War of the World Records

October 1, 2014
The world record-setting Whipple family faces off against the rival Goldwins in the World Record World Championships. A string of bad luck has fallen upon the Whipple family, and black sheep Arthur Whipple has taken it upon himself to investigate the series of unfortunate events that continuously derails his family's quest for glory. The prime suspects are the Goldwins, an up-and-coming team that has the World Record World Championship in their sights. The bizarre mystery weaving throughout Ward's sequel includes vandalism, bribery, murder and kidnapping. Unfortunately, this promising concept is smothered by stylization and padding. There's simply no reason for this story to be stretched across 375 pages, other than to indulge the author's apparent fondness for over-the-top buffoonery and narrative dead ends. The final straw is reached during the book's last chapter, in which the mystery is resolved not by Arthur and his clever sleuthing but instead a letter left behind by the guilty party. This letter spans 10 pages. Readers deserve better than 10 solid pages of exposition at the end of the book explaining who did what to whom and why-and setting up the third Whipple adventure, one few readers will likely be interested in. An exciting premise destroyed by tedious plotting. (Fiction. 8-12)

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October 1, 2014

Gr 4-7-The Whipples are the winningest family in World Record history. That is until a string of suspicious events and colossal bad luck threaten their standing. Could the meteoric rise of the Goldwin family signal a new era in the record books? Ward's follow-up to The Fantastic Family Whipple (Razorbill, 2013) is a breathless, if somewhat overly ambitious novel. That he manages to take a family with more world records than any other and make them an underdog is quite a feat, though the antagonist Goldwins are almost too cartoonishly dastardly from the beginning. The main character and "least impressive" family member, Arthur, is a sympathetic protagonist and once his sleuth storyline gets going, the book becomes more engaging. His kindred spirit relationship with the rival family's ugly duckling is charming and readers will identify with the pair's feelings of isolation. The tale is at times too quippy and breakneck for its own good. The amount of characters, lists of world records, and firm tongue-in-cheek narration are a distraction to the book's merits. Students who are fascinated by world record-breaking may appreciate this rollicking novel, but the breadth of plot and detail will be a hindrance to all but the most advanced readers.-Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Prep, Jersey City, NJ

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