Derwood, Inc.

Peabody #1

by Jeri Massi

Derwood Inc. by Jeri Massi When Penny Derwood and her seventh-grade class tour a button factory, she accidentally gets involved in a mystery that she and her brother, Jack, are determined to unravel. In their efforts to solve the mystery, they undergo a series of hilarious adventures and at the same time begin to learn something about teamwork, family unity, and accepting one another. The Peabody Series, named for the imaginary town of Peabody, Wisconsin, centers on a group of Christian young people who attend the same local church. Each book focuses on a new adventure that involves several members of the youth group. The characters in these books do not find quick solutions to their difficulties. Like all Christians, they struggle to grow, sometimes losing ground, but ultimately coming to a deeper knowledge of the Lord. For ages 9 to 12.

Genres: Fiction, Middle Grade, Mystery, Childrens, Christian, Christian Fiction, Juvenile

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Jeri Massi is the author of the Peabody Adventures series and the Bracken Trilogy and others. Her YA novel VALKYRIES, published by Moody Press, was nominated for the Christy Award.

She is now an Indy author, writing Christian SF/Fantasy, comedy, mystery, and adventure.

You can track her booklist, adventures with cancer, and articles on Children's/YA literature at her substack:

https://jerimassi.substack.com

Reviews

[R.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

{2nd read}

I just love this book!!!! It's one of me and my sibling's favourites! :D Penny and Jack are hilarious characters - and not to mention the rest of their family! They just crack me up!

And they're quite heroes too - deputies, whichever! ;) Oh, their Aunt Irene is so funny too! :D

You know at the end, where they explain about Moses? Well, tonight, when I finished reading this, I actually knew what they were trying to say about him. Some reason I've never remembered when they explained it. But anyway. :D That part when Sam is holding the gun is hilarious! No one can help but laugh!

If you haven't read this, you should!!! A great recommendation for young readers - and old readers! :D

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had been laughing almost on every page, along with good lessons the Derwood's learn along the way. Although geared toward younger readers, this is a nice, easy read for adults as well

[Morgan Giesbrecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series practically raised me, my younger brothers, and all the other kids at our church, haha! 😂 The mystery, the drama, the humour, we were hooked.

Somehow the idea of being chased by Eastern bloc smugglers (this is Cold War era America after all) down a sledding hill in the middle of winter, surviving old fashion bullies who made you eat worms, shining shoes while staking out a creepy mattress store, and taking solo train trips halfway across the country to a relative’s house you’d never met was peak entertainment.

But for the all the fun and entertainment, there’s good morals, strong faith elements, great sibling & family relationships, and the most wonky tale you’ve ever heard about a 50 ton-mile-long-giant-killer-octopus. 😉

[BooksNCrannies · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book for MG readers.

✏️ Review ✏️

Derwood, Inc. is a fond memory from my childhood. I remember so many times my sister reading it to me and also reading it to myself when I was older. Visiting the Derwood family for the first time in several years was super fun. The story is geared toward a MG audience so this is reflected in the writing style. But, hey, I loved it when I was young! 😄

What I really like is that it upholds Christian values and principles without being preachy; yet it's such a humorous and adventurous story. The quirks and dynamics of the Derwood family give this story even more of a varied appeal.

From escaping the grasp of the evil Tom Thumb, to facing the horrors of the fifty-ton, mile-long, giant killer octopus (horror of horrors!! 😱); from learning the importance of forgiveness and acceptance, to understanding more about responsibility — Derwood, Inc. is a book I can strongly recommend be placed in the hands of young readers.

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📊 A Quick Overview 📊

👍🏼 What I Liked:
• The fact that Christian values and principles are taught without being preachy.
• The humor.
• The quirks and dynamics of the Derwood family.

👎🏼 What I Did Not Like:
• Maybe the writing could be better? (But since it's for MGs this isn't a big deal at all.)

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📖 BOOK BREAKDOWN 📖 (Overall: 3.5/5 [rounded up to 4 on Goodreads])
~Fundamentals: (1=worst; 5=best)
— 📈 Plot: 3/5
— 📝 Writing: 2/5
— 👥 Characters: 3/5

~Content: (0=none; 1=least; 5=most)

— 🤬 Language: 0/5

— ⚔️ Violence: 0/5

— ⚠️ Sexual: 0/5

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📣 Random Comments 📣

• (None)

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💬 Favorite Quotes 💬

• (None)

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, brother!
I’ll be honest, I was ready to toss this book after the first three chapters. But I did read the entire thing.
My dislike list could be long, but I don’t want to walk you through the entire story so I’ll just list a few.
*Stupidity – I have a very low tolerance of stupid things (actions, situations, etc.) in books
*Unkind teasing
*Unbelievable situations
*Choppy storyline
*Situations that don’t get resolved or explained

There were some good parts about being united as a family, and about praying for each other and not at each other. I got two laughs out of the book: Mattress sledding (sounded like fun) and the story Jack told. (Sounds like something my nephew would make up just to be silly.) These are the only reasons I am giving this book 2 stars and not 1 star.

I am not going to recommend it to any younger readers because it is easy to be influenced by stupid things.

[Layla Gatlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids and I loved it. We have gone on to read the others and are on book 4 currently and can't get enough. This whole series via audiobook has been great for the ride to and from school in the mornings. It's something the whole family can enjoy with adventures and mysteries that you'll be trying to solve together the whole time. Plus it teaches valuable lessons from a faith based view.

[K.M. Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved this book since I was a kid, and my copy is very dogeared. I recently read it to my kids, because they needed the Fifty-Ton, Mile-Long, Giant Killer Octopus in their lives. We laughed all the way through. We are always on the lookout for funny books, and this one fits the bill perfectly.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derwood Inc was one of the books my mom read aloud to us as kids, and I had very fond memories of it. So when I needed to start picking out a few books for my mom to read to my kids, it ended up on the shortlist of books I wanted to pre-read to make sure it was age-appropriate for all of them. But after a couple chapters, I started wondering if it was one of those books that held up better in memory with a thick blanket of nostalgia rather than being read by an adult.

But I kept going and am glad I did. Multiple moments and lines stood out in my memory, and it was enjoyable to revisit them. The book does suffer from the same flaws as many adventure/detective stories aimed at elementary students--lack of communication between the kids and the adults, extraordinary coincidences that put the kids in exactly the right place every time and magically tie together all the pieces of plot, kids escaping things they likely wouldn't in real life, etc. And to its flaws I'll add a passionate anti-alcohol viewpoint (and when a non-drinker says it's a bit much, it's a bit much).

However, the story is fun, there are a few laugh-out-loud moments that I am sure will delight my kids, the family is real and absurd and finds a good balance between loving your siblings and also wanting to throttle them, and I appreciate that the book manages to be explicitly Christian without being obnoxious. And the nostalgia factor bumps it up to four stars.

Update, 10/2/23:
This was the official first Grandma Book, and the girls loved it. It was a lot of fun to listen to their cackling at the funniest parts. A definite winner.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a kid! I read it over and over.

[Abigail Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its been awhile since I read this, but I remember it being very entertaining.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun rereading this Christian kids' novel from my childhood. Jeri Massi, while still writing in the Christian fiction subgenre, has captured a whole lot of childhood liveness. She weaves together childhood escapades of her protagonists and their many siblings - from scaring their siblings with tales of a giant octopus to facing off bullies to messing up pies for their mother's party - with more flashy sequences about investigating a smuggler's ring. The more realistic events keep the story well-grounded, while the smuggler's ring supplies flash.

Looking back from later - after Massi swore off the Christian fiction subgenre and wrote some cogent essays about its flaws - I can see how she did better than average within its bounds. We have here a blended family (though morally faultless, due to both parents having been previously widowed) with fault lines still in the background; we have here Christian morality always present but only in one case ever coming to the fore; we have the focus on multidimensional characters and plot. And, that's what makes me glad to have come back to this story.

[Catherine Brusk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long time ago, I read this book as a 4th grader at my Christian school. I loved it so much that I kept the physical copy through adulthood--through move after move after move--until I let someone borrow it, never to be seen again. Isn't that the way it always goes? Gah! Thank God for Kindles, amiright?? I saw Massi comment on a few posts in a FB group, remembered the name, and KNEW I had to purchase Derwood Inc. to read to my own kiddos. Much to my surprise--it was a whole series!!! What luck!

This book was just as good as I remembered. Our entire family loved reading it together, and the added bonus is my husband is from the Wisconsin area, so it was fun to know of/have experience with the area and the weather, and really, alllllll the things. The humor and real-life aspects mesh well together and I would recommend the book as a great one to read and experience together for the whole family. I will always remember our time giggling at the mental pictures of Penny and Jack sledding on a mattress!

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book was a blast from the past! My mom recently moved and gave me my childhood books back while in the process of cleaning out. And well, you guessed it, this was one of them. So I decided to read this to my 10 year old son.

I was worried that this story would be old and dated but boy was I wrong! This has all the classic elements of a very entertaining children’s book and my son and I really enjoyed this one.

The story is about a brother and sister who are living with their dad and step siblings and step mom. Jack and Penny are very close and end up getting involved in one exciting adventure after another. Trouble sort of follows them with their spying skills and love for solving mysteries. The book is broken up into shorter stories that are all tied together in the end.

All in all, a cleverly written book that will keep you on your toes and your child off of his gaming device!

[Smallbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

What should be a terrifying and traumatic series of events for two young children is written into an amusing, humorous adventure story set in the hills of Pennsylvania. Dynamic characters, childlike honesty, events normal and otherwise, and a grumpy hamster make this charming story a pleasant summer companion to read while floating on the pool (something I may or may not have personally done).

The only thing I have to say against this book is that it unwittingly folded some Legalism into its creases when it praised good behavior and shamed forbidden behavior rather than the heart behind it.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I remember my elementary teacher reading it to us and I loved it as a kid! It was an entertaining walk down memory lane. However, there were so many typos and spacing errors that were a little distracting. The writing was simplistic, but the story had adventures and mysteries along the way.

[Amy Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. A bit silly and childish at times, but the kids loved it. Very funny. Charming, and very adventurous in parts, yet extremely slow in other parts (specifically, the first half, at least, of part 2). But at the end my son asked if there were more in the series. Good for clean Christian-kid fun.

[Leah Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!!! I would read it a thousand times over!!

[Rhianwen the Elf-Heart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another mystery I actually enjoyed! 😱

[Courtney Lyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 5th graders enjoyed this book. There was humor and mystery which made it fun for them. I found the plot a bit disjointed but if my class liked it I consider it a win.

[Haven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a ridiculous, hilarious book - I totally enjoyed reading it!!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read, though the ending wrap up was a little hard to follow and felt a bit rushed.

[Lendl Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 8 and 9 year olds loved it, but I found it painful as a read-aloud. The storyline was all over the place, had pietistic notes, and was largely pretty boring.

[Deborah Troxell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to see if I wanted to get it for my grandchildren. It had some funny moments and some good lessons were learned by the characters but I decided not to get it for my grandchildren.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and hilarious romp!

[Brian Koser]

Read to Penny and Suzy. A childhood favorite that I'm glad to have kept all these years

[Ember theBooknerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute family bonding, well-written characters, carefully-crafted plot.
No swearing. Not NSFW. Age to start reading this book: 8-10

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tall bookcase wavered from the push it had received. The topmost books plopped gracefully to the floor, and then the whole thing fell forwards with a crash. Right across the bed.
"Oh, no." Jack groaned.
As if in agreement, the bed suddenly broke.
"It was the giant killer octopus!" Freddy gasped. "And it didn't have any sugar!"
From downstairs we heard the front door open. "Kids? Anybody home?"
It never fails. Things can go well for two solid hours, and the one minute when everything falls apart is the same minute that Mom and Dad walk through the door.

"I have some terrible news." Dad said when we followed him into the living room.
"What's that, Dad?" I asked.
He turned to the wall, his hands behind his back.
"Terrible news," he repeated gravely. He turned around, his head down, his eyes serious.
"The fifty-ton, mile-long, giant killer octopus was run over by an aircraft carrier today." he said.
Jack and I looked at each other uneasily.
"It was?" Jack asked.
"Oh, my, hadn't you heard? Yes, it was. Killed instantly. But scientists say it never felt a thing, so you can rest easy about that. It has now been stuffed and put on display at the Smithsonian Institution."
Jack and I looked at each other again.
"Do you know what this means?" Dad asked.
"What?"
"The reign of the giant killer octopus is now ended. It is no more, kaput, finished. And do you know what else that means?"
"What?" we asked.
"If I hear one more story about the fifty-ton, mile-long, giant killer octopus, two of my children will be shoveling the snow off Lake Michigan and all its beaches. Do I make myself clear?"

[♥Gracie♥ BookLover & JesusFreak · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021 review
This was like my childhood book! Really funny and unique story! I would recommend this to anyone!

My praise about the book:
🤍The writing...it's just so unique and funny!
🤍The relationships between all the characters are just written so well


Also, Penny and Jack are LITERALLY my brother and I, (except I'm the younger one.) He literally dragged me into everything, and his humor is almost identical!

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child, I would have rated this a full five stars: I loved the story and read the book repeatedly. As an adult now reading this to my charges, I realize that the book is structurally flawed and redundant at times. But the characters are still as lovable as ever, and none of the kids I've read this book to have ever noticed the book's few weaknesses.

Long live the Orphans Only club.

[Bekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book is amazing! My Mom read it aloud to us for reading time and we enjoyed it so much! There was never a dull moment in the Derwood home, and it kept us laughing. I liked how the family always pulled together through the rough times and trusted God. I LOVED this book and recommend it to all ages!