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The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes #7
Two Heads Are Better Than One
Abby Hayes is a fifth grader trying to invent a role for herself in a seemingly perfect world. This series combines the edge of BRIDGET JONES with a send-up of self-help books.
When Abby is home sick with the flu, Ms. Kantor announces that the fifth grade will be participating in a science fair. It's bad enough that Abby comes back to school with an unfortunate haircut, but it's even worse that her science fair partner is... a boy!
When Abby is home sick with the flu, Ms. Kantor announces that the fifth grade will be participating in a science fair. It's bad enough that Abby comes back to school with an unfortunate haircut, but it's even worse that her science fair partner is... a boy!
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
342 people want to read
About the author
Anne Mazer
73 books102 followersQuite a lot of Anne Mazer’s writing education took place while she was unconscious. Her parents wanted desperately to become writers and made themselves get up at 4:00 a.m. Every morning in order to have writing time before their three young children awoke. The first thing Anne heard every day was two big, noisy electric typewriters. The furious sound of typing was her childhood wake-up music. During the day, her parents endlessly discussed ideas, plot, and character, and before she was seven years old, Anne knew about revisions, first and second drafts, and rejection slips. It was like growing up in a twenty four hour, seven day a week writer’s boot camp.
In order to escape from her parents’ obsession with writing, Anne turned to books. She was an avid reader from an early age and credits her love of reading for her writing career. Her favorite works were fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, and adventure. Her other interests were language, art, history, and science. At the age of twelve, she wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as she realized that a) she couldn’t dance, b) she couldn’t act; and c) she hated math.
Although at the time Anne thought writing was nothing but a nuisance, she now considers herself very lucky to have grown up with two aspiring writers. She learned a lot about discipline, perseverance and dedication to a craft from witnessing her parents’ struggle. They eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.
It took Anne a long time to figure out that she, too, wanted to be a writer. During early adulthood, she worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that she was ill-suited for. She attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, traveled throughout Europe, and worked in Boston and New York City.
Anne’s “eureka” moment about writing came while she prepared a research report for one of her bosses. As she lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, she realized that no one really cared how beautifully she wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except her, of course.
Using her parents’ model of daily writing and discipline, she began to write. It took her seven years to publish her first book, a picture book inspired by her then two year old son, Max.
Anne is the mother of an adult son and daughter. Over the last twenty years, she has written over forty-five books for young readers. She has enough ideas to last for another quarter century and hopes that she will be writing for a very long time.
Fun Facts About Anne Mazer
Her favorite foods are popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries.
When she was a kid, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day.
If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility.
She painted the rooms in her house yellow, orange, and violet.
One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting.
When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of)
In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.
In order to escape from her parents’ obsession with writing, Anne turned to books. She was an avid reader from an early age and credits her love of reading for her writing career. Her favorite works were fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, and adventure. Her other interests were language, art, history, and science. At the age of twelve, she wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as she realized that a) she couldn’t dance, b) she couldn’t act; and c) she hated math.
Although at the time Anne thought writing was nothing but a nuisance, she now considers herself very lucky to have grown up with two aspiring writers. She learned a lot about discipline, perseverance and dedication to a craft from witnessing her parents’ struggle. They eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.
It took Anne a long time to figure out that she, too, wanted to be a writer. During early adulthood, she worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that she was ill-suited for. She attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, traveled throughout Europe, and worked in Boston and New York City.
Anne’s “eureka” moment about writing came while she prepared a research report for one of her bosses. As she lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, she realized that no one really cared how beautifully she wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except her, of course.
Using her parents’ model of daily writing and discipline, she began to write. It took her seven years to publish her first book, a picture book inspired by her then two year old son, Max.
Anne is the mother of an adult son and daughter. Over the last twenty years, she has written over forty-five books for young readers. She has enough ideas to last for another quarter century and hopes that she will be writing for a very long time.
Fun Facts About Anne Mazer
Her favorite foods are popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries.
When she was a kid, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day.
If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility.
She painted the rooms in her house yellow, orange, and violet.
One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting.
When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of)
In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
December 9, 2018
This book is about a girl who has the flu and gets her hair all wrong. While she was sick, her best friend Jessica told Abby the science fair was starting soon. And she got a boy Casy Hoffman for a partner and the had to study rocks because they turned down each other's ideas and Natile broght it up.And her family and especially her little brother Alex had to love Casy Hoffman. Read this book to find out what happens.
June 20, 2014
Abby Hayes is a fifth grader trying to invent a role for herself in a seemingly perfect world. This series combines the edge of BRIDGET JONES with a send-up of self-help books.
When Abby is home sick with the flu, Ms. Kantor announces that the fifth grade will be participating in a science fair. It's bad enough that Abby comes back to school with an unfortunate haircut, but it's even worse that her science fair partner is... a boy!
When Abby is home sick with the flu, Ms. Kantor announces that the fifth grade will be participating in a science fair. It's bad enough that Abby comes back to school with an unfortunate haircut, but it's even worse that her science fair partner is... a boy!
April 5, 2021
Reading middle-grade always goes one of two ways. Either it's a timeless classic capturing generation after generation or it's a fad. And there is nothing wrong with either one, as they both serve their purpose, but one is certainly more favoured by writers and critics. And I bet you can guess which one this is gonna be.
As you may or may not know, Abby Hayes is a middle-schooler with curly hair and a large loving family, which is always by her side as she goes through the toils and troubles of a 10-year-old. In this instalment of her adventures, she, after suffering a terrible case of flu, decides to attack her much-hated curls with scissors. But that's not the worst thing of the week. She has to work on a science fair project with a new boy in school!
And you know, we all have been there as middle-schoolers, having boys not be just boys anymore, having to overcome challenges, having to learn from our mistakes and I'm all here for that. There is no say in the fact that the book has great morals and great character development.
The characters are extremely lovable, extremely relatable, extremely realistic and yet so wholesome. Our main hero really goes through life softening her hard edges and we are here for the ride.
The style as well is extremely captivating, interchanging diary entries with real-time segments are a great mixture keeping the pace swift. I am not gonna pretend that I did not start every diary entries with quote for a while after reading this book. It has definitely left an imprint.
Plus the self-contained story in the book makes it even more digestible since there is no pressure to read them in order at all and you can pick and choose the ones that seem more interesting than the others.
As an educator, as someone who works with children, as a parent, you can look at this book and agree, that it has very good morals, that reading it might be beneficial for your child (or a child, I don't know you), but as an adult reader without the childhood nostalgia for this book, you won't see much between the pages. It just doesn't hold up past a certain age.
As you may or may not know, Abby Hayes is a middle-schooler with curly hair and a large loving family, which is always by her side as she goes through the toils and troubles of a 10-year-old. In this instalment of her adventures, she, after suffering a terrible case of flu, decides to attack her much-hated curls with scissors. But that's not the worst thing of the week. She has to work on a science fair project with a new boy in school!
And you know, we all have been there as middle-schoolers, having boys not be just boys anymore, having to overcome challenges, having to learn from our mistakes and I'm all here for that. There is no say in the fact that the book has great morals and great character development.
The characters are extremely lovable, extremely relatable, extremely realistic and yet so wholesome. Our main hero really goes through life softening her hard edges and we are here for the ride.
The style as well is extremely captivating, interchanging diary entries with real-time segments are a great mixture keeping the pace swift. I am not gonna pretend that I did not start every diary entries with quote for a while after reading this book. It has definitely left an imprint.
Plus the self-contained story in the book makes it even more digestible since there is no pressure to read them in order at all and you can pick and choose the ones that seem more interesting than the others.
As an educator, as someone who works with children, as a parent, you can look at this book and agree, that it has very good morals, that reading it might be beneficial for your child (or a child, I don't know you), but as an adult reader without the childhood nostalgia for this book, you won't see much between the pages. It just doesn't hold up past a certain age.
January 3, 2013
Abby's school is doing a science fair, with the teacher's assigning partners. Abby's partner is a new student and a boy. They initially do not get along well at all, even though Abby's friends and family think he is a great person. A fun read exploring teamwork and of course, science! I was glad the two didn't end up dating at the end, and the author kept everything realistic, which is rare in books these days.
March 1, 2021
fun fact, i used to say ¨two heads are better than one¨ to my second grade childhood friend edward when my sister and i used to play star wars lasers with him. my seven year old self thought it was such a cool and catchy comeback!
October 10, 2007
i learned that nothing is better than working with another. its an ok book i didnt think it was the best.
April 28, 2008
3 books in 1!
April 26, 2008
WOW VERY ROMANTING THE COVER!<3
June 17, 2008
It's a cute book, you'll get a kick or two out of it.
October 11, 2008
This is a pretty good series, even if they are pretty short.
Read
November 12, 2008new friends abby makes!
November 16, 2008
About Abby and Casey......
Read
January 10, 2009The best book ever
January 19, 2009
THiS WAS A GOOD BOOk
February 11, 2009
This one is one of my favorite!
March 17, 2009
Yet another book I read to my girls. Definately a girl book, but if they like the diary type books this one is pretty cute.
April 16, 2009
I loved this book because it is funny and relatible!!
May 31, 2009
This is a great book for younger kids
November 17, 2009
Abby is a very curious girl
July 8, 2010
GOOD BOOK!
Read
November 20, 2010finshed this book in one day
March 6, 2012
Abby was sick for a week and didn't know what was going on at school.When she gets back she has a partner that is a boy.She hates that.Then she made a new friend.Auryn 8yo
November 5, 2012
it was ok
June 10, 2020
super funny but also shows how different people can become best friends in time
Read
August 22, 2020is this the book where she tries to cut the knots out of her hair
August 8, 2022
Definitely one of my comfort series as a kid!
Read
March 19, 2013Have not read till now
November 15, 2014
Love the quotes she puts in these books!
Want to read
July 31, 2017i have read these kinds of books many times and i want to choose this kind of one
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews