The Richest Kids in Town - Hardcover

Kehret, Peg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525651667 ISBN 13: 9780525651666

Publisher: Cobblehill, 1994

Synopsis

To earn some much-needed funds, Peter Dodge and Wishbone Wyoming come up with a series of money-making schemes, from melting down leftover Halloween candy to make Valentine fudge to a duck race, a three-legged race, and the Soul Soothers Club.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Peter Dodge III is terribly lonely when he and his family move to a new town and he can't seem to make any friends. His one goal is to earn $235 for air fare so that he can go back and visit his best friend, Tommy, over the summer. Peter has a whole notebook full of money-making schemes, and he recruits Wishbone Wyoming--also a Third--to help him implement them. Wishbone is game, and the two young entrepreneurs try everything from an alternative health club to a rubber-duck race in a local stream. All the ideas are ingenious. The only problem is that Peter and Wishbone don't make any money. (Maybe if they had written the contestant numbers on the rubber ducks with waterproof markers, or the address of their club on the flyers....) Eventually Peter realizes that he doesn't care anymore whether or not he earns the $235 because he is having so much fun just trying. Visiting Tommy doesn't seem as important, either, since Peter would rather stay home and spend the summer with his new best friend, Wishbone. Clever antics in this fun book from the author of Horror at the Haunted House (1992). (Fiction. 9+) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Peter Dodge has just moved to a new town and aches for his old home and his best friend, Tommy. However, he soon meets Wishbone Wyoming and can't resist his fourth-grade classmate's cheerfulness and sense of humor. The boys have many things in common, including the "III" at the end of their names and their desire to earn money. Wishbone wants to buy a DC-3 model and Peter wants to buy a plane ticket so he can visit Tommy. Their money-making schemes are all uproarious flops but draw the new friends closer together. And although they don't get rich, they learn a lesson about life with every attempt. Each chapter is preceded by a letter from Peter to Tommy. Peter's signatures change from "Your best friend forever" on the first to "Your friend" on the last. All in all, this is a good read reminiscent of Barbara Park's Kid in the Red Jacket (Knopf, 1988), another story of a boy's move.
Suzanne Hawley, Laurel Oak Elementary School, Naples, FL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cobblehill
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0525651667
• ISBN 13: 9780525651666
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 114