Ivy and Bean (Book 10): Ivy and Bean Take the Case

By Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall

Watch out, you diabolical masterminds! There's a new detective on Pancake Court: Bean! She laughs at danger! She solves even the most mysterious mysteries! What? There aren't any mysteries? Then Bean and her assistant, Ivy, will make some!

Includes bonus material!
- A guide to becoming a detective and finding your own mysteries to solve!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: Sep 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452128474

Annie Barrows

Annie Barrows is the bestselling author of books for both children and adults, including the New York Times bestselling Ivy + Bean series, The Best of Iggy series, the YA novel Nothing, and the adult bestselling novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. She lives in Northern California.

Book preview

119

BLACK AND WHITE AND TOUGH ALL OVER

Bean wasn’t allowed to watch television. Or music videos. Bean’s mom said she could watch two movies a week, but they had to be movies where everyone was good. There couldn’t be any bad words. There couldn’t be any mean people. There couldn’t be anyone smoking a cigarette or wearing tiny clothes. There were only about ten movies that followed all these rules. Luckily, Bean liked all ten of them. She watched them over and over.

Bean’s mom said ten movies were plenty. She said kids Bean’s age should be using their imaginations instead of watching TV. She said fresh air was more important than movies.

And then what did she do?

She made Bean watch a movie. It was her favorite movie, she said. Everyone should see it at least once, she said. The movie was called Seven Falls, but it wasn’t about waterfalls or even the leaf-falling kind of fall, which is what Bean had guessed. It was about a guy named Al Seven. Boy, was he tough! He was so tough he talked without moving his lips, and some of it was bad words. He was also kind of mean. Everyone in the movie was kind of mean, plus they all smoked cigarettes. They didn’t wear tiny clothes, but that was the only rule they didn’t break.

I can’t believe you’re letting me watch this, said Bean.

"Seven Falls is a classic, said Bean’s mom. It’s one of the greatest movies ever made."

Don’t be a stooge, said Al Seven to another movie guy. That was pretty mean, but Bean pretended not to notice, because this was one of the greatest movies ever made. Al Seven was also in black and white, but Bean knew she was supposed to imagine he was in color. What is it about dames? asked Al Seven, walking slowly down a rainy street. They break your heart, I guess, he answered himself.

That was the end.

Bean’s mom let out a big, happy sigh. Wasn’t that amazing? Did you get it?

Get what? Bean wasn’t sure, but she nodded. I’m going to be just like Al Seven when I grow up.

Her mother raised one eyebrow. You’d better not be.

But then again, why wait, thought Bean. She could start being like Al Seven now. She slumped over and put her feet on the coffee table. Whaddaya say we watch it again, pal? she said.

Her mom raised both eyebrows. What I say is don’t call me pal and take your feet off the table.

That hadn’t worked. Bean took her feet off the table. Dames, she said sadly. They break your heart.

Her mom’s eyebrows were almost inside her hair. Oh dear, she said.

It took Bean a long time to go to sleep that night. She couldn’t stop thinking about Al Seven and his black-and-white world. It didn’t seem like the real world, the world on Pancake Court that Bean lived in. People in Al Seven’s world were tough, and they didn’t laugh very much. They didn’t do normal stuff like go to school and the grocery store. They walked down alleys and wore hats. But the most

Reviews for Ivy and Bean (Book 10)

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Called away from an exciting game of volcano, involving a gargantuan mound of dirt in Sophie W.'s front yard, and all the neighborhood children, Bean in aghast to learn that her parents have put her in the care of her older sister Nancy for the afternoon, and that she is not allowed to leave the house. To add insult to injury, Nancy is getting paid for being her babysitter! Determined to escape from this 'captivity,' Bean summons Ivy to her aid, by means of a distress flag (which she ends up having to toss out her window at her oblivious friend), and the two are soon plotting away. With Nancy in the bathroom trying on their mother's (forbidden) makeup, the two friends decide to explore the crawl space/attic that Bean has always been told she must not enter. Will Nancy be able to rescue them, when they accidentally lock themselves in...?Ivy + Bean Take Care of the Babysitter is my least favorite entry, thus far, in Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall's chapter-book series about two second-grade friends. All the mean-spirited brattiness that my online friend Marian decried, in her review of the first book, is very much in evidence here. Somehow, despite some rather dubious incidents (like throwing worms into her sister's face!), the first book just didn't bother me that much. But here, as I watched Ivy and Bean create a mess, which Nancy cleaned up for them, before blackmailing Nancy into sharing some of her baby-sitting money (by threatening to expose her makeup adventures), I began to be significantly less charmed. I kept expecting some of the balance seen in the previous installment of the series, Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record, to surface here - for there to be some moment when Bean realizes she is in the wrong - but it doesn't happen. It's clear from the story that Nancy, whatever her snotty eleven-year-old failings, genuinely cares for Bean. Her panic, when she can't find her screaming younger sister, is genuine. So Bean and Ivy's behavior just seemed obnoxious to me. I realize that sisterly relationships can sometimes be rather fraught - I fought like cats and dogs with my closest older sister, when a girl - but still felt that, building on the previous book, in which Bean was able to admit that someone else was right, and that she was wrong, that there should have been something a little more balanced here. A twinge of conscience, if you will.Still, despite the failings of this book - and I found it the weakest, of the five I have read thus far - I still recommend the series. It has some very good qualities, I think - engaging characters, charming illustrations, some very intelligent dialogue - in addition to its flaws.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ivy and Bean are back and they are "taking care" of the baby sitter - Bean's sister, Nancy! It's Nancy's first baby sitting job, and the girls do their best to take advantage of the situation! Again, I don't love their attitudes, but my daughter really likes their adventures. So, on to the next one!

[Vanessa Hiatt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I LOVED THIS BOOK SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH LIKE U DONT EVEN KNOW PLSSSSSSSSSSS MAKE MORE I ALMOST READ ALL OF THEM THATS HOW MUCH I LOVE THEM❤?❤❤❤❤????????????❤❤❤❤????????♾♾♾♾♾‹×›»«༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ(❁´◡`❁)^_^☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆╰(*°▽°*)╯(^///^)ᓚᘏᗢ:-Dಠ_ಠ(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ಥ_ಥ

[robertalea-223265 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Everyone with a big sister can relate!

[adaq-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this. It was hilarious. The mischievous little children and the very funny writing. This is my 6yo's second time around on these books; the first time was a year and a half ago when she was 5/6 and another parent was reading them to her. This time around it's Ada and me reading pages to each other.

[marvelousleah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ivy and Bean are very realistic characters who play, laugh, fight, and get into trouble. They deal with the same issues that real middle class, 9-year-old girls deal with, like friends, siblings, and parents. In this installment, Bean is 'forced' into captivity with her older sister as the babysitter. Ivy helps her 'escape' and find more trouble. This chapter book has occasional sketches and illustrations that help readers visualize the girls' plight. Readers will also enjoy the ideas that Ivy and Bean come up with for games and activities.