Name: Oh Boy, Boston! (Polk Street Special)
ISBN: 9780440413653

Patricia Reilly Giff

Oh Boy, Boston! (Polk Street Special)

Sarah Sammis

Oh Boy, Boston follows the Polk Street kids on a field trip to Boston to participate in a kite festival and a reenactment of Paul Revere's ride.

Richard "Beast" Best who I gather is the "tough" for the series, has been cast as Paul Revere except that he doesn't care the least about the trip or the play. Of course for this book to teach its lessons through the Beast's blundering, the teachers have to remain blind to his complete apathy over the play and the trip.

When the story isn't following the Beast as he slumps along from one mishap to another, the book is following the children's attempts to keep a stowaway dog out of site and out of trouble. What the dog's name is or who he belongs to (beyond belonging to another of the Polk Street students) escapes me.

The fictional bit of the book is nothing special. It's fairly typical poorly disguised morality play and history lesson. The second half of the book has an extended appendix explaining the different sites the Polk Street kids saw on their trip to Boston. Here is where the book gets interesting. The book even includes photographs of some historical markers so any Markeroons out there with children might consider finding a copy of the book if they are doing some family snarfing in Boston.

Oh Boy, Boston! (Polk Street Special)

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