Children's Fiction Chapter Books
Martin Bridge: Onwards and Upwards!
- Publisher
- Kids Can Press
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2009
- Category
- Chapter Books, Boys & Men, Short Stories
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781554531608
- Publish Date
- Feb 2009
- List Price
- $16.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781554531615
- Publish Date
- Feb 2009
- List Price
- $6.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781894786645
- Publish Date
- Dec 2013
- List Price
- $4.99
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Where to buy it
Out of print
This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 7 to 10
- Grade: 2 to 5
Description
Martin Bridge returns for more slice-of-life adventures in this installment in the widely acclaimed chapter-book series.
In “Keyboard,” Martin's summer is off to an unharmonious start when his best friends Alex and Stuart are grounded for accidentally damaging Polar Pete's ice-cream truck. Meanwhile, Martin's Mother won't stop practicing on her new electronic keyboard --- and she's driving him around the bend. He's so grumpy that he doesn't feel like helping his friends when they come up with a water-sprinkler-symphony scheme to help pay for their accident. Will Martin change his tune and add some much-needed harmony to his summer?
In “Rope,” Laila Moffat joins the Junior Badgers, much to Martin's chagrin. A keener and know-it-all, Laila just wants to win more badges. Martin doesn't plan to make it easy for her.
Though Laila ends up proving herself Badger-worthy, Martin sure doesn't treat her like a friend should. As the competition for more badges begins to heat up, Martin finds himself with conflicting loyalties.
About the authors
Jessica Scott Kerrin is the author of The Things Owen Wrote, The Spotted Dog Last Seen (finalist for the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award and the John Spray Mystery Award) and The Missing Dog Is Spotted. She is also the author of the picture book, The Better Tree Fort (illustrated by Qin Leng), and is known for the Lobster Chronicles series and the bestselling Martin Bridge series. Her novels have been translated into French, Turkish, Russian and Slovenian.
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Born and raised in Alberta, Jessica now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Jessica Scott Kerrin's profile page
Joseph Kelly is a commercial and industrial artist. He is illustrator of the Martin Bridge series of chapter books and A Paddling of Ducks. He lives in Sonoma, California.
Awards
- Winner, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Starred Selection, Canadian Children's Book Centre
Editorial Reviews
Kerrin knows how eight-year-old boys think, speak and act.
Winnipeg Free Press
Librarian Reviews
Martin Bridge: Onwards and Upwardsl
It’s a question that gets asked over and over: “Is there another book about....?” When children love a character or a book, they are hungry for more. In the years before high school, children read for pleasure more than at any other time in their lives and there is enormous satisfaction in being able to settle down with a new book about a familiar friend.Fortunately, many authors also enjoy writing sequels – revisiting people and places and discovering new stories. This “Book Bits” column begins with a book for early readers and moves to three junior novels that are sure to please those looking for sequels and to hook those meeting these characters for the first time.
Martin Bridge: Onwards and Upwards! is the eighth and, alas, final book in the engaging series about eight-year-old Martin. In each book, author Jessica Scott Kerrin creates two or three stories about Martin, his friends Alex and Stuart, his parents, the Junior Badgers troop, his favourite cartoon hero Zip Ridout and more. In the first story in this book, Martin’s summer holidays start badly. His best friends are grounded, his mother embarrasses him at a lawn sale and she tops it off by buying a keyboard and begins learning to play with an enthusiasm that is far greater than her ability. In the meantime, his friends come up with a somewhat dubious idea to pay for the damage that got them grounded. Martin feels pretty negative about his mother’s playing and friends’ plan, and more than a little sorry for himself. The “Onwards and upwards” enthusiasm of Zip Ridout is far from his mind. Then his mother suddenly gives up... and Martin starts to change his thinking.
In “Ropes,” the second story, Martin and his friends resent it when his super-achieving classmate Laila Moffatt joins Junior Badgers, eager to gain lots of badges. Martin knows that Laila has lots of talent, but she drives him crazy. He is secretly pleased when she is disturbed by some of the Junior Badger activities (handling snakes and learning about edible bugs). However, he also learns about Laila’s own brand of courage and finds himself standing up for her in an unexpected way.
The real strength of these engaging stories is the absolute believability of Martin. In simple language, suitable for early readers, Kerrin gives us an honest portrait of an eight-year-old boy – whether he is grumpy or thoughtful, quietly creating his own sketches in his tree fort or playing Zip Ridout’s Space Race Game.
Artist Joseph Kelly has aged Martin slightly since the first books appeared, but his expressive drawings still carry the reader through the story with ease.
Source: The Canadian Children's Bookcentre. Spring 2009. Vol.32 No.2.
Martin Bridge: Onwards and Upwards!
In “Keyboard,” Martin’s summer is off to a bad start: his friends are grounded for accidentally damaging a vehicle, and his mom won’t stop typing on her new keyboard. In “Rope,” Martin is dismayed when keener and know-it-all Laila joins the Junior Badgers. She wants to earn more badges, but Martin plans not to make it easy for her.Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. 2010.
