiencing divorce: how it feels when mom changes her last name back to her maiden name, splitting time between two homes, and finding the right way to share these changes with friends. The seriousness of the topic is nicely balanced with humor throughout; kids will laugh at the dares, such as kissing a lizard, telling the playground monitor that you need to smell his armpit for a science project, and eating 87 packets of ketchup in the school cafeteria. Readers who have experienced divorce in their own lives will easily connect with the characters, and those who have not will readily empathize. All readers will be reminded that even when things don't turn out as expected, it's often for the best. A small sprinkling of emails, IMs, and notes passed in class help make the story realistic. All in all, an enjoyable, lighthearted read about a difficult topic.-Karinn Figdore, William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, PA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
More than anything, Francine Halata wants to be the news anchor of the fourth-grade Media Club: "I need the practice, for when I'm a famous animal trainer, with my own TV show." But when a new kid, Kansas Bloom, the self-proclaimed "King of Dares," is nominated for the anchor position, the two students begin a two-week dare war to win the job (Kansas doesn't even want the job, but can't resist a dare). The challenges start small (licking a lizard, hanging upside down on the monkey bars for all of recess), but soon escalate to hair dying, ketchup eating, wearing a tutu to school, and running underwear up the flagpole. Francine and Kansas attempt to outsmart each other every step of the way, and all of the nonsense is a welcome distraction from their parents' divorces. Graff's (Sophie Simon Solves Them All) story is lighthearted and humorous, but honestly addresses the emotions associated with divorce. Her characters' voices, interactions, and hangups are relatable, as they battle each other and adjust to their families' reconfigurations. Ages 8-12. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Foundry Literary + Media. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Francine and Kansas (who's new to Auden Elementary School) are competing to be the next Media Club news anchor: whoever performs the most dares will win. They eventually realize they have something in common: their parents' upsetting divorces. Graff combines mild gross-out humor with real-life problems of fourth graders. The story has an enjoyable arc with a satisfying ending. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Media Club becomes "a place of battle" when the time comes to select a news anchor for the spring semester. Fourth-grader Francine Halata has dreamt of sitting behind the news desk since the beginning of the school year, and she'll do just about anything to get to get there. Kansas Bloom couldn't care less, until passing it up means losing his status as "King of Dares." And the race is on. For two weeks, members of the Media Club agree to assign Francine and Kansas each a dare a day. Each dare is worth a point, and the one with the most points at the end will win the coveted anchor seat. Though Kansas and Francine are pitted against each other in this high-stakes game at school, the competition pales in comparison to what they are both coping with at home. Through a third-person narration that alternates focus between Francine and Kansas, readers see them both struggling to come to grips with parents who are in the throes of divorce. Graff does an impressive job striking a balance between humor and heft in this middle-grade novel. With two equally compelling protagonists to root for and plenty to make kids laugh, this is sure to resonate with and entertain young readers. (Fiction. 7-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Graff's perceptive and funny book features two fourth-graders unwillingly caught up in a dare war. Francine wants to be anchor of the school's media club it should have been a sure thing, but then new boy Kansas Bloom is also nominated for the position. After a vote ends in a tie, the club decides that the rivals should go head-to-head in a series of dares to see who gets the job. Even though the reader can clearly see this is a bad idea, the teacher in charge of the club OKs it. Francine and Kansas have more in common than they initially realize: Kansas' parents are preparing for an inevitable divorce; Francine's parents, although being very civil about it, are also getting divorced. Graff's resolution of the dare war is ever-so-slightly far-fetched, but the way she handles her characters is spot-on. In both the dare war and the parental wars, Francine and Kansas are put to the test, but they emerge stronger, triumphant, and, best of all, together.--Dean, Kara Copyright 2010 Booklist
Excerpts
Prologue Most wars begin with a bang, or a blast, or an enormous KABOOM! The war in room 43H began with a simple question. "Students," Miss Sparks said to the eight members of the Media Club gathered in her classroom that Tuesday morning, "it's time to decide who should be the news anchor for the spring semester. Who would like to do it?" The Media Club was not normally a place of battle. Normally, it was a place of great cooperation, of friendship and camaraderie. After all, the club members had a job to?do--produce and film the morning announcements, each and every day--and they knew it was important. But sometimes even the best of friends can have differences of opinion. "Anyone?" Miss Sparks said. "Let's see a raise of hands." Three hands went up--Brendan King's, Francine Halata's, and Luis Maldonado's. "Wonderful. Brendan, why don't you tell the class why you'd like the job?" With a grand "Ahem," Brendan King rose to stand. He placed one foot on his chair, then another on his desk. And before the members of the Media Club knew what was happening, Brendan King was three feet in the air, pounding his chest with his fists and hollering, "I should be news anchor!" He shouted the words to the ceiling. "Because I'm the best in the world!" Brendan's best friend, Andre Jackson, rose to his feet, too. "Yeah!" he hollered, not quite as loudly, but almost. "The best in the world!" Emma Finewitz giggled. Miss Sparks nodded calmly. She was the rare breed of?teacher who didn't believe in much discipline in the classroom. Miss Sparks always said that it was best to let children?express themselves, that her students needed to learn to settle their own arguments in the way they saw fit. It was probably for this reason that, throughout Auden Elementary, Miss Sparks was known as the best teacher in the whole fourth grade. But she wasn't an easy teacher. Quite the opposite. Miss Sparks could silence an entire classroom with a single frown. "Thank you, Brendan," she said as Brendan jumped down from his desk. "That was a very compelling argument. You may sit down now." Brendan sat. Andre did too. "Francine?" Miss Sparks went on. "How about you?" Francine Halata did not climb up on her desk. Francine Halata was not a climbing-on-her-desk sort of girl. Instead, she stood, slowly, and turned to face her fellow Media Club members, tucking a strand of straw-blond hair behind her ear. "I'd really like to be the news anchor next semester," she told them. Francine had wanted to be news anchor from the very beginning of the year. As far as Francine was concerned, news anchor was the best job in the club. But when the group had voted Alicia Halladay the first news anchor, Francine hadn't complained. She'd just decided to work extra hard in her job as camerawoman to convince everyone that she should get their votes for the spring. "I need the practice, for when I'm a famous animal trainer, with my own TV show." Francine looked to her best friend, Natalie Perez, who offered an encouraging nod. "And I think I'd be really good at it. Plus, I've never missed a single?day of Media Club, I'm always on time, and sometimes I stay late after school to help Miss Sparks move equipment." Brendan mouthed something to Andre then that looked suspiciously to Francine like teacher's pet, but Francine soldiered on. "So," she said, "please vote for me. Thank you." And she sat down. "Thank you, Francine," Miss Sparks said. Brendan made a gagging noise, and Andre gagged, too. "Luis?" Miss Sparks continued. "Would you care to tell us why you would like to be news anchor?" Luis shook his head. "I don't want to be news anchor," he said. "Then why'd you raise your hand?" Alicia asked. "Because," Luis explained, "I want to nominate someone else." "Oh?" Miss Sparks said. She leaned back against her desk, where her dippy bird sat--its red head with its funny blue hat continually dunking its beak into a nearby glass of water for a drink. "Yes," Luis replied. "I'd like to nominate Kansas." Up until that point in the conversation, Kansas Bloom had been resting his head comfortably on his arms. Kansas could not care less about who got to be the news anchor. As far as Kansas was concerned, 7:05 in the morning was too early to care about anything, especially when school didn't actually start until 8:05. Kansas was the newest member of Media Club--and the newest kid at Auden Elementary, having just moved to Barstow, California, with his family the week before. He was not particularly fond of it so far. "But--" Kansas began, but Luis cut him off. "He's new," Luis explained, counting his reasons off on?his fingers, "so it would be a good way for him to get to?know the school. Plus, he's good at reading stuff, and super nice." "And super cute!" Emma exclaimed, then immediately slapped a hand over her mouth and burst into giggles. Kansas's face turned eggplant purple. "He is pretty cute," Alicia whispered to Natalie, who nodded enthusiastically. Francine scowled. There were more important things in life than cute boys. "But?.?.?." Kansas tried again. He had only signed up?for Media Club because his little sister had begged to be?in Art Club, and their mother had made him pick something too, so they could take the early bus together. Kansas had begged to get out of it, but apparently he wasn't as good a beggar as his six-year-old sister. "I don't really want to be news anchor." Brendan sneered at him. "You think you're too good for news anchor?" he said. "Yeah," Andre said. "You think you're too good?" "No," Kansas said carefully. "It's just--" "What would you rather do instead?" Brendan asked. "Yeah," Andre repeated. "What's better than news anchor?" What Kansas really wanted to do was move back to Oregon, where he belonged. Where the two best friends in the world, Ricky and Will, were waiting for him. Where there was no such thing as Media Club. Brendan and Andre were staring at him, waiting for him to answer. Everyone else seemed to be waiting, too. "I?.?.?." Kansas opened his mouth, then closed it. How had he gotten in this argument? "I just?.?.?. I don't know. Me and my friends back home, we used to do dares and stuff." Emma's ears perked up. "Dares?" "Yeah," Kansas told her, glad to be finally talking about something other than Media Club. "Dares." "What kind of dares?" Natalie asked. She twirled a?lock of curly brown hair around and around her finger. Francine huffed. "I thought we were supposed to be talking about news anchor," she said. But no one seemed to hear her. Kansas turned to Natalie. "Double dog dares," he told her. "Me and my friends Ricky and Will used to do them all the time. Like popping a wheelie on your bike while sitting backward. Or eating chili with mashed-up banana in it." "Ooooh," Emma said. And she swooned a little bit as she said it, so that the end of the ooooh dipped into a sigh. "That's so great." Alicia nodded in agreement, and Natalie's hair-twirling grew faster and faster. Francine huffed again. "No way you did that," Brendan told Kansas. "Yeah," Andre agreed. "No way." "Did too," Kansas replied. "I did double dog dares?practically every day. Ricky and Will used to call me the King of Dares, 'cause there wasn't a single dare I wouldn't do." When Miss Sparks clapped her hands together, the whole class snapped to attention. They had pretty much forgotten she was there. "I think we've gotten off track," she told the students. "We were deciding who was going to be our news anchor, remember?" The eight members of Media Club nodded. "Well, then. Are there any more nominations?" The eight members of Media Club shook their heads. "Okay. Then it's time to take a vote. Everyone, please put your heads down and raise your hands when I call the name of the person you'd like to vote for." They voted, in secrecy and silence. When the voting was over and Miss Sparks told them they could open their eyes, there were three names written on the chalkboard, with the number of votes scrawled next to each one. Brendan: 2 Francine: 3 Kansas: 3 "Well," Miss Sparks said, as the students took in the results. "It seems we have a tie. Francine and Kansas, would you care to split the job? It might be nice to have co-anchors at the desk for a change." Francine did not want to split the job. She'd earned it. That news anchor spot should have been hers, all of it. She narrowed her eyes at Alicia, then Emma, then lastly at Natalie, three girls she'd always thought were her friends. One of them must have voted for Kansas Bloom. But which one was it? Kansas did not want to split the job either. He hadn't joined Media Club to make a fool of himself in front of the whole school every morning. "I'd rather lick a lizard," he muttered under his breath. "Well," Brendan said, narrowing his eyes at him,?"why don't you?" Kansas's head snapped up. A slow stretch of a smile spread across Brendan's face. It was not a particularly friendly smile. "I double dog dare you," he told Kansas. "What?" Kansas said. "What?" the rest of the class exclaimed. The smile on Brendan's face grew even more sinister. "I just think there should be some sort of tie-breaker," he said. His voice sounded friendly, but Francine, who had known Brendan for years, detected a hint of a snake in it. "Between you and Francine. So, why not a dare? Since you do them all the time and everything. Whoever does the most dares wins." "Yeah," Andre agreed. "Whoever does the most?wins." The other members of the Media Club--turned in unison to look at Miss Sparks. But Miss Sparks was busy erasing the names off the board. When she finished and turned around, they were still staring. Miss Sparks thought about it. "As long as you don't disrupt any other students," she said, setting down her eraser, "or violate any school rules, you are free to solve this problem in whichever way you as a group see fit." Their eyes--all sixteen of them--went wide with possibilities. "Just let me know before winter break who the news anchor will be." And she strolled to her desk, leaving the members of the Media Club to their own devices. Excerpted from Double Dog Dare by Lisa Graff All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
