Goldie Blox and the Three Dares by Stacy McAnulty - ADVISABLE

Goldie Blox and the Three Dares by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by, 120 pages. CHAPTER BOOK. Random House, 2017. $13.

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.

BUYING ADVISORY: EL – ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Goldie is always up for a challenge or dare. Next to her favorite thing, which is inventing stuff, this is what she loves the most. One day, after consuming a hot chili pepper, speed-eating an ice cream sundae, and sending her BFFND (best friend from next door) Li soaring on a rocket-powered skateboard of her own design, she is back at her BloxShop (workshop) with her friends, the Gearheads. Rummaging through boxes for some needed materials, she comes upon a locked journal that belonged to her late gran. It lists close to a hundred dares that her grandmother mostly completed. When Goldie learns that her gran wanted to finish the last three before her seventy-seventh birthday, and that this birthday is only three days off, she resolves to finish them in her gran’s place.

This is the second book in the Goldie Blox series. Five have been published since 2017. Similar to the first book in the series, this one features outrageous inventions, a close group of interracial friends, and silly humor. It sure makes inventing, problem-solving, and extreme risk-taking look like loads of fun. Don’t let the fact that the series is based on a successful toy line prevent you from feeling good about giving these to your students. The writing is solid for its intended audience without being completely unbearable for the adult reader as well. 

P. K. Foster, teacher-librarian