Ivy + Bean Get to Work!: Ivy + Bean, Book 12
By Regan McMahon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Treasure hunt fuels frustration, friendship in fun finale.
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What you will—and won't—find in this book.
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What's the Story?
Soon after IVY + BEAN GET TO WORK! begins, there's a Career Fair at their elementary school, where students can talk to various professionals about the jobs they do, and then fill out a worksheet titled "When I Grow Up, I Want to Be ..." The second-graders are most impressed by a treasure hunter who uses an electronic metal detector, which they can't afford. But the man tells the kids they can hunt the old-fashioned way: with shovels and intuition. So Ivy and Bean start digging holes in the yard, try to get "a sense" of where treasure is with the help of a duct-taped divining rod, and look under bushes and furniture to see what treasures turn up. Then all the kids compare what they found -- is it treasure or junk?
Is It Any Good?
This fun adventure in treasure hunting involves competition, frustration, and jealousy, as well as the power of creative problem-solving and true friendship. Ivy + Bean Get to Work!, like other books in the series, shows kids' imaginative big ideas crashing into reality, which can be a lot more frustrating. There's a lot of nuance here, as kids navigate their competition, resist the put-downs of older kids and even teachers, decide for themselves what's treasure and what's not, and trade their way to a satisfying conclusion. It's a nice way to end this realistic series that shows kids playing independently and working out problems among themselves, with Ivy and Bean's strong friendship and concern for each other's feelings at the core of all their escapades.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about keeping secrets in Ivy + Bean Get to Work! Why would kids want to keep some of their activities secret for their parents? Why would Bean want to keep a secret from Ivy?
What's special about Ivy and Bean's friendship? How do the girls look out for each other, and each other's feelings?
What's the difference between treasure and junk? Have you ever found something you thought was special but other people didn't see what was so great about it? What happened?
Book Details
- Author: Annie Barrows
- Illustrator: Sophie Blackall
- Genre: For Beginning Readers
- Topics: Friendship, Great Girl Role Models
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Chronicle Books
- Publication date: April 6, 2021
- Number of pages: 128
- Available on: Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated: June 1, 2022
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