Product Description

The Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain has sprung a leak, so principal Walter Russ dashes off a request to Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc. asking

"...We need a new drinking fountain. Please send catalog. "

Florence Waters responds:

"I'd be delighted. . . But please understand that all of my fountains are custom-made."

And so begins the hilarious chronicle, in letters, cards, transcripts, and official town documents, as collected by Mr. Sam N.'s fifth-grade class...

Flo Waters, an artist who looks everywhere for inspiration, solicits suggestions from the fifth graders-- ...a fountain big enough to splash around in; ...a glass-sided fountain with fish; . . . buttons for dispensing lemonade and root beer; and from Mr. Sam N.-- ...a hot tub and whirlpool for the teachers.

Flo is thrilled. Mr. Russ is beside himself-- . . ."We don't need a fountain like you create for palaces and hotels. Send bid as soon as possible, or sooner. "

But it's too late. The fountain project has taken on a life of its own. Flo is supplying designs from all over the world. The school board president is up in arms. So is her friend, Dee Eel, of the water-supply company. A scandal is brewing, and the fifth-grade class is researching Dry Creek's history. Something very fishy is going on...and the secrets are buried beneath the fountain and within this delightful, thoroughly original novel.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1562573 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .68" h x 6.38" w x 7.89" l, .56 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Amazon.com
How could a simple request for a new water fountain go so very, very off-track? When Principal Wally Russ writes to fountain designer Florence Waters to ask her to replace Dry Creek Middle School's busted drinking fountain, he little suspects that he is sparking the imagination of an artiste. Kate Klise's charming mystery novel is told entirely in letters and faxes, as the glamorous Florence visits Dry Creek and becomes friends with Mr. Sam N.'s fifth-grade class. The class helps Florence design the most outrageous water fountain ever, and along the way uncovers the dirty (and rather wet) secret that dwells underneath Dry Creek Middle School. Writes Florence to her new fifth-grade friends, "Your drawings are hanging in my studio. Pure inspiration. Of course a drinking fountain should have tropical fish and chocolate shakes!" The book reads like an inspired combination of the epistolary novels Daddy-Long-Legs and Griffin & Sabine. Line drawings by M. Sarah Klise adorn every page, with "snapshots" of the fifth-grade class, pages from the local paper, and coffee-stained While You Were Out notices thickening the stew. The emphasis on visual elements should make the book a hit with kids who claim they don't like to read. Author Klise knows her audience: bad puns flow as freely as water and the plot is just convoluted enough to challenge kids without frustrating them. The Klise sisters have created a classic of comic children's literature. (Ages 8 and older) --Claire Dederer

From Publishers Weekly
What Dry Creek Middle School needs is a plain, functional drinking fountain to replace its leaking old one. What it gets is Florence Waters, impresario fountain designer who has in mind something with exotic birds, an ice skating rink, geysers and chocolate milk dispensers. This rollicking story, told entirely through letters, memos, newspaper articles and transcripts, escalates into a hullabaloo involving a fifth-grade class, an evil school board member, a sinister water company executive and an increasingly bewildered principal who fruitlessly attempts to scale back Florence Waters's grandiose plans ("Do you all have scuba gear? What about ice skates?... Also, I'm sending a parcel containing cyperus papyrus. This is the famous Egyptian paper plant," Waters jots in one postcard). The artist's somewhat primitive illustrations add to the scrapbook effect of this novel, but in the final illustration not enough is made of the eccentric new fountain to satisfy the anticipation brewing for the previous 100-plus pages. Still, it's a good-natured story with an irrepressible main character who won't take no for an answer. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6AA mystery with an unconventional, yet fun and effective approach. Through a series of graphically designed letters, newspaper articles, telephone and interview transcripts, postcards, faxes, memos, school assignments, and other types of communicative devices, a mystery is solved in a suspenseful, amusing conclusion. Dry Creek Middle School is in need of a new drinking fountain. The principal sends a letter of inquiry to the owner of Flowing Waters Fountains for an estimate on the installation of a new one. To his frustration and the enjoyment of the students, Florence Waters is no ordinary fountain contractor, but an artistic designer, ready to create a unique piece of sculpture that will also pump water. As the correspondence continues among the characters, various clues are left in the communications. In addition, a subplot involves a fifth-grade class's research for a town history project that ultimately reveals the villains and main deception in the plot. In addition to the planted clues, there are lots of puns and quirky sayings throughout. All works out in the end as the author cleverly establishes character traits and motive. Even if readers guess what's going on halfway through, it is still fun to continue reading the diverse pages, all in different fonts with eclectic drawings just to see how the mystery will be revealed and solved. Fresh, funny, and a delight to read.ARita Soltan, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.