Cora and Number One KidToday, we begin a two-part look at the new Zigzag Kids early chapter book series by Newbery Honor author Patricia Reilly Giff.

All the books in this series are set in the after-school program at the Zelda A. Zigzag School, so readers meet the same group of children in each book. However, each book focuses on a different child as the main character.

The first book in the series, Number One Kid, (Wendy Lamb Books, 2010) features Mitchell McCabe, who wants to be the best. But what will his friends think of his desire to be number one?

Let’s ask today’s guest reviewer.

Our reviewer: Cora

Age: 7 

I like: Eating beef-and-bean burritos. Listening to music on my iPod Nano. Playing Wii — mostly Wii Fit. And, I like playing with my American Girl dolls — Samantha, Rebecca, Julie and Mia.  

This book was about:  A boy named Mitchell McCabe who’s always trying to solve mysteries. Whenever anyone loses something, he wants to be the one who finds it. He got a shirt that says “I’m #1.” He wears it every day. Mitchell’s younger sister, Angel, doesn’t like it that his shirt says he’s number one. 

The best part was when: A younger kid at Mitchell’s school named Trevor lost a mask he had brought to school and Mitchell found it. Life was all happy again!

I laughed when: They kept saying to stay away from Habib because he had poison ivy all over him, and Mitchell was especially scared of him!

I was worried when: Mitchell thought Angel had drowned. They were swimming at their school pool, and Mitchell couldn’t find Angel. He saw her sinking down, but she was actually diving down to find something she saw on the bottom. But when she came back up Mitchell saw that she hadn’t actually drowned.

I was surprised that: Mitchell wasn’t good at math. Well, he was OK, but he still had to get tutored. 

This book taught me: To never go near someone with poison ivy or you will get his or her poison ivy!

Other kids reading this book should watch for: The drowning part, because when I first read that part I was freaked out! But remember, she doesn’t actually drown.

Three words that best describe this book are: “Silly.” “Surprising.” “Awesome.”

My favorite line or phrase in the book is: Mitchell and Angel were eating apples that had worms in them. And Angel spit hers out and said, “I might end up in the hospital because of you, Mitchell ‘Number Eighty Seven’ McCabe.” (She didn’t want to call Mitchell “number one.”)

You should read this book because: You can learn a lot from it! Like don’t be mean to people. And stand up for your brother or sister if someone’s being mean to them — like when Angel told Peter not to call her brother Mitchell a loser. 

Thanks, Cora. You did an awesome job!

Want to learn more about Patricia Reilly Giff? You can:

Want to learn more about illustrator Alasdair Bright? Visit his website.

And come back soon for Julia’s review of the second book in the series.