HOT OFF THE PRESS!
The Second in the “Lunch Bunch” Series!
Bernadette in the Doghouse
After her triumph at the science fair – winning a special award even though she wasn’t technically old enough to enter – Bernadette is ready to continue on with grade three. Her friendship with Annie, Keisha, and Megan – also known as “the Lunch Bunch” – continues to blossom. Bernadette and Keisha befriend an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Marsh, and help her with her garden. As a bonus they get to play with Mrs. Marsh’s beautiful cocker spaniel, Lady. Could this bring Bernadette’s dream of owning a dog one step closer?!
Things seem like they can’t get any better when Bernadette’s best friend Jasmine comes to stay with her for the Christmas holidays. They visit one of their favorite haunts, the science center, and conduct an experiment where they turn snow into ice cream. But Annie, Keisha, and Megan are not as impressed. Bernadette is so happy to be spending time with Jasmine that she ignores her new friends in the Lunch Bunch. Now Bernadette has to work hard to realize her mistake, and to prove to the Lunch Bunch that she values their friendship.
ISBN978-1-897187-92-0
$8.95 Paperback with black and white illustrations / 124 Pages • 7.5 x 5 / Ages: 7-9
FROM THE REVIEWS:
“When her former best friend Jasmine comes to visit during winter break, third-grader Bernadette ignores her current friends, hurting their feelings and coming close to breaking up the Lunch Bunch.
Bernadette, Keisha, Megan and Annie not only eat together, they plan special menus to make their lunchtimes more interesting. Walking to and from school together, Bernadette and Keisha keep a special dog-watching notebook. They even carry out a project of cleaning and beautifying an elderly neighbor’s yard. When Bernadette realizes how much she values these new friends—especially Keisha, who seems the most upset—she comes up with the perfect lunch strategy to make things right. In this sequel to Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch (2009), Glickman again portrays elementary-school life realistically. Bernadette’s difficulties juggling her friendships, her longing for a puppy of her own and her discomfort when her classmates think she’s responsible for the month-long Healthy Food Challenge will feel familiar. The relatively long, mostly un-illustrated chapters are best suited for the most able chapter-book readers, who will appreciate the challenge and are less often served by material appropriate to their lives and experiences.
A satisfying sequel leaving room for more.”
© Kirkus Reviews, September 2011
“Bernadette in the Doghouse is the second book in the Lunch Bunch series, which revolves around the adventures of third-grader Bernadette and her three special friends, Annie, Keisha, and Megan. Bernadette faces a friendship dilemma when her best friend Jasmine
comes to visit for the holidays and Bernadette ends up ignoring her Lunch Bunch friends to be with Jasmine, visiting the science center, and conducting weird experiments attempting to create ice cream from snow. Bernadette’s mother plays a special role in believing in
her daughter’s ability to create solutions to her relationship dilemmas. The whole thorny issue of BFF competitive friendships is tackled creatively in Bernadette in the Doghouse, and solutions that are crafted may resonate significantly with a young female readership
who face similar problems. Bernadette in the Doghouse manages not to take itself too seriously while offering some serious food for thought, with cheery black and white pencil illustrations and positive believable action and exposition to balance the book.
Bernadette in the Doghouse is an all around winner, and readers will eagerly anticipate the third volume of the Lunch Bunch series.”
© 2011 Midwest Book Review
“The second book in the Lunch Bunch series follows schoolgirl super-scientist Bernadette Inez O’Brian Schwartz into complicated territory. Instead of trying to solve a tricky experiment, she has to navigate the more complex terrain of friendship.
Bernadette’s old best friend, Jasmine, has moved away, but she is returning for a visit during the winter holidays. Bernadette naturally wants her stay to be special. Jasmine camps out in Bernadette’s room for three days, they take a trip to the Science Centre, and they make ice cream the old-fashioned way with snow from the backyard.
The trouble is that Bernadette’s new crew, the Lunch Bunch, aren’t invited along. In fact, Bernadette won’t even return their calls while Jasmine is visiting. Once Jasmine returns home and school starts up again in January, Bernadette finds herself being left out. It takes an
extra special Lunch Bunch strategy to show Keisha, Megan, and Annie how important they are to her.
Glickman develops Bernadette’s gang of girls a little further in this book, while maintaining the spirit of the original Lunch Bunch story. The focus is on Bernadette and Keisha’s relationship, but the other girls are given their moments in the spotlight as well:
Annie proves to be a talented gymnast, and Megan shows an aptitude for helping others get along. As the girls work through the mire of school-age jealousies, they befriend an elderly neighbour and volunteer to help out with her garden.
The text is broken up by Melanie Allard’s engaging black-and-white illustrations — the inclusion of which is a solid technique to help younger readers bridge the gap between
picture books and junior novels — and there’s enough in the way of science and recipes to keep fans of the first book interested in the series. ”
© Quill & Quire , December, 2011
And don’t forget the first book in the series,
Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch!
“Everyone agreed that Bernadette Inez O”Brian Schwartz was a most unusual child. Her first word was ‘Why?’
So was her second word, and then her third.”
So begins Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch, a fresh and funny look at the life of a not-so-ordinary eight-year-old girl. Bernadette’s imagination is so big, she manages to win a prize at the science fair even though she’s too young to enter it; so big, she inspires everyone she meets to turn everyday events into adventures. Join Bernadette and her three best friends, Annie, Keisha and Megan, as they come up with ingenious strategies for surviving the school lunch room, or helping a friend regain a smile. Plan a pirate party, write secret code, make a magical mystery meal–anything can happen on a day with Bernadette!
Recommended as a first chapter book for ages 7-10
or to read to children of any age
ISBN 978-1-897186-51-7
only $6.95
available from
Amazon, Chapters, or your favourite independent bookstore!
Starred selection of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s
Best Books for Kids & Teens: Annual, 2009
FROM THE REVIEWS:
“Bernadette Inez O’Brian Schwartz is about to start third grade, and without her best friend, who moved away, it’s going to be ‘the worst year ever.’ This curious girl is an engaging and quirky character who loves to ask ‘Why?’ and investigate the world around her through science. Bernadette is seeing a lot of changes in her life this year, in addition to the loss of Jasmine, and she doesn’t like it. One of the big changes is that she has to eat lunch at school every day. This is a most terrifying prospect without a best friend, but after a few weeks she becomes friends with Annie, Keisha, and Megan and they team up to form the ‘Lunch Bunch.’ Written with light humor throughout, the story unfolds nicely to share many of the challenges Bernadette faces, such as not having a talent to showcase in the talent show and not being able to enter the science fair. Bernadette is good at developing ‘strategies’ to figure out how to deal with different situations, and, with the help of her friends, she always comes out on top. A few black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout. This is a fun read with accessible language and appeal for early chapter-book readers.”
–Bethany A. Lafferty © School Library Journal, 2009
“First her best friend moves away and then the school system excludes third graders from the science-fair competition. For third grader and budding scientist Bernadette Inez O’Brian Schwartz, this promises to be the worst school year ever. Bernadette is an original—imaginative, organized, moody, but resourceful. Slowly, she makes new friends, a Lunch Bunch with whom she can share strategies for making lunch at school interesting. She has a pirate party, comes to terms with being nothing more than one of the audience for the Talent Show, concocts a project that makes her sad friend Megan smile and circumvents the science-fair decision. Poet and literary critic Glickman’s first novel for children realistically captures elementary-school life with sympathy and humor. Allard’s occasional line drawings show a diverse cast of characters and add to the appeal of this substantial chapter book first published in Canada in 2008.”
– © Kirkus Reviews, January 2009
“Susan Glickman has created a credible heroine in Bernadette Inez O’Brian Schwartz whose curiosity and drive are as long as her name. Bernadette’s portrayal as a single-minded, dramatic girl full of ‘strategies’ who is determined to change an unjust decision is completely believable. Indeed, her over-the-top exaggerations are what one might expect from an incorrigible, imaginative eight-year-old. ”
–Jonine Bergen, Canadian Materials (Feb 09)
“Bernadette and the Lunch Bunch by Susan Glickman is the fun story of a very small girl with a very big imagination.”
–Marie Bruni, “Library Corner,” The Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, Thursday May 14, 2009
