What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Lagoon Adventures #17
The Summer Vacation from the Black Lagoon
Hubie's friends are away, his mom has chores for him, and his popsicle stand is melting. How is he ever going to survive boring summer vacation?
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Mike Thaler
294 books118 followersMike Thaler, born in Los Angeles, started his professional career drawing cartoons for adults. A children's book editor saw one of his cartoon stories in a national magazine and encouraged Mike to try writing for children. His first attempt met with success, and "The Magic Boy" was published in 1961.
Mike has produced over 220 published books and is known as “America’s Riddle King.” He has also been called “The Court Jester of Children’s Literature.”
Mike Thaler lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Patty. He gladly welcomes all invitations to do church and school programs, and other book events.
Mike travels each year throughout the world helping children and teachers create their own stories, riddles, and books. He writes and teaches with creativity, inspiring his audiences with a love of language.
--from the author's website
Mike has produced over 220 published books and is known as “America’s Riddle King.” He has also been called “The Court Jester of Children’s Literature.”
Mike Thaler lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Patty. He gladly welcomes all invitations to do church and school programs, and other book events.
Mike travels each year throughout the world helping children and teachers create their own stories, riddles, and books. He writes and teaches with creativity, inspiring his audiences with a love of language.
--from the author's website
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
September 23, 2023
The first “book club” book of the year for my more advanced readers! All of the kids said 5 stars!
March 19, 2018
It's the first day of summer vacation, and Hubie is at a lost of what to do, and how to spend the next eight weeks. His mom offers him a to do-list, he thinks about looking for odd jobs, but his resume isn't strong enough, he opens a lemonade stand, but that doesn't workout, he goes to the library, but it's closed on Mondays, and all of this happens on the first day. Later the same day Hubie gets an unexpected phone call, and his summer turns out to be the best he's ever had.
September 19, 2020
For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle
Okay read. More rambling than the earlier books. Like many of the other books, there isn't a ton going on plotwise and it is mostly Hubie worrying. However, I found this one less entertaining. Not much happens and Hubie mostly just complains about how bored he is.
The book does incorporate different sayings and idioms in a fun way, which can be an interesting technique for teaching children various turns of phrase (back to square one, stand for something).
As always, the pictures were entertaining.
Okay read. More rambling than the earlier books. Like many of the other books, there isn't a ton going on plotwise and it is mostly Hubie worrying. However, I found this one less entertaining. Not much happens and Hubie mostly just complains about how bored he is.
The book does incorporate different sayings and idioms in a fun way, which can be an interesting technique for teaching children various turns of phrase (back to square one, stand for something).
As always, the pictures were entertaining.
June 24, 2020
DescriptionEverybody loves the last day of school, but few realize the dangers of the the first day of summer. Hubie is bored. What can he do with all this free time? His friends are away, mom has chores for him, and his popsicle stand is melting. How is he going to survive this never-ending vacation?
January 12, 2018
It was a very silly book that I read aloud to my mixed aged school children. I liked that I was able to use different tones and the children laughed throughout it. It was short enough to read in 1 seating. I would like to use more with this class.
October 31, 2024
“Mom, that was not a good book” - My third grader and I were not fans of this story. Likely because it lacks depth. I thought it was just me, clearly I’m not the target audience. I think we will pass on more of these adventures.
January 6, 2018
I read this one with my kids. Laugh out loud humor that had both my kids and me in stitches.
August 14, 2018
Fun series
Great book for kids! My kids enjoy the Black Lagoon series. They always have fun reading these books. Review done.
Great book for kids! My kids enjoy the Black Lagoon series. They always have fun reading these books. Review done.
May 29, 2019
I liked it. I read another version of it that was good. I liked how his life was scary hahaha. Most of all I liked this book and give it a hundred thumbs up!!!! I LOVE IT 😍
June 11, 2019
Fun series for kids. 😊
December 10, 2022
I read this with an elementary book club. I actually enjoyed it more than I expected.
March 5, 2023
I am so ready for summer.
October 10, 2023
It was funny
January 19, 2017
The book is alright. Has clever writing and i recommend it for young people.
May 6, 2015
Personal Reaction: This book was really funny and kept the reader's attention with its humor. The pictures captivated my attention, although I wish some of them were a little less distracting. I also liked how the book is separated into a lot of short chapters, because the transitional reader may feel like they are reading a book that is longer than it actually is, which can build confidence. I also really enjoyed the imagination in this book; the storyline is extremely creative and that's part of what makes it interesting.
Purposes:
- ages 7-9
Independent Reading: This would be good for a transitional reader because there are not a ton of words on the page. There are pictures/comics that support the text and make the book even more exciting. The storyline is unpredictable and keeps the reader's attention, which is good since this book is longer than most picture books would be. This would also be good for a student who thinks reading is boring, because it is humorous and unique.
For narrative: This book would be great to use to teach tone because it is written in the first person. There is a very distinct tone, that is imaginative, a bit cynical, questioning, creative, and humorous. It would also be useful to teach conflict, because the book is centered around one big conflict: the main character is bored and does not know how to make his summer fun. In addition, there are lots of conflicts within that conflict. He keeps trying to do something fun, but it never quite works out.
Other: This book has very strong use of vocabulary. It uses words that are within reach of the age range, but may be new, such as: empire, résume, relocate, toxic, etc.
Purposes:
- ages 7-9
Independent Reading: This would be good for a transitional reader because there are not a ton of words on the page. There are pictures/comics that support the text and make the book even more exciting. The storyline is unpredictable and keeps the reader's attention, which is good since this book is longer than most picture books would be. This would also be good for a student who thinks reading is boring, because it is humorous and unique.
For narrative: This book would be great to use to teach tone because it is written in the first person. There is a very distinct tone, that is imaginative, a bit cynical, questioning, creative, and humorous. It would also be useful to teach conflict, because the book is centered around one big conflict: the main character is bored and does not know how to make his summer fun. In addition, there are lots of conflicts within that conflict. He keeps trying to do something fun, but it never quite works out.
Other: This book has very strong use of vocabulary. It uses words that are within reach of the age range, but may be new, such as: empire, résume, relocate, toxic, etc.
June 6, 2015
My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.
http://spreadthewordnevada.org/
Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.
I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.
http://spreadthewordnevada.org/
Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.
I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.
July 29, 2015
Interesting book
Hubbie has no idea for his summer vacation. Normally, he has olenty of ideas. This time, it looks stranger that he has no idea. He tries to get idea by sleeping, dreaming, writing a book on the summer vacation, asking help to her mom, selling lemonade and kisses. But nothing works. It get him more and more bored. Finally he overcomes the situation by receiving a call from Eric, his buddie and find the way out and even finishes his book on summer vacation.
Hubbie has no idea for his summer vacation. Normally, he has olenty of ideas. This time, it looks stranger that he has no idea. He tries to get idea by sleeping, dreaming, writing a book on the summer vacation, asking help to her mom, selling lemonade and kisses. But nothing works. It get him more and more bored. Finally he overcomes the situation by receiving a call from Eric, his buddie and find the way out and even finishes his book on summer vacation.
December 13, 2011
My opinion of this book is that it was amazing.Its genre was fantasy because the dog was talking.A quick retelling is that he thought his friends were at camp because nobody called him and so he got bored.Last his best friend finally called and didnt get bored and went bike riding.My question is that why did he make a lemonade stand?My shema is that one day my cousin was waiting for me to go bike riding with him.I will recomend this book to someone whos bored and can learn something to.
July 12, 2014
It is summer vacation time for Hubie. He wakes up and guess what!? He is soooo bored. He thinks of things to do but, nothing will cure the boredom. His mom says she has a list of things for him to do and he goes running. He decides to have a lemonade stand and be King Squeezer. That just fails miserably. Then he decides to start writing. Writers block is a bitch. Writing seems to cure the boredom. Yay! for writing.
I laughed from beginning to end. Loved every minute of this book.
I laughed from beginning to end. Loved every minute of this book.
August 4, 2016
below par for this series. it was not written with language at a first grade level but the idea are that of a first grade reader. hubie is worked that summer vacation will be a drag and tries to think up things to do while his friends are away. some of the jokes are funny, but it lacks a certain you know.
October 27, 2010
This was kind of about what he felt like doing next
October 13, 2010
i thaught this book was cool for younger kids because he is trying to figure out what to do for summer but he cant so finally he starts writting papers and before he knows it summer is over
December 4, 2010
i didnt really like this book because it was short and it didnt really have a problem
February 28, 2011
the book is creepy with funny monsters hahahaha!
December 31, 2014
it is a great book and if you have kids they should read it it has lots of funny things in it so ya
bye hope you like it
bye hope you like it
July 6, 2016
It's great. You should read it even if you don't know how to read.
Read
July 21, 2018Review by C.N. : "Like. He didn't know what to do but at the [end] he did. [Recommended for people] who like funny books."
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews