MARVIN REDPOST

Third grader Marvin Redpost returns (Why Pick on Me?, 1993, etc.) in the fifth book in this Stepping Stone series. On the day when his teacher and class have decided to wear clothes with holes, the President of the United States makes a surprise visit to their classroom, along with reporters and TV crews. After he makes a statement about citizenship, he takes questions, and Marvin’s question about how to become president causes him to be singled out on the TV news that evening. This lightweight, enjoyable story is endowed with a realistic sense of what children are like, how they talk and act; less realistic are aspects of school, including one teacher’s belly-button revealing outfit. A final scene in which Marvin’s parents won’t listen to him is never satisfyingly resolved, but it’s balanced by a very gratifying earlier scene when a teacher stands up for a student encountering a pushy reporter. The story hums along with its own cheerful energy, much like Marvin himself. (Fiction. 6-9)