Elisa Michaels, Bigger & Better

Riverside Kids #14

by Johanna Hurwitz, Debbie Tilley (Illustrations)

Painting a hilarious portrait of family life, six entertaining stories follow Elisa, who is now in second grade, as she deals with inept baby-sitters, an airplane ride with her parents, eating chocolate all day long, and her pesky siblings.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Johanna Hurwitz is an American author of more than sixty children's books. She has sold millions of books in many different languages.

Reviews

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follows second grade Elisa through her adventures. Chapters than can be read as separate short stories: Breakfast with Grandma, The Baby-sitter, What Marshall Needed, Chocolate All Day Long, Marshall Makes Mischief, and From Riverside to Lakeside.

[Willie Butts · Rating 3 out of 5]

20. Hurwitz, Johanna. Elisa Michales, Bigger and Better. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
Genre: Fiction
This book is part of the Whirlwind life of Elisa Michael’s series. Elisa a second grader takes charge of different situations that she faces throughout the book. What makes it difficult for her to take charge is that her older brother thinks that she is to little and her younger brother runs wild. But her determination to succeed helps her to overcome the situations in the end. Hurwitz gives the reader the perspective of family life from four feet tall.
This book is gentle and good-hearted full of humor and emotion. The illustrations are cartoons that are humorous and emotional. From the way that the characters look and dress seems old fashion and gives the story a classical feeling. The language in the story makes it very easy to follow and understand.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I learned from this book is that sometimes babies don't understand. I really liked the book because it was really, really, really funny. You would like this book if you like really funny stories.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Johanna Hurwitz and I have my 1st grader currently reading this book to me. It is cute and endearing.

Update: Even though there are smaller chapters or sections to this book, my dtr got bored or frustrated with it, so we stopped reading it a while ago.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thoughts about the Elisa books from the Riverside Kids series are all collected in my review of Russell and Elisa.