Secrets!: The Secret Life of David Mortimore Baxter

by Karen Tayleur, Brann Garvey (Illustrator)

Overview

David Mortimore Baxter becomes famous for being good at keeping secrets. Big secrets. More and more people confide in him, until David's ready to explode. How can he keep so many secrets, when he knows that blabbing them out loud might actually help his family and friends?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598892093
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Series:	David Mortimore Baxter
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 13 Years

About the Author

When Karen Tayleur was growing up, her father told her many stories about his own childhood. These stories continued to grow. She says, "I always enjoyed the retelling, and wanted to create a character who had the same abilities with 'bending the truth.' " And David Mortimore Baxter was born! Karen lives in Australia with her husband, two children, two cats, and one dog.

Brann Garvey lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, Keegan, their dog, Lola, and their very fat cat, Iggy. Brann graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor of fine arts degree. He later attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he studied illustration. In his free time, Brann enjoys being with his family and friends. He brings his sketchbook everywhere he goes.

Table of Contents

I'm famous — The joke — Secrets — Busted big time! — Trouble — The secret mixture — The Bays Park fair — Spying — 10 A.M. sharp — A surprise win — Onstage — No more secrets.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–6
In the first of these humorous stories, David describes his family, friends, teachers, etc., and shares his best excuses for getting out of work at home and at school. The book is full of subheadings and handy tips. Secrets! is the stronger title. A famous wrestler shares an important secret with Davey and asks him not to tell. When the athlete accepts the Hall of Fame award (the secret) on national television, he acknowledges the trust he has in his friend. After the boy's 15 minutes of fame, life gets crazy. A student inadvertently downloads an image on the class computer and upsets the teacher, the whole class gets punished, and the guilty student confesses to David. Others also confide in him, and he is miserable. Numerous spot illustrations appear on the endpapers and throughout the pages; ink blots serve as chapter breaks. The texts are full of font changes and extra spacing. The glossaries and Web sites aren't especially useful; discussion questions and writing prompts are included. Billed as high-interest realistic fiction, these books will appeal to their target audiences.
—Debbie WhitbeckCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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