On the second leg of their coast-to-coast trip to Washington, D.C. for a wedding, Coke and Pep McDonald run afoul of new villains.  They are also at the mercy of their parents who make frequent stops at historical sites and off-beat museums.  Will their trip be worry-free?  Get real!  Didn’t you read the first book in the series?!?

While light on plot, the action is nonstop in Gutman’s sequel.  Kids will like that.  I liked that.  However, I was much more impressed by the information presented in the book, thinly veiled as pertinent to Coke and Pep’s travels.  Readers are urged to visit online mapping websites (a la Mapquest or Google Maps) to map each leg of their route from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.  Real pictures (often provided by Gutman’s fans!) depict the museums, historic sites, and state signs that the twins encounter.  The incorporation of other map features, like highway route signs for page numbers, and the frequent posting of miles left to travel impart a lesson that this GPS-reliant generation may not otherwise get.  Add the coded messages that Pep deciphers, and this is one edutaining book!

Who wouldn’t want to read about Wrigley Field, Cedar Point, the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History?!?

Note: This review is based on an uncorrected color proof provided for free by the publisher.  The book is due on shelves February 21, 2012.

Chloe isn’t good at sports or video games but she is very good at making things.  Just give her a pile of scraps or found materials and her imagination goes wild.  With her best friend’s birthday just around the corner, Chloe goes shopping for the perfect gift only to discover a classmate has selected the same doll.  How will Chloe find another “perfect” gift?  With a pad of paper and a pencil, Chloe doodles a few ideas and creates the perfect gift to make.  Her gift is not only a hit with her best friend, but Chloe also saves the day for her classmate.

DiPucchio’s story captures the creative spirit perfectly.  Ross’ pictures match the spirit of the story and illustrate the creative process (sketches, hard work, and even headstands).  Bright colors, a font that looks handwritten, and end pages featuring orange-handled scissors and macaroni necklaces all add to the story of Crafty Chloe.

Chloe was teased for making a gift.  Sounds typical for kids, right?  Making fun of the kid that does things differently is, unfortunately, the status quo.  I was thrilled to read about a character who is not only true-to-life but also responds like a typical kid would.  After being teased, Chloe decides to skip her best friend’s birthday party; but then she comes up with a homemade gift that is unique and perfectly purple, all things that her friend will appreciate.  As parents, we often tell our children that homemade gifts are the best, and DiPucchio’s character proves that.  I look forward to more installments of this series that fosters creativity.  At the time of this review, the Crafty Chloe website, which promises to provide instructions for creating the crafts in the book, was not available.  I hope it’s up soon.  One of my pet peeves about education today is that the opportunities to be hands-on creative have all but disappeared.  A kid like Chloe, and the resources to learn to craft like her, is much needed to offer informal creative learning opportunities.

I have taken over the monthly drop-in craft at work (in a children’s library).  Chloe is my inspiration for creating easy but interesting projects.  I’d like to start an art club for tweens this autumn.  Although the Crafty Chloe series is intended for a much younger crowd (preschool to early elementary), I would not hesitate to introduce her to tweens and provide them with the link to the website.  Who doesn’t believe that adding googly eyes to anything makes it more interesting?  At a conference I attended, Denise Fleming suggested giving kids sticks, rocks and googly eyes, then encouraging them to take pictures of their creatures in different settings and write a story around those images.  Chloe would agree.

I’ve already passed my copy of Chloe around to librarian friends.  We’re all excited to have a creative hero to share with children, teachers and parents.  She has also inspired some programming ideas.  Since March is National Craft Month, it seems fitting to introduce Chloe and her creative bent with a series of crafts.

Follow a diplodocus from its discovery in a Utah quarry to its grand opening as a display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.  Hartland researched the dinosaur’s tale then created a cumulative story around it.  The narrative builds from the dinosaur hunter who discovered it to the museum director who announces the exhibit’s grand opening.  I was impressed that she almost made this book a rebus by illustrating the job titles (and the diplodocus’ name) so that listeners and early readers will be able to determine what the jobs are as the story builds.  Resources abound in “A Little Bit of Dino Info” included at the end of the book.  Answers to frequently asked questions are included as are Web resources tied to Dinosaur National Monument (the National Park where this dino was discovered), the Smithsonian’s dino page, and “Dino Dig” websites.

Absolutely include this book in pathfinders about dinosaurs, especially for elementary aged students.  I would highly recommend this to parents before they make a trip to a natural history museum (especially the Smithsonian) so their family can discuss how artifacts make it to museums.  And for those who can’t visit the museums in person, I would recommend this book in conjunction with a virtual visit via a museum exhibit online.