From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-In this 13th adventure in the series, Peck returns to the rural Vermont town of his childhood. Rob and his neighbor Luther Wesley Vinson, a.k.a. Soup, are devotees of a radio show starring Sinker O. Sailor. When a contest is announced by the show's advertiser involving an essay and a ridiculous number of cereal boxtops, Rob and Soup respond with enthusiam worthy of a megabucks lottery drawing. They win, of course, and prepare for Sinker O. Sailor to pay them and their hometown a visit. How the boys build a boat, help put on a festival, save Sinker's career, and outwit their enemies make for hilarious reading. Silly and coincidental, it's impossible not to smile at the boys' antics. Peck makes wonderful use of alliteration; indeed, he's a master at this stylistic device. With 60 books to his credit, another success is no surprise.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, MECopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 2-5. This latest Soup adventure follows the delightful pattern of the previous ones. Soup and friend Rob enter a radio contest and win the coveted prize of a visit to their town by radio hero Sinker O. Sailor, who promises a live broadcast during his visit. As in previous books, Rob still falls for Soup's schemes and does whatever Soup bids, no matter how dangerous or embarrassing. The boys get into preposterous situations, linked just enough to reality to be hilarious. Set in a time when kids listened to the radio after school and rummaged in the local dump for parts for their projects, the story contains a few anachronisms. However, references to toxic waste and the use of cordless microphones will probably bother only the sharpest of readers. The fast-paced story is filled with puns and boasts all the old cast--heartthrob Norma Jean Bissell as well as bully Janice Riker. Long live Soup!
Susan DeRonne
