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Teddy Mars #2
Almost A Winner (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)
Teddy goes from record breaker to friendship fixer in the heartwarming and hilarious follow-up to Molly B. Burnham’s 2016 Sid Fleischman Humor Award-winning debut, Teddy Almost a World Record Breaker , now in paperback. Win or lose, friends stick together. But when Teddy’s whole class decides to break a bigger, better world record, friends turn into enemies. And Teddy feels stuck in the middle. To fix this mess, Teddy will have to do something he’s never done before—try NOT to break a record! Can he win at losing before his whole class misses out? Humor and grit triumph in this story of one boy’s struggle to make peace in a class full of record breakers, a coop full of pigeons, and a world full of wonders.
Told in short, accessible sections with fun lists and highly rambunctious illustrations, the heartwarming Teddy Mars series is perfect for reading aloud. Teddy’s never-give-up attitude will have readers laughing out loud and striving to break world records of their own.
Told in short, accessible sections with fun lists and highly rambunctious illustrations, the heartwarming Teddy Mars series is perfect for reading aloud. Teddy’s never-give-up attitude will have readers laughing out loud and striving to break world records of their own.
- GenresMiddle Grade
288 pages, Library Binding
First published March 22, 2016
14 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 9, 2018
Burnham, Molly Teddy Mars: Almost an Winner (Book #2), 279 pages. Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins). $7. Language: G (o swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.
Teddy has a big family so he never quiet gets enough attention unless its bad attention: like his parents ignoring him, his sisters bullying him, and his little brother torturing him. His little brother named Jake, who he has nicknamed the Destructor, is obsessed with smearing himself with pigeon poop then covering himself in feathers and has taken over Teddy’s quiet place: The neighbor’s pigeon coop where Teddy helps out. Teddy loves World Record Books and ever since breaking a record in the first book, has been trying, along with his two best friends, to break or come up with one. Not to mention the inventions fair at school.
I loved the first book in this series and really find myself wishing that it has ended there so perfectly. This book was like an extra long continuation of all of the annoying things about the first book repeated over and over again and less heart. Although the character writing is wonderful, I have just completely had my fill of these characters now after two books, too bad I had a third in the series to review next.
EL – OPTIONAL Stephanie, Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
Teddy has a big family so he never quiet gets enough attention unless its bad attention: like his parents ignoring him, his sisters bullying him, and his little brother torturing him. His little brother named Jake, who he has nicknamed the Destructor, is obsessed with smearing himself with pigeon poop then covering himself in feathers and has taken over Teddy’s quiet place: The neighbor’s pigeon coop where Teddy helps out. Teddy loves World Record Books and ever since breaking a record in the first book, has been trying, along with his two best friends, to break or come up with one. Not to mention the inventions fair at school.
I loved the first book in this series and really find myself wishing that it has ended there so perfectly. This book was like an extra long continuation of all of the annoying things about the first book repeated over and over again and less heart. Although the character writing is wonderful, I have just completely had my fill of these characters now after two books, too bad I had a third in the series to review next.
EL – OPTIONAL Stephanie, Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
May 30, 2017
So glad I picked this book up for my 10-year-old twins! A good, solid, well-written fun read about a real 4th-grader kid facing ordinary 4th-grade challenges and rising to meet them in his own way. Our favorite bit was how world records about all the most interesting and odd things show up in literally every chapter - the way the main character goes off on the tangent of mentioning them is perfect. My kids also loved how the book didn't have traditional chapters, but short chunks, so we could read a bunch before bed together.
November 14, 2019
I’m reading middle grade books and graphic novels right now to keep me in the right frame of mind for the middle grade/graphic novel I’m currently working on. The first Teddy Mars book is excellent. I have no doubt reluctant readers under the age of 12 enjoyed it. This one is quite repetitious. However, young readers probably won’t mind it. These are fun books.
January 14, 2022
This was cute enough. As an ebook it was really only broken into 2 defined chapters (March and April), but there are good stopping points within that. Personally I have mixed feelings about the characters and the way things are resolved, and the plot itself is just somewhat average. I can see kids enjoying it though.
October 31, 2017
Cute, but I though the first book was better.
February 27, 2021
Some sequels disappoint, this one does not.
Want to read
March 30, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
January 15, 2016
A Cheerful, Upbeat Middle Grade Friendship Story
This was a refeshingly upbeat and perfectly engaging tale of a likeable kid and his two best pals trying to set some sort of Guinness World Record. Along the way the hero learns some valuable, although not preachy, lessons about friendship, sharing and what's really important about winning.
Get this. The kid, Teddy Mars, has two normal parents who behave like reasonable people and actually get some funny lines. Teddy likes them, in a ten year old way. Teddy has five older sisters, who drift in and out of the story, but generally behave like reasonably decent older sisters. Teddy has a five year old brother who is sometimes cute but mostly annoying, (Teddy calls him the Destructor), and Teddy learning to deal with him is a part of the story. Teddy's two best pals are smart, resourceful and excellent companions. None of this is cutesy or saccharine. They're all just likeable and engaging characters, with realistic personalities, family situations and eccentricities.
The story is told by Teddy. His narration is a fine balance of funny, clueless, observant and dense. The World Record schemes are knuckleheaded, but the story brims with enthusiasm and misplaced optimism. There are dopey jokes, (the younger brother and pigeon poo figure in a lot of that), and some pretty sly and clever stuff as well. Teddy has a good bead on the foibles of his parents, his siblings, and his friends, (and he's fairly self-aware), and there is a great deal here with which young readers could identify.
There's no angst or drama early on, and for the most part the plot just sort of moseys along. Sometimes you just want an amusing story told by a likeable kid, and that's pretty much what you get here. To be honest, the emphasis on trying to come up with schemes for breaking world records started to get old about halfway through the book, but since that's when the book switched gears a little bit it was O.K.. MILD GENERAL PLOT SPOILER. Teddy starts feeling like he's being eclipsed by his young brother and Teddy has some conflict with his best friends about a school competition, and those two plot strands, along with some school daze complications, carry the second half of the book. Teddy's voice still stays calm, funny and reasonable, but through this part of the book there's more at stake than just the record-breaking angle, and there are some lessons to be learned.
The upshot is that you get a likeable kid, a lot of funny lines and set pieces, a number of engaging characters, and a few issues that get resolved in an upbeat and satisfactory fashion. That worked well for me.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
This was a refeshingly upbeat and perfectly engaging tale of a likeable kid and his two best pals trying to set some sort of Guinness World Record. Along the way the hero learns some valuable, although not preachy, lessons about friendship, sharing and what's really important about winning.
Get this. The kid, Teddy Mars, has two normal parents who behave like reasonable people and actually get some funny lines. Teddy likes them, in a ten year old way. Teddy has five older sisters, who drift in and out of the story, but generally behave like reasonably decent older sisters. Teddy has a five year old brother who is sometimes cute but mostly annoying, (Teddy calls him the Destructor), and Teddy learning to deal with him is a part of the story. Teddy's two best pals are smart, resourceful and excellent companions. None of this is cutesy or saccharine. They're all just likeable and engaging characters, with realistic personalities, family situations and eccentricities.
The story is told by Teddy. His narration is a fine balance of funny, clueless, observant and dense. The World Record schemes are knuckleheaded, but the story brims with enthusiasm and misplaced optimism. There are dopey jokes, (the younger brother and pigeon poo figure in a lot of that), and some pretty sly and clever stuff as well. Teddy has a good bead on the foibles of his parents, his siblings, and his friends, (and he's fairly self-aware), and there is a great deal here with which young readers could identify.
There's no angst or drama early on, and for the most part the plot just sort of moseys along. Sometimes you just want an amusing story told by a likeable kid, and that's pretty much what you get here. To be honest, the emphasis on trying to come up with schemes for breaking world records started to get old about halfway through the book, but since that's when the book switched gears a little bit it was O.K.. MILD GENERAL PLOT SPOILER. Teddy starts feeling like he's being eclipsed by his young brother and Teddy has some conflict with his best friends about a school competition, and those two plot strands, along with some school daze complications, carry the second half of the book. Teddy's voice still stays calm, funny and reasonable, but through this part of the book there's more at stake than just the record-breaking angle, and there are some lessons to be learned.
The upshot is that you get a likeable kid, a lot of funny lines and set pieces, a number of engaging characters, and a few issues that get resolved in an upbeat and satisfactory fashion. That worked well for me.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
September 17, 2016
Ho-hum. Nothing drew me into this book and I had to force myself to go back to it. I thought I would like it better, but the whole world's record thing was just tedious and the whole pigeon poop thing with the littler brother was just... tedious. Do I think kids will like it? I don't know. They might find the world's record obsession much less tedious than I did.
I will say that I often find books by children's authors who have MFAs in Children's Writing rather boring, lacking a certain sizzle and tension, and, yes, just... tedious.
I will say that I often find books by children's authors who have MFAs in Children's Writing rather boring, lacking a certain sizzle and tension, and, yes, just... tedious.
April 18, 2016
This is a story about setting a goal and then continuing on to the next one. It is also about thinking about others and helping them to get what they want, even if you have to sacrifice a little bit. He has some struggles with a younger brother and older sisters. The short chapters, humor and grit makes it a good story.
May 20, 2016
Asher (10yo) read. "Teddy Mars is trying to break another record with his friend Lonnie and Viva. But, when his class at school hears about it, they wan to make a group world record, while trying to win the Inventor's Fair. I really liked when Teddy's mom and dad switched responsibilities."
September 27, 2016
This book is better than the first one.
July 5, 2016
Not quite as good as the first in the series
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews