It was Martin’s idea to decorate the model rocket with flames.
So why did his friend steal the idea? Now Martin has to come up with something even better in time for Saturday’s launch. But will he lose a friend in the process?
Meet Martin Bridge — a boy whose well-meant plans sometimes go awry. In three illustrated stories, Martin encounters two bus drivers with very different ways of relating, makes a tough decision about a friend’s pet and takes on an extremely competitive model rocket project that almost costs him a friendship. The daily rhythms, struggles and triumphs of childhood — at home, at school and with friends — are evoked with warmth, understanding, honesty and humor.
- School Library Journal: “Jessica Scott Kerrin’s Martin Bridge: Ready for Takeoff is a pitch-perfect chapter book that confronts its hero with three very real-world ethical dilemmas every elementary student will recognize.”
- Horn Book: “Slice-of-life incidents, presented in three short stand-alone chapters, ring with truth and familiarity because Martin is no cookie-cutter elementary school boy. A warm rich story for new chapter-book readers, who will be more than ready for Martin Bridge.”
- School Library Journal: “The everyday worlds of school, home and clubs offer Martin Bridge several opportunities for growth, and his responses are on target for a third grader. Kerrin relates the episodes in a straightforward way that incorporates rich language.”
- Horn Book: “In Martin Bridge: Ready for Takeoff!, independent readers found a sympathetic and completely likeable character whose elementary school trials and tribulations were relayed with warmth and humor. Martin’s second outing provides more of what made the first book work so beautifully. Martin Bridge is worth looking out for.”
- Quill and Quire: “Young readers will readily identify with the likable, sympathetically drawn Martin and his crises of conscience when his well-intended actions go frustratingly awry.”
- “The everyday worlds of school, home, and clubs offer Martin Bridge several opportunities for growth, and his responses are on target for a third grader.”
- School Library Journal: “A pitch perfect chapter book that confronts its hero with three very real-world ethical dilemmas every elementary student will recognize.”
- Horn Book starred review: “A warm, rich story for new chapter-book readers.”
