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Fort Builders Inc. #1
The Birthday Castle
A group of friends use teamwork, creativity, and construction know-how to start their own fort building company!
Caleb could really use a bit more spending money—he needs to buy the next book in his favorite series so he can see what happens! But what can he do to raise funds once his allowance runs out? Caleb puts his head together with his best friend, Jax, and a couple other kids in their neighborhood, and come up with a brilliant idea. They’re going to start their own fort-building business! Good forts are always in demand, and who better to design and construct them than kids? But when Fort Builders, Inc., gets their first gig, the group has trouble agreeing on the right way to go about it. Can they learn to work together in time to build an incredible fort, or will their business be over before it even begins?
Caleb could really use a bit more spending money—he needs to buy the next book in his favorite series so he can see what happens! But what can he do to raise funds once his allowance runs out? Caleb puts his head together with his best friend, Jax, and a couple other kids in their neighborhood, and come up with a brilliant idea. They’re going to start their own fort-building business! Good forts are always in demand, and who better to design and construct them than kids? But when Fort Builders, Inc., gets their first gig, the group has trouble agreeing on the right way to go about it. Can they learn to work together in time to build an incredible fort, or will their business be over before it even begins?
96 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2020
86 people want to read
About the author
Dee Romito
17 books250 followersDee Romito is an author of fiction and nonfiction books for young readers from picture books to middle grade. Her middle grade books include The BFF Bucket List, No Place Like Home, Postcards from Venice, and co-authored Best.Night.Ever (Aladdin/S&S).
Her nonfiction picture books, Pies From Nowhere and The Last Plastic Straw, have received starred reviews, a Crystal Kite Award, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her early chapter book series is titled Fort Builders, Inc. (Aladdin/S&S).
Dee blogs about writing at WriteforApples.com and is a Co-Founder of Buffalo-Niagara Children’s Writers and Illustrators. While she does her best to be a grown-up most of the time, giggling with her BFFs is still one of her all-time favorite things. You can visit her website at DeeRomito.com.
Her nonfiction picture books, Pies From Nowhere and The Last Plastic Straw, have received starred reviews, a Crystal Kite Award, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her early chapter book series is titled Fort Builders, Inc. (Aladdin/S&S).
Dee blogs about writing at WriteforApples.com and is a Co-Founder of Buffalo-Niagara Children’s Writers and Illustrators. While she does her best to be a grown-up most of the time, giggling with her BFFs is still one of her all-time favorite things. You can visit her website at DeeRomito.com.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 3, 2020
Thank you to the author, Dee Romito, for providing an advanced copy of this story to #collabookation. Publish date May 2020. This is a great early reader with themes of friendship, STEM, creativity, and young entrepreneurship. Caleb and Jax are excited to start their new business building forts for others. What they don't realize is that they need to design plan for their forts prior to building them so they know what materials they need, the cost, and can get approval from their customers prior to building. That's where Kiara gets involved. Their team of 2 ends up becoming a team of 4: Jax, Caleb, Eddie, and Kiara. Together, they become Fort Builder's, Inc. They troubleshoot everything that they are faced with when their first customer, Analise, comes along and requests a pink castle for a fort. Will they be able to successfully build such a detailed fort in the short amount of time they have before Analise's birthday? I cannot wait to share this story with my first graders once this book makes it through #collabookation. I have many students that will LOVE it, and book 2 in the series coming later in the year.
August 9, 2020
Well done beginning chapter book. The text is easy to follow and the story is relatable.
The team of four friends starts a business building cardboard forts. Their first one is almost a disaster as they learn about business and working together. As they move through the process, they add people to their team until the four learn how to design and build what the client wants.
The pink birthday castle is everything their customer wants and their business is launched.
Vocabulary list included at the end of the book.
Looking forward to more in this series.
The team of four friends starts a business building cardboard forts. Their first one is almost a disaster as they learn about business and working together. As they move through the process, they add people to their team until the four learn how to design and build what the client wants.
The pink birthday castle is everything their customer wants and their business is launched.
Vocabulary list included at the end of the book.
Looking forward to more in this series.
February 18, 2020
Teamwork, creativity, and a pink castle - what’s not to love?
August 5, 2021
Not good at all. Flat characters, bland storytelling, questionable messaging, and no humor or spark whatsoever. It was about as engaging as reading a story problem.
November 5, 2024
Cam loved this. It’s all about teamwork, project management, and working to your strengths. So much fun.
October 7, 2020
Hell nah!
I am so glad I pre-read books before I give them to my kids. This is the most problematic children’s book I’ve seen in a while. On top of that, it’s boring! All of the whimsical magic of fort-building is completely gone, replaced by STEM buzzwords and a story that lacks any heart or authenticity.
Now, on to the problematic pieces... Whew, where to begin. The main character (white boy) comes up with an idea to monetize a fun childhood activity by creating a fort-building business, and gets his best friend (another white boy) to go in on it with him. They also recruit a Black boy and Indian girl to help them, with the promise that everyone will split the profits and be treated equal partners. “Oooh, a co-op!” I thought. Alas, no.
Even though the Black boy & Brown girl are the most skilled members of the team, and the best friend does the hard building work, the MC gets all the credit and makes all the decisions. Turns out this white boy is “really good at managing the team” (this a direct quote, y’all!) So while the other three do most of the labor of actually assembling the fort, (after the Brown girl has drawn up all of the plans AND provided all of the materials) this kid is just giving orders and measuring tape.
The worst part? At the end of the book, when they finally get paid for building this birthday castle, the rest of the kids give the MC all of their money because “this all started because of you.” And instead of insisting that they divide the profits evenly as they had agreed, because he could not have done it without them and they should get paid for their work, the MC says gee thanks and pockets all the cash!
What in the Betsy DeVos MLM-based curriculum kind of business model is this nonsense? Would give zero stars if I could.
I am so glad I pre-read books before I give them to my kids. This is the most problematic children’s book I’ve seen in a while. On top of that, it’s boring! All of the whimsical magic of fort-building is completely gone, replaced by STEM buzzwords and a story that lacks any heart or authenticity.
Now, on to the problematic pieces... Whew, where to begin. The main character (white boy) comes up with an idea to monetize a fun childhood activity by creating a fort-building business, and gets his best friend (another white boy) to go in on it with him. They also recruit a Black boy and Indian girl to help them, with the promise that everyone will split the profits and be treated equal partners. “Oooh, a co-op!” I thought. Alas, no.
Even though the Black boy & Brown girl are the most skilled members of the team, and the best friend does the hard building work, the MC gets all the credit and makes all the decisions. Turns out this white boy is “really good at managing the team” (this a direct quote, y’all!) So while the other three do most of the labor of actually assembling the fort, (after the Brown girl has drawn up all of the plans AND provided all of the materials) this kid is just giving orders and measuring tape.
The worst part? At the end of the book, when they finally get paid for building this birthday castle, the rest of the kids give the MC all of their money because “this all started because of you.” And instead of insisting that they divide the profits evenly as they had agreed, because he could not have done it without them and they should get paid for their work, the MC says gee thanks and pockets all the cash!
What in the Betsy DeVos MLM-based curriculum kind of business model is this nonsense? Would give zero stars if I could.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2021
Not a big fan of this one.
It was a quick read, and there are a few questions and a STEM activity at the end.
A kid needs money to buy a book and decides to start a fort building business. He recruits three other kids, promising that they will all split the profits. They run into a number of problems, from lack of materials to a demanding client to misbehaving weather, but persevere.
It was a quick read, and there are a few questions and a STEM activity at the end.
A kid needs money to buy a book and decides to start a fort building business. He recruits three other kids, promising that they will all split the profits. They run into a number of problems, from lack of materials to a demanding client to misbehaving weather, but persevere.
August 4, 2021
Summary from the book:
Caleb and his best friend, Jax, are excited to start their own business. Their first order is a big one: a pink birthday castle with a drawbridge! But when things don't go as planned, will they finish the fort in time for their friend Analise's big birthday bash?
My take:
As the book promised, this is really a Fast.Fun.Reads from Aladdin Quix. It's interesting to read how Caleb and Jax grew their 'company' from a 2 person team to a 4 person team with:
- Eddie as putting the boxes together
- Jax with helping to stack them up
- Kiara being the one to attach everything together
- Caleb overseeing the measurement (since he's good at this) and also managing the team.
Of course something had to happen just as they finished the build
Caleb and his best friend, Jax, are excited to start their own business. Their first order is a big one: a pink birthday castle with a drawbridge! But when things don't go as planned, will they finish the fort in time for their friend Analise's big birthday bash?
My take:
As the book promised, this is really a Fast.Fun.Reads from Aladdin Quix. It's interesting to read how Caleb and Jax grew their 'company' from a 2 person team to a 4 person team with:
- Eddie as putting the boxes together
- Jax with helping to stack them up
- Kiara being the one to attach everything together
- Caleb overseeing the measurement (since he's good at this) and also managing the team.
Of course something had to happen just as they finished the build
May 11, 2021
I loved the messages: if you want something do something about it, resilience, real teamwork (where everyone on the team is necessary), entrepreneurship, kindness. I like that there’s subtle feminism (girls designing and building and it’s totally normal) as opposed to in-your-face feminism (for example, guy says building is not for girls and girl proves him wrong). So many books for this age are about how boring school is, or about obnoxious or bullying characters, etc. So glad to have a feel-good wholesome book with a great story! (Postscript: I didn’t like the second book in the series, so I recommend this only as a stand-alone book.)
September 19, 2020
One hundred percent adorable. Totally accessible for second and third graders, with a storyline that focuses on teamwork, perseverance, keeping promises, contributing ones strengths, thinking outside the box, and working towards an end goal. I LOVE this book!
Can’t help but also adore that the reason the main character even wants to earn money is to be able to buy himself a new book.
Can’t help but also adore that the reason the main character even wants to earn money is to be able to buy himself a new book.
March 26, 2020
I could think of so many ways to use this early chapter book in a primary classroom. I know teachers and students are going to enjoy reading this and perhaps students will build fort or start their own businesses.
March 4, 2020
An engaging and enjoyable book with a great message for early readers. My 8yo liked reading it together and plans to re-read it again on his own.
August 10, 2021
My Favourite Part -
When the castle got all soggy and they remade it.
When the castle got all soggy and they remade it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2025
This was a quick read. I liked that we got to learn a tiny bit about a character's culture (it was really only about a dessert, but it was still a fun fact). I wish the book had more images, though. The book is about 4 kids building a fort for their brand new business, Fort Builders Inc. They have to redo it a couple of times due to client requests (a lot of contractors would probably understand) and outside circumstances (it rained, I felt so bad for them).
I just think more images throughout would have enhanced the story, especially this type of story where not everyone can just imagine what they're talking about when explaining their build. The ending was sweet, kind of. I definitely felt they should have charged more than $10 for all the work they put in, but maybe that's just me. It was nice that the other kids were willing to let one kid have all the profits so he could by the book he'd been wanting, though.
I just think more images throughout would have enhanced the story, especially this type of story where not everyone can just imagine what they're talking about when explaining their build. The ending was sweet, kind of. I definitely felt they should have charged more than $10 for all the work they put in, but maybe that's just me. It was nice that the other kids were willing to let one kid have all the profits so he could by the book he'd been wanting, though.
April 22, 2025
Caleb is looking for a way to earn some money for a new book he wants. He gets the idea to build box forts, and soon has 3 other kids, Jax, Eddie, and Kiara, involved in the business venture as well. Their first job is to build a castle for Analise’s birthday party. But can they find a way to work together well and get the project done on time?
I like this little maker business idea. It is something creative and that kids could do themselves for fun, or possibly as a business venture. I like how they problem solve how to work together as a team, the way they respond to set backs, and the way the team grows.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: None
Ethnic diversity: Jax and Caleb are white American. Eddie is Black American, and Kiara is Indian American (Asian Indian).
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: None
I like this little maker business idea. It is something creative and that kids could do themselves for fun, or possibly as a business venture. I like how they problem solve how to work together as a team, the way they respond to set backs, and the way the team grows.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: None
Ethnic diversity: Jax and Caleb are white American. Eddie is Black American, and Kiara is Indian American (Asian Indian).
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: None
October 20, 2021
I like the concept of kids working together, using their skills, and starting a business. Difficult words are in bold with a corresponding word list in the back of the book. There are also instructions in the back for building a drawbridge. Six chapters and black and white pictures on about every third page. Pair with The Cardboard Kingdom.
May 8, 2025
Caleb and Jax put their heads together to start their own fort-building business. With his heart set on buying the new Castle Quest book, Caleb recruits other friends to help him in his new business venture so he can save up enough for this book. Caleb is joined by Jax and other friends to build their first fort that will sell for $10. But when little bumps happen, causing more delays and start up costs than he had planned for, will they make it?
This was a good book to talk about working with others and working together.
This was a good book to talk about working with others and working together.
August 5, 2020
I actually got kind of into this story - I can't believe how many times these kids rebuilt their fort!
September 16, 2020
Great chapter layout and large print to get my five year olds interested in reading it on their own. A nice story about teamwork and persistence.
April 7, 2021
A nice transitional chapter book with problem solving and STEAM creativity - but not too educational to ruin the fun.
July 6, 2021
We got through this in one evening and they were pretty engaged throughout. As the parent reader, it was a bit repetitive as each problem led to rebuilding.
August 7, 2024
I read this one to my 8 year old- he enjoyed it, but it wasn’t anything special. Probably a better series for him to read himself than for us to read together.
July 1, 2020
What a fun story! The premise is so fun. I loved building forts as a kid, and I loved watching the Fort building team (Caleb, Jax, Eddie, and Kiara) Come together and discover what it takes to start a business. There is so much possibility for kids to learn from this series, and the idea of a fort building company is brilliant. It’s perfect for emerging readers!
March 19, 2020
Thank you author and publisher for sharing a copy with #Collabookation.
This is such a fun, short read that is perfect for early readers. It has castles, grit, perseverance, and lots of fun. I loved this cute story, and I cannot wait to read part 2 soon!
This is such a fun, short read that is perfect for early readers. It has castles, grit, perseverance, and lots of fun. I loved this cute story, and I cannot wait to read part 2 soon!
February 18, 2020
A fun chapter book for early readers that would be a wonderful addition to a classroom or family library. Loved the way the characters learn teamwork and problem solving - can't wait for the rest of the series!!
July 3, 2021
Lots to appreciate in this easy, quick-read chapter book. Liked the focus on teamwork and creativity, a bit of STEM, the ups and downs of trying to start your own business (especially the bits about needing to please your customers, making sure you have materials before you promise to make something, and working to a timeline, and overcoming setbacks). Each member of the team has something special to contribute to the project. So, the ending kind of flummoxed me... I don't know... I can't decide if it's just a lovely celebration of altruism and generosity (I think that's the point) or just kind of a confusing message to send kids about business and the importance of the founder vs. the people who actually make the ideas a reality. So, read some other reviews and see for yourself (the one star review here kind of speaks to my concern about the ending, though it appears most people loved the book.)
Want to read
February 1, 2020Note: I accessed a digital review copy through Edelweiss.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews