Cute story about quiet Ivy and boisterous Bean who discover a ghost in the school bathroom! They enjoy the intrigue, but their 2nd grade teacher tells them she doesn't want to hear about it again. Can Ivy's magic potions make the ghost return to its grave?

Quinn read the first book in this series himself and really liked it, so he chose this one as our read-aloud. The characters and story are cute and the story is funny. I thought there'd be some sort of conclusion at the end of the story, or more explanation of what happened, but I guess not. (Don't hold it against the book that I fell asleep one night reading it aloud. I'm tired this time of year.)

The Ivy + Bean series is my new comfort read for insomniac nights. It is truly amazing how much characterization and nuance Annie Barrows can pack into spare, unadorned prose suitable for early elementary school readers! The relationship between the girls is so great because they're opposites--a yin-yang of introvert-extrovert--but they accept each other's differences, enjoy each other's strengths and work together wonderfully well as a a mischief-making, fun-generating team. My personal favorite is Bean, the restless, mischievous one, but Ivy is actually a more remarkable character because she manages to be interesting despite her quietness and inner directedness. In short, I <3 Ivy + Bean!!

Read with my daughter. She loved it!

Ivy and Bean are best friends in second grade. Ivy is quiet and Bean is loud and talkative.
Bean and I have a lot in common.
In a nutshell:

Ivy and Bean exorcise a ghost.

The end.

I'm not a second grader so I didn't quite track the ghost thing. But, my own second grader totally got it. I do love the developing friendship between the girls. There is no judgment at all. They stick up for each other and love each other so wholly. Not my favorite in the series but still amazing to read with a young kid who can identify with wild imaginations.

James and Zenobia and Ivy very much enjoyed the first book in this series, so what else should we do but read the second. They enjoyed this just as much, if not more. I think the haunted bathroom had much to do with how much the story was liked. For example, when I asked them what they liked about the book, these were the responses:

Ivy - I liked the haunted bathroom, and when Bean cut Nancy's hair.
Zenobia - I liked the haunted bathroom the best, and when Bean snipped Nancy's hair. I like the spooky bits most of all.
James - I liked the haunted bathroom the best, because it was funny. I like when they threw the presents for the spirits into the toilet, and the water overflowed. And I liked when Nancy's hair was being cut off.

A clear consensus! And Nancy's hair (and we don't need to worry about them getting any ideas because they've already done the the cutting-of-each-other's-hair naughtiness) was another clear hit.

This book was great to read aloud. There are pictures (black and white) on every page so there's plenty to keep the attention of the younger children, and I have no doubt they'll all be reading it again when they're fully independent readers. Ivy and Bean are fun characters, and the story is such that the adult reading can enjoy the humorous viewpoint of the kids all getting caught up in the ghost aspect, while the children can quite happily believe that the bathroom really was haunted.

A pleasure for all of us.