I definitely like this book better than Book 1 or Book 2 of the series.
Mainly, I was quite pleased to see that Ivy and Bean's adventures in this book did not involve being mean or disrespectful to other people.
Ms. Aruba-Tate, in a clever move that shows how great a teacher she is, gets a distracted Bean back on task (reading) by introducing her to "The Amazing Book of World Records". The rest of the book is about how Ivy and Bean go about trying to set a world record.
I LOVE the way the book introduces readers to Mary Anning, a real British paleontologist who dug up an ichthyosaur at age 12. Mary Anning gives the girls the confidence to believe that even a 12-year-old girl can do something big and important.
There is also a healthy "don't worry about what other people think" message in this book. Ivy and Bean enjoy their paleontology activities, and they forge ahead, even though their peers might doubt and ridicule them.
This book really had the potential for 4 stars, but in the beginning, I was disappointed in the way Bean - not surprisingly - did not respect Nancy's property. Also, I was a bit uneasy about the way some of the kids were going about trying to break world records. In the end, it's clear some of the ideas were bad ideas, but it almost seemed like this book should have come with a "Kids, don't try this at home!" warning. Finally, towards the end of the book, the name-calling appeared. If my daughter did not before know the "L-for-loser" hand gesture, she does now. Sigh.
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