By: Christopher Paul Curtis Publisher: Yearling Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Yearling Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 160 Publication Date: January 23, 2007 Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Release Date: January 23, 2007
Product Description: Mr. Chickee, the genial blind man in the neighborhood, gives 9-year-old Steven a mysterious bill with 15 zeros on it and the image of a familiar but startling face. Could it be a quadrillion dollar bill? Could it be real? Well, Agent Fondoo of the U.S. Treasury Department and his team of Secret Government Agents are determined to get that money back! But Steven and his best friends, Russell and Zoopy the giant dog, are more than a match for the Feds. After all, Steven is the president of the Flint Future Detectives Club, and the inventor of fantastic spying and detecting equipment such as the Snoopeeze 9000!
totally absurd, totally funny How can I not love a book with a sassy magical dictionary and a cuadrillion-dollar bill with the hardest working man in show business on the front?
In this wonderfully zany tale, nine-year-old Steven - living in Flint, Michigan - receives a strange piece of currency from an elderly neighbor. Steven, his friend Russell, and Russell's giant dog (commonly mistaken for a bear) try to figure out whether the bill is real and end up eluding secret agents (you can tell because of the "Secret Agent" sign on the car), sparring with an ancient dictionary with customized rude messages written on the copyright page every time Steven opens it, and Much, Much More.
This is wacky fun; my wife and I had great time listening to it on a road trip. (We listened to the audiobook read by Joe Holt: just 3 discs long.)
There is a sequel which I will definitely listen to (although not immediately: I don't want the fun to wear off).
Note on content: There is at least one interjection which will strike most people as unexceptional but may offend those sensitive to use of God's name. Not prevalent.
A Fantastic Read Mr. Chickee's Funny Money has a little of realistic fiction and mystery together. The theme of this book is helping Mr. Chickee with things he needed. The setting of this book starts with a kid in Michigan named Steven. The conflict is that Steven is trying to find out if the Quadrillion-dollar bill Mr. Chickee gave is real or not. Steven always helps Mr. Chickee on Saturday, because he was blind. The Mr. Chickee rewarded Steven with money for being so kind to him. After, Mr. Chickee moved to Philadelphia, the home of brotherly love. I liked how Steven used the Snoopeeze 2000 to spy on Agent Fondoo through the wall. But, I disliked how the other kids mocked Mr. Chickee for being blind. These are my reasons why I recommend this book.
Mr. Chickee's Funny Money I love how the characters of Chickee's Funny Money have such "funny" names, like Zoopie, Agent Fondoo, and Mr. Chickee. The characters are hilarious! This book would be great for 8 to 12 year-olds (2nd grade to 6th grade). Mr. Chickee's Funny Money is adventure fiction. In the book, a boy named Steven sticks up for his old blind neighbor, Mr. Chickee, when all the other kids (except for his five-year old friend, Russell) make fun of Mr. Chickee. One day, Mr. Chickee wants to leave Steven's town to visit some relatives. Mr. Chickee gives Steven an envelope and tells Steven not to open it until he gets home. When he gets home, Steven opens it up to find a...quadrillion-dollar bill with some jumbled letters! He wants to know what it means, so he shows it to his Mom and Dad. Steven's Dad takes him to a government agent named Agent Fondoo. When Agent Fondoo saw the quadrillion dollar bill, he wanted to get it back. It used to be the government's bill, but Mr. Chickee somehow got it. Christopher Paul Curtis made the words pop out from the page, like when Steven's dad said, "'I'M NOT PLAYING WITH YOU, STEVEN DAEMON CARTER. STAY OUT!!!!!!!!!" My favorite part of the book is in the ending, but to tell you would give the entire book away. Two thumbs up for Christopher Paul Curtis!
Excellent book for youth An excellent mixture of comedy and intrigue. Book positively explores the concept of relationships. Is a little week on supporting authority figures, but all in all a very good book for youth.
sorry - Not his best The Wastons is one of by favorite books and I really liked Bud Not Buddy and Bucking the Sarge...but alas this one does not reach the same high standard. Compared to the Watsons, Bucking the Sarge is for an older reader and Mr. Chickee is for a younger reader. It does have some very clever ideas and some funny moments but it does not come together as brilliantly as his first two books. What ever happen to the movie for the Watsons?
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