A Job for Jenny Archer

by Ellen Conford, Diane Palmisciano (Illustrator), Erik Brooks (Illustrator)

Overview

Convinced that her family is poor because her parents refuse to get her a horse or a swimming pool, nine-year-old Jenny Archer follows her own path to making money, and plunges her house into the real estate market.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316014847
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/05/2006
Series:	Jenny Archer Series , #1
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	970,185
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.62(h) x 0.16(d)
Lexile:	550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

Editorial Reviews

In another entry in the Springboard Book line, Jenny takes her mother's wish for a fur coatand the impossibility of her getting oneas a measure of their poverty. She resolves to earn the money for a coat herself, by inventing odd jobs to do for neighbors. But neither pet-training, baby-sitting, nor an attempt at a career in real estate (selling her own house) brings the hoped-for results she hopes for. A light lesson in the value of family love over material possessions, Conford's story is at its best when depicting the affinity between Jenny and her best friend Wilson. With witty line drawings, the book should inspire other young entrepreneurs and remind them that sometimes it's okay to fail. Ages 7-9. (April)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 2-4 Welcome, Jenny Archer! Join Adler's ``Cam Jansen'' (Viking), Hur witz' ``Nora and Teddy'' (Morrow), and Giff's ``Kids of the Polk Street School'' (Dell). This initial offering by Conford in a proposed series of first ``chapter books'' about Jenny; her best friend, Wilson Wynn; and her very large and friendly black dog, Barkley, will disappear so quickly from the li brary's fiction shelves that it might be wise to order duplicates. Conford's wit ty, humorous style is in evidence from the first page, when readers learn that Jenny isn't really poor; she just has ``rich ideas.'' The subsequent chapters describe Jenny's scheme to raise enough cash to buy her mother a fur coat. These include a neighborhood dog-training business and her attempts, almost too successful, to sell the Ar cher's house without her parents' knowledge. Independent money-mak ing is a theme popular with older read ers in books such as Pfeffer's Kid Pow er (Watts, 1977), Van Leeuween's Benjy in Business (Dial, 1983), and Springstubbs' Eunice Gottlieb and the Unwhitewashed Truth About Life (De lacorte, 1987). Younger readers will be entertained by Jenny's bright ideas and the unanticipated problems she creates. The further adventures of this feisty heroine will be eagerly awaited by all. Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale, N.Y.

School Library Journal