Piper Reed, Gets a job

Piper Reed #3

by Kimberly Willis Holt, Christine Davenier (Illustrator)

Piper Reed and her fellow Gypsy Club members are in need of a clubhouse. Raising money to buy one proves a challenge. Piper, being the resourceful fifth grader that she is, launches her own party-planning business and gets her first job throwing young Brady’s birthday celebration. But things don’t go as expected on the day of the big event. Fortunately for Piper, her friends and family come to her rescue!

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Kids, Childrens, Audiobook, Juvenile

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Kimberly Willis Holt is the author of the Piper Reed series, including Piper Reed, Navy Brat, Piper Reed, Clubhouse Queen, and Piper Reed, Rodeo Star. She has written many award-winning novels, including The Water Seeker and My Louisiana Sky, as well as the picture books Waiting for Gregory and Skinny Brown Dog. A former Navy brat herself, Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida, and lived all over the U.S. and the world—from Paris to Norfolk to Guam to New Orleans. Holt long dreamed of being a writer, but first worked as a radio news director, marketed a water park, and was an interior decorator, among other jobs. A few years after she started writing, her third book, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, won a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She resides in West Texas with her family.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/kimber...

Reviews

[Talia]

Piper Reed wants to buy a clubhouse so the Gypsy Club can have meetings free of pests (i.e. Sam), but clubhouses are expensive! So entrepreneur Piper decides to start a party planning business, with Brady’s third birthday as their first job! But Piper starts to pile on more jobs to make more money, including an illustrator job for Sam and taking Tori’s babysitting jobs. Soon Piper is over her head, and she’s neglected what should be her primary and only job: being a fifth grade student.

This story was OK, if not realistic for a 10 year old. Who hasn’t tried to make money in lieu of doing boring homework? A couple of things bothered me though: Miss Gordon, Piper’s teacher, is horrible. What an awful, uncaring teacher. And anyone else think Brady was unnaturally astute and have a huge vocabulary for a new three year old? Still, this was overall an enjoyable story. And I love Emily Janice Card as the audio reader!

[Kate]

I picked up an ARC of PIPER REED GETS A JOB at the American Library Association conference, and after seeing the way my 7-year-old daughter refused to put it down, I decided I needed to meet this young heroine.

Piper Reed is a delightfully confident Navy brat who has made a life of being the new kid in school. She's delightfully adaptable and creative, so when her club needs money for a new meeting place, she finds a way to get a job -- no, several jobs, actually, from babysitting to birthday party planning -- and the hilarity that ensues will be sure to delight chapter book reader.

This is the third book featuring Piper, and my daughter and I have already made plans to get our hands on the first two. We're happy to have discovered this great series by Kimberly Willis Holt, and other fans of Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody, and Clementine will be sure to enjoy Piper,too.

[Robyn]

So Piper Reed is the cutest little girl that ever attempted to juggle too many balls in the air! She is the kid who will grow up and be the mess that everyone shakes their head at and then will work out!

The cutest book for later elementary school readers.. the key is time management, drive, problem solving and ambition... she is a hero for sure.

About 130 pages so perfect for an afternoon read.

Happy Reading!

[Abby Johnson]

Piper Reed and her friends need $1999 to buy a clubhouse so they can have a little privacy and Piper is determined to figure out how to earn the money. So she starts a birthday party planning business, but things start to snowball (as they often do) and Piper will have to think on her feet to keep everything from blowing up in her face.

Piper Reed is a spunky, likeable, imperfect girl and the series is perfect for fans of Judy Moody and Clementine. The book has it's really funny moments and I love all the supporting characters, especially Piper's sisters.

[Heidi Burkhart]

Such a cute series. Amusing summer reading.

Such a funny series!

[Emily]

Read by my 3rd grader.

[Dolly]

This is the third book in the Piper Reed series by Kimberly Willis Holt. We can relate to these stories about a military family, even if our experiences with the military aren't quite the same. We also love Piper's spunk and enthusiasm.

This story begins in the first month of fifth grade for Piper. She is thrilled to be starting the school year off with everyone else and not in the middle of the school year, like she did last year. But she is disappointed to learn that she looped with her teacher, staying in the same room with the same teacher, just at the next grade. Our oldest could really identify with that situation. Even though they moved classrooms, her whole second grade class including the teacher stayed together for third grade. It has some advantages and disadvantages, and on the whole, she likes it, but is looking forward to a change next year (and so is her teacher!)

But the main focus is on Piper and her three siblings attempting to find ways to earn money for the expensive things that they want to buy. Piper's little sister wants a tropical fish aquarium and so she writes a book to sell. Her big sister Tori wants to take a one-week trip to England with her poetry club and so she babysits and enters a Scrabble contest. And Piper...well her Gypsy Club needs a clubhouse and without a tree to make a treehouse in, the club members want to buy a clubhouse. So Piper Reed decides to become a party planner to earn the money she needs. The only problem is that Piper also decides to illustrate her sister's book and substitute as a babysitter for her sister in order to earn even more money, filling up virtually every moment of her day. And then there's the matter of schoolwork...

Overall, this is a very entertaining story and is as cautionary for parents as it is for children. We all seem to overschedule and overcommit ourselves until the house of cards we build for ourselves comes crashing down. All ends well (or at least mostly well), and Piper certainly learns some important lessons. We read this entire book in one night and although it took us about ninety minutes, I would still consider it a quick read. We really enjoyed the story and are looking forward to the next book in the series, Piper Reed, Campfire Girl.

[Louis]

I listened to this in the car. It is by Kimberly Willis Holt, who wrote the excellent book "Part of me". The Piper Reed series is somewhat interesting. Its negative features come from dealing with real-world situations that are important to ten-year-olds, but seem boring to adults.

An alarming aspect of this book was when a young child (age: 3) gets knocked off a swing set by 3 older brats while Piper is staging a birthday party. The child's mother is there, but not paying attention until it is too late. The child ends up with bruises, not breaks, on his arm. And this is supposed to be a fun book.

Piper's parents seem to be very uninvolved in their daughters' lives. At least in terms of Piper's. They do not give her any practical advice on how to run her varied businesses or how to schedule her time or even supervise how she is spending her time. That is, until a crisis arises, and they lay down the law.

I guess that it strikes me that this book would be more empowering if Piper were a role model of how to get things done and be successful instead of a comic foil, who is well-intentioned and perky, but over her head.

Taking the book as it is, it is just average fare. It strikes me as one of the many series now being written for a middle-school audience: formulaic and designed to keep the series going to make money. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but not necessarily a good thing either.

[Sandra Stiles]

Piper Reed and the Gypsy Club need a clubhouse. Unfortunately it will cost close to $2000. Piper decides to get a job. She puts a sign in her front yard that says she designs party planner. She decides to help her younger sister by illustrating her book and when her older sister needs someone to cover her babysitting job she takes on that task as well. Add to all of this her school project and you have a disaster in the making. This was an easy and quick book to read, and a lot of fun.

[babyhippoface]

This sequel to Piper Reed, Navy Brat shows Piper to be a realistic heroine with big dreams. Young girls, especially military kids, should identify with Piper's plans to make big money (which, of course, fall through).

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the illustrations. Some were fine, but some looked haphazardly-drawn to me.

[Theo kids]

A clever story about a resourceful girl! I liked her spunk, and her willingness to work hard for her dream. Troy liked the idea that he could actually get a job working for someone besides me (and possibly get paid more??) and between Henry (from Beverly Cleary) and Piper - he is DETERMINED to get a clubhouse. As soon as he gets his Dad to agree to build it! A great book for kids.

[Heather]

Unfortunately, I think this was my least favorite Piper Reed book. I could see trouble coming for Piper and just kind of cringed the whole time. Still, she's one of the most believable characters out there.

[Alexa M]

i am at the part that piper is just about to go babysit the triplets and then she has to go to her next door neighbors party i am really enjoyin gthis boook i really like that the book is more like my life because the chacters are my age.

[Sydney]

she wants a new clubhouse because she doesn't want to have the meetings at her house anymore. so she tries to raise money by being a party planner. brady wants a clown and a rocket cake but she doesn't know how to get the stuff so her family helps her out.

[Joenna]

Piper Reed needs money for a clubhouse for the Gypsy Club. She decides to start her own party planning company. Things aren't as easy as she thinks.

[Marie]

Contemporary storyline but remiscent of Beverly Cleary.

[carissa]

Recommended Ages: grades 2-4

[Emily L]

I have finished this book and i think it was the best of then all.

[Mrs.]

Got to love the Piper Reed series very funny stuff.

[Laslee]

.

[Darlene Andre]

High interest book with an easier reading level. Believable characters and interesting plot. I need to add some more of the Piper Reed books to my classroom library.

[Maggie]

Cute story for the upper elementary school crowd. Lessons taught: responsibility, time management, money management, and "money doesn't grow on trees".

[Hillvan]

590L

[10-11 Natalie]

this book was ok i think the first and second were better

[Olga]

Amazing book, read it on one breath!