Friday – The Total Ice Cream Meltdown (Total Mayhem #5)

Total Mayhem #5

by Ralph Lazar

Book five in the hilarious and action-packed Total Mayhem series from New York Times bestselling author Ralph Lazar, starring Dash Candoo, an ingenious problem-solver, with fantastic friends and a bottomless backpack of brilliant gadgets.

Genres: Chapter Books

240 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

Ralph Lazar was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967 and studied law and economics at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Economics.

After several years of working in finance, Ralph moved with his wife-to-be Lisa Swerling, to Cerf Island (population of 52) in the Seychelles, where they (very remotely) started their illustration licensing business Last Lemon. Later based in London and now northern California, they have worked with many publishers including Chronicle Books, Penguin and Andrews McMeel in the US, and Harper Collins and DK in the UK.

Ralph and Lisa's book creations include the illustrated project Happiness is..., which has been translated into over 20 languages and has over 3 million followers online, and the New York Times Bestselling Me Without You.

Reviews

[amandalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

My son was so happy to learn that the series did not end with this book. Another hit for my 7yo.

[Beth Madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meltdown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son (8yo/2nd grader) absolutely loved this book, which is something I truly appreciate. He struggles a lot with reading/spelling, and because of this, he dislikes to read. He takes a while to read a page and will not stick with anything that isn't just a few easy words and sentences per page, even if we tag team. This book was completely different. He was excited to head to bed every night and read together. He was a bit more willing to take the time and sound out the words. If he didn't know it, he asked. The "made up" words in the book made his day, especially since you needed to look up the explanation of the word in the almanac at the back of the book. This tied right into the Dictionary/Encyclopedia lesson he is doing in school.

He is now asking for the additional books in the series, as this was our first. It was ordered through his school book order, so I will find the others for him, since he enjoyed it so.

Thank you for bringing a bit of love of reading to this young man, Ralph Lazar!!

[Lisa Villarreal · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son learned to read with the Total Mayhem series, and with his adhd and autism sometimes sitting through a book is the hardest thing. He loves all the books, and we've almost finally made it to the final book. We bought the whole entire series and read 1 chapter per night. It's great bonding time, and I love seeing him enjoy reading so much. These are perfect for him because the language can be sometimes challenging, but the photos keeps him entertained, so he doesn't get bored reading since he is too smart for most picture books. He's 9 and extremely smart for his age, but without the photos, he gets easily bored with books. These are so entertaining and fun that even my husband and I enjoy story time too.

[Jen Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my daughter. We enjoyed it