Still an incredibly cute and fun story. If you've read some of my other reviews you'll know how much I love stories written in letters and email and newspapers and other cool formats so of course I loved these books as a kid and I continue to really enjoy it! In excited to continue on my re read of this series. The mystery in this book unfolds very well even now that I'm older and the characters are just so charming. I still find the writing incredibly clever and fun. This book is written about kids in a 5th grade class and that's about the target age of these books but I still found it to be a fun and incredibly charming read! ( )

I haven't read this bad boys is years, but once I cracked open the first page it all came rushing back! The illustrations, the letters, the punny names, and the town scandal. It all holds up! The story is told through memos, postcards, letters, newspaper clippings, and various other correspondence - it's really unique! Dry Creek Middle School is in need of a new fountain so the principal reaches out to Flowing Waters Fountains to commission a new one - what he didn't bank on was the exuberant nature of the fountain designer - the book chronicles her correspondence not only with the principal but with a 5th grade class as well. They submit ideas for what they want the fountain to look like and in the process get a fun new pen pal. As the students research their town's history they also start to uncover some weird things - why did the water disappear 30 years ago on the exact same day that the middle school opened? Why is the water fountain always leaking? Super fun! ( )

This book is a collection of letters, memos, newspaper articles, and court documents that tells the story of a broken water fountain, a fifth grade class, and an extraordinary water fountain artist.

It was a fun short read.
It's a battle of the books book this year. I am trying to read a few to be able to recommend my favorites to the participants.
This is one that I will be sure to recommend in the coming years also. It was charming.

( )

I'd give it five stars except for the fact that it's got two things that are truly unbelievable, and didn't need to be. I think the story would be stronger if it was just a little stretch from reality. But I can't accept 1. a fifth-grade class with only 6 students (this is not in outback Nevada or Australia, so, no) or 2. the ending (which I don't know how to hide so I won't tell & spoil).

Very quick read. Exciting, heartwarming, intriguing, terrifically clever. If you like this enhanced epistolary style and are more mature than Klise's target audience, and want to read another book written in memos, letters, blogs etc, I highly recommend [b:One Nation Under God|451777|One Nation Under God|Vincent M. Wales|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174884773s/451777.jpg|440401].

Thinking about more to say - oh, I guess maybe I wouldn't give it five stars anyway, because I didn't really get to know the children as individuals. They seem to be less delineated even than the kids from the series that includes [b:The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow|110960|The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds A Book About How Living Things Grow A Book About How Living Things Grow|Patricia Relf|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171647910s/110960.jpg|2015596], which is another classroom that has an unbelievably low number of students. ( )

The water fountain at Dry Creek Middle School has sprung a leak so principal Walter Russ writes to Flowing Waters Fountains to request a catalog. Florence Waters, the owner, turns out to be an artist who gets her inspiration from her travels and begins corresponding with the 5th grade class nearest the fountain to get their suggestions for the new design. The class' historical research for Dry Creek Days reveals that Sally Mander, school board president, and Dee Eel, of the water supply company are in cahoots, having tapped and diverted the town's natural spring to benefit her public swimming pool and his company. Lots of illustrations, images of memos, message pads, letters and postcards.