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Blossom Family #3
The Blossoms and the Green Phantom
No one has noticed Junior Blossom's new invention, even though Junior can plainly see that it's marvelous. He calls it the Green Phantom and it's almost finished--except for the final secret ingredient.
The whole family make a Blossom promise to ensure Junior's Green Phantom is a big success, and Junior knows a blossom promise can never be broken. When the Green Phantom is ready, everyone gathers to cheer Junior on, except for two Pap, his grandfather, who has been missing, and Mom, who is at home worried and waiting near the phone. Pap is old, and his knees are weak--where can he be?
In The Blossoms And The Green Phantom , the third book of Betsy Byars's quartet, this unforgettable family is as lovable and unpredictable as ever.
The whole family make a Blossom promise to ensure Junior's Green Phantom is a big success, and Junior knows a blossom promise can never be broken. When the Green Phantom is ready, everyone gathers to cheer Junior on, except for two Pap, his grandfather, who has been missing, and Mom, who is at home worried and waiting near the phone. Pap is old, and his knees are weak--where can he be?
In The Blossoms And The Green Phantom , the third book of Betsy Byars's quartet, this unforgettable family is as lovable and unpredictable as ever.
146 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Betsy Byars
161 books164 followersBetsy Byars was an American author of children's books. She wrote over sixty books for young people. Her first novel was published in 1962. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal. She also received a National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The Night Swimmers and an Edgar Award for Wanted ... Mud Blossom!!
Daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers are also writers.
Daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers are also writers.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 1, 2021
Why do I like stories about the Blossom family? Because "we Blossoms aren't just anybody," according to Maggie Blossom. Junior is at it again and has a new invention underway, but he is missing a key ingredient. Maggie is busy learning to be a trick rider like her mom. Vern Blossom is trying to befriend a boy in a "normal" family named Michael. Meanwhile Pap and Mud go on a can excursion and Pap falls into a dumpster while trying to rescue a puppy. A missing Pap and Junior's invention crisis keep the family and their friends busy. I loved the kids cooperating to give Junior invention success -- including Ralphie, one of my favorite characters. This is old-fashioned fun and like a trip back in time. Would be a fun road trip read for the whole family.
October 15, 2016
A bit confusing to read these out of order. This has more re-cap than Vulture Lady, though, so if you can't get the first you might want to read this first.
Anyway, these folks are the kind of people who truly live life, the kind who have almost no sense of caution, or respectability... but have tons of love and courage. And these kids will likely make their mark on the world - or at least have more joy and satisfaction than most of us could even dream of.
Anyway, these folks are the kind of people who truly live life, the kind who have almost no sense of caution, or respectability... but have tons of love and courage. And these kids will likely make their mark on the world - or at least have more joy and satisfaction than most of us could even dream of.
January 18, 2013
A book I again recall dearly loving from my childhood. Re-reading, I'm again not quite sure why I loved it so much, for it's...on the bleak side, and I'm sure there was more about trick riding in it than there actually is!
The message about the unconventional family sticking together is still strong and fascinating, and I remember how foreign and distant America felt to me as a child. The distinct and seemingly real atmosphere of these books is sort of jarring, retrospectively, but also quite refreshing. The repetition of themes from Not-Just-Anybody Family is a little odd, but overall, this is a much more satisfying read than that.
November 17, 2024
Not as good as the first two. I appreciated the reminder of how much fun one can have as a kid during long days of unstructured time, particularly without the distraction of screens or planned activities like board games—just plain imaginative kid fun.
This book also reminded me of one of the downsides of being an adult around kids, which is taking seriously their creative endeavors and pretending to find them absorbingly interesting.
This book also reminded me of one of the downsides of being an adult around kids, which is taking seriously their creative endeavors and pretending to find them absorbingly interesting.
September 12, 2017
This series is unassuming at first glance, but then the satisfying plotting and kind, identifiable characters sneak in to give the reader an emotionally fulfilling experience. Byars is one of our best American writers, period.
June 1, 2021
I wonder why I put off reading this for as long as I have
September 30, 2013
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
Junior Blossom has had pretty terrible luck with his inventions. First, his wings failed him and landed him in the hospital with two broken legs. Then, his coyote trap caught him (and later Mud) instead of the coyote he so desperately wanted to see. Now, he’s in the midst of building a spaceship called The Green Phantom, but it just isn’t going according to plan. While Maggie practices trick horseback riding so she can join her mom in the rodeo and Vern hangs around at his new friend, Michael’s house, Junior begins to worry that he will never do anything to make his father proud. While Junior’s mother, Vicky, tries to rally the family to help Junior launch his spaceship successfully, Pap has also gone missing, as he has fallen into a dumpster and needs to be rescued. Once again, as the family is kept apart by unforeseen circumstances, they deepen their understanding of their need for one another.
Of the three Blossom books I have read so far, I think this one is my favorite. There is so much emotional depth in each character’s experiences in this story that I feel as though I now know each one intimately. Byars does a beautiful job of describing each child’s feelings about their deceased father, as well as their feelings about one another. Though Vern is not an especially touchy-feely kid, the reader sympathizes deeply with his concerns that Michael won’t like visiting his house because of how different it is. Maggie’s excitement over being asked to join the rodeo with her mother demonstrates how much she loves her mother, and also how much she wants to be a part of her father’s legacy. Junior’s desire for attention and his need to make his dad proud also tug at the heartstrings and remind us how young Junior still is, despite all his bravado and big ideas. Pap is perhaps the most interesting character of all, because we get to see his weaknesses for the first time, as he sits inside the cold dumpster with an orphaned puppy, contemplating what will happen if he isn’t found, while Mud sits injured and powerless to help, just outside.
This book is filled with beautiful descriptions. Here are just a few of my favorite brief passages:
On page 42, Vern reflects on the differences between himself and Michael, and his certainty that Michael’s involvement in any project will make it a success:
Now that his mother had included Michael in the project, he figured they couldn’t lose. After all, Michael and his family had every single thing there was in the world. Michael’s father’s workshop was like a hardware store. Michael’s room was like the sporting goods department at Sears.
Though the text never comes right out and says that Vern is ashamed of his family, or that he wishes for more material things, this passage gives the reader that sense in just a few words.
On page 63, Pap watches the sunset from the dumpster:
Pap watched the sun go down from inside the dumpster. It was a big red sun that hung over the purple ridges of mountains for a long time. Then it dropped with amazing speed behind the peaks and out of sight.
Pap felt a chill touch his bones.
Again, Byars uses just a few short lines to convey both the coolness of the evening as the sun disappears and Pap’s growing fear about never being rescued.
On page 72, the Green Phantom is launched for the first time:
It gave Junior a strange, scientific feeling. He knew the Phantom wasn’t real. He knew it was only air mattresses and garbage bags and Day-Glo paint, and yet seeing something that strange and beautiful made him feel - well, maybe it wasn’t a scientific feeling where everything happened according to law, this was more of a science fiction feeling where things happened the way you wanted them to happen.
I think the line about the difference between scientific feelings and science fiction feelings is my favorite of the entire story.
This book is so easy to overlook, especially editions with older covers, but despite the odd title and dated illustrations, this is an extremely well-written and touching story about a family coming together to support its youngest and oldest members in times of great need.
Junior Blossom has had pretty terrible luck with his inventions. First, his wings failed him and landed him in the hospital with two broken legs. Then, his coyote trap caught him (and later Mud) instead of the coyote he so desperately wanted to see. Now, he’s in the midst of building a spaceship called The Green Phantom, but it just isn’t going according to plan. While Maggie practices trick horseback riding so she can join her mom in the rodeo and Vern hangs around at his new friend, Michael’s house, Junior begins to worry that he will never do anything to make his father proud. While Junior’s mother, Vicky, tries to rally the family to help Junior launch his spaceship successfully, Pap has also gone missing, as he has fallen into a dumpster and needs to be rescued. Once again, as the family is kept apart by unforeseen circumstances, they deepen their understanding of their need for one another.
Of the three Blossom books I have read so far, I think this one is my favorite. There is so much emotional depth in each character’s experiences in this story that I feel as though I now know each one intimately. Byars does a beautiful job of describing each child’s feelings about their deceased father, as well as their feelings about one another. Though Vern is not an especially touchy-feely kid, the reader sympathizes deeply with his concerns that Michael won’t like visiting his house because of how different it is. Maggie’s excitement over being asked to join the rodeo with her mother demonstrates how much she loves her mother, and also how much she wants to be a part of her father’s legacy. Junior’s desire for attention and his need to make his dad proud also tug at the heartstrings and remind us how young Junior still is, despite all his bravado and big ideas. Pap is perhaps the most interesting character of all, because we get to see his weaknesses for the first time, as he sits inside the cold dumpster with an orphaned puppy, contemplating what will happen if he isn’t found, while Mud sits injured and powerless to help, just outside.
This book is filled with beautiful descriptions. Here are just a few of my favorite brief passages:
On page 42, Vern reflects on the differences between himself and Michael, and his certainty that Michael’s involvement in any project will make it a success:
Now that his mother had included Michael in the project, he figured they couldn’t lose. After all, Michael and his family had every single thing there was in the world. Michael’s father’s workshop was like a hardware store. Michael’s room was like the sporting goods department at Sears.
Though the text never comes right out and says that Vern is ashamed of his family, or that he wishes for more material things, this passage gives the reader that sense in just a few words.
On page 63, Pap watches the sunset from the dumpster:
Pap watched the sun go down from inside the dumpster. It was a big red sun that hung over the purple ridges of mountains for a long time. Then it dropped with amazing speed behind the peaks and out of sight.
Pap felt a chill touch his bones.
Again, Byars uses just a few short lines to convey both the coolness of the evening as the sun disappears and Pap’s growing fear about never being rescued.
On page 72, the Green Phantom is launched for the first time:
It gave Junior a strange, scientific feeling. He knew the Phantom wasn’t real. He knew it was only air mattresses and garbage bags and Day-Glo paint, and yet seeing something that strange and beautiful made him feel - well, maybe it wasn’t a scientific feeling where everything happened according to law, this was more of a science fiction feeling where things happened the way you wanted them to happen.
I think the line about the difference between scientific feelings and science fiction feelings is my favorite of the entire story.
This book is so easy to overlook, especially editions with older covers, but despite the odd title and dated illustrations, this is an extremely well-written and touching story about a family coming together to support its youngest and oldest members in times of great need.
October 9, 2013
Junior Blossom has a new invention which he calls the Green Phantom. He is convinced of its uniqueness even though no one else is. He desperately wants to do something that his deceased father would be proud of. At first, he thought his invention would succeed; now he is not too sure. Vicki Blossom, Junior's mother, senses his deep need for approval and makes a Blossom promise. The whole family goes into action. When they first try to launch the Green Phantom, a home-made UFO, the wind blows it away from its intended target and onto Farmer Benson's hen house. The next night, it gets caught in a tree. Maggie and her friend, Ralphie, come to the rescue. The Green Phantom floats and disappears in the night sky. While the family is helping Junior launch his invention, Pap has a misadventure of his own. When he tries to retrieve an abandoned puppy from a garbage dumpster, he falls in and spends the night thinking that he will die of exposure.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
April 15, 2008
I'm really into the older kids books lately. This is the third book about the Blossom Family. It follows Junior's attempt to launch one of his experiments, this one a "UFO" he calls the Green Phantom. Meantime, Maggie is learning how to do trick riding on her Mom's horse, Vern is finally making a good friend, and Pap is stuck in a dumpster, where he fell while trying to rescue an abandoned puppy. Good clean fun - teaches a lot about the importance of family loyalty, understanding, and forgiveness.
July 17, 2014
4 STARS
"Disasters befall the Blossom family as Pap falls into a dumpster and can't get out, Junior tries desperately to make a success of his secret invention, and Vern dreads letting a new friend meet his unusual family." (From Amazon)
I loved the Blossom family as they were crazier than my own family. I still remember reading this series one summer outside on the deck. I would start reading after lunch and chores until it became too dark to read anymore.
"Disasters befall the Blossom family as Pap falls into a dumpster and can't get out, Junior tries desperately to make a success of his secret invention, and Vern dreads letting a new friend meet his unusual family." (From Amazon)
I loved the Blossom family as they were crazier than my own family. I still remember reading this series one summer outside on the deck. I would start reading after lunch and chores until it became too dark to read anymore.
August 8, 2008
Pretty much the same as her other books about this family. (I can't remember their name, but you get the idea :P)
February 5, 2009
Old Children's Book. Liked it as a kid, but haven't read it in years.
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January 22, 2009JAR4-Bya
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January 22, 2009JAR4-Bya
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews