Children's Fiction Chapter Books
Martin Bridge: Sound the Alarm!
- Publisher
- Kids Can Press
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2007
- Category
- Chapter Books, School & Education, General
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781553379768
- Publish Date
- Feb 2007
- List Price
- $16.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781553379775
- Publish Date
- Feb 2007
- List Price
- $7.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781894786676
- 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 and his friend Stuart find a full-scale model of their space hero's rocket in the toy store and just have to climb in for a ride. But after landing back on Earth, they find the toy store closed and locked --- with no way out! Then Martin sees something in a display window that turns his knees to jelly. What will he do when he's trapped with his greatest fear?
Join Martin Bridge as he faces his fear, puts a Park Ranger Super-Charged All-Night Flashlight to good use, gets a new babysitter and discovers that knowing a few dance moves pays off in more ways than one!
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.
Editorial Reviews
Martin continues to be such a believable character that it's almost as if author Kerrin is channeling a real boy.
Horn Book
Librarian Reviews
Martin Bridge: Sound the Alarm! (Martin Bridge)
It’s official — chapter books are cool. Young readers in the primary grades have seen their older siblings and upper-grade schoolmates immersed in imposing tomes like the Harry Potter books, and they want to jump into books with chapters too. Okay, not such long chapters, but definitely chapters. And publishers are obliging. Though longestablished series like Magic Tree House and Cam Jansen paved the way, Canadian publishers have been producing both series and stand-alone chapter books in greater numbers in recent years. Chapter book readers haven’t been reading very long and they’re used to pictures. So publishers provide them with small formats, larger fonts, lots of white space and illustrations to help with the journey.Martin Bridge is a particularly apt name for the young hero of a series of chapter books, this format which provides a transition between beginning reader series and longer fiction. Martin himself is in between. He is an engaging, imaginative boy —old enough to put his beloved turtle sleeping buddy on a shelf for toys he’s outgrown, but young enough to be totally absorbed by his favourite TV character, Zip Rideout: Space Cadet— and definitely too young for girls.
In the first of the two stories in Martin Bridge: Sound the Alarm! (the fourth book in the series), Martin learns a few dance moves from his teenaged girl babysitter (and fellow Zip Rideout fan) which allows him an opportunity for delicious revenge when his nemesis on the school bus teases him about his love of all things Zip. In the second story, Martin and his friend are trapped in the Zip Rideout aisle of a toy store when it closes and Martin is forced to confront his well-founded fear of mannequins in order to escape. As in the earlier books in the series, two activities complement the stories.
The series has been warmly received, with good reason. There is a lovely roundness to the storytelling, a natural flow and a satisfying resolution. Jessica Scott Kerrin’s writing is fresh and funny and Joseph Kelly’s relaxed sketches perfectly support the rhythm of the stories. His expressive faces add to the enjoyment of the narrative. Take a close look at the helpful sketch of Martin’s family and friends provided at the beginning of this installment. Tucked in a corner is Zip Rideout, as real as the rest of them!
Source: The Canadian Children's Bookcentre. Winter 2008. Vol.31 No.1.
Martin Bridge: Sound the Alarm
Martin finds a fullscale model of a rocket in the toy store and climbs in for a ride. Back on Earth, the toy store is closed with no way out! Then Martin sees something in a display window that turns his knees to jelly... What could possibly happen next? Includes illustrations.Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. 2008.
