Seabury Reads!

The Spoon in the Bathroom WallBy Tony Johnston

Book review by Dylan F.

Martha Snapdragon is a bacon-loving nice person who stands up for other people.  She lives with her dad, Luther Snapdragon, at Horace E Bloggins School. Martha was poor and lived in the school boiler room along with her dad who was the school janitor and handyman.  Dr. Klunk was the principal at Horace E. Bloggins and was very mean to kids and teachers.  One day Martha gets bullied by Rufus, a spy kid for the evil Dr. Klunk.  Rufus has a little gang of kids that bully other good kids. Rufus especially likes to bully Martha a lot.  His gang calls and chants at Martha, “Marthur!  Marthur! Marthur!”   Martha runs to teacher Furlin for help. Furlin is nice and likes to help Martha.  Furlin is a magician. 

               The story is set at Horace E. Bloggins in modern times in an English speaking country.  The main character is Marthur and the novel is written in third character.

One day Furlin made potatoes float in the air and orbit around a pumpkin. Furlin opens and egg carton and grabs two eggs and puts them on a slanted table Martha tries to catch them but the eggs sprout little legs and start to dance. Furlin says, “Marthur is a fine name it’s not a name like Martholomew” then Martha says “I like my name Marthur better then Martholomew my name is know Marthur!” One of the eggs tries to get away and they shout,” catch that egg!” They catch the egg and Marthur hears someone on the door. Then she leaves and goes to her dad. The next day Marthur wakes up to Rufus yelling,” I want those dancing eggs so I can tell Dr. Klunk.”

One day she and Dr. Klunk and Luther find a spoon in a wall.  There is old writing on the wall that says “who pullith this spoon will be the king.” So Dr. Klunk tries to pull the spoon but is unable to and falls back. The next day a giant line of people are outside the bathroom and people try to pull the spoon but can’t get it out.  Once it is Marthur’s turn, she pulls the spoon out and then Dr. Klunk sees the freed spoon and he snatches the spoon from Marthur. As the spoon starts beating up Dr. Klunk and Marthur yells “stop.” The spoon obeyed Marthur then Marthur just noticed she was the new king.  She asked Furlin “why did I become the new king?”, and Furlin said “because you stood up to bully’s and you helped kids.

What’s the conflict and what is the resolution?

It’s a power struggle for who will become the new king.  The resolution is to be the new king.  Since Marthur can pull the spoon out she is the chosen one to be king     

Why it is a fantasy is because It has dancing eggs, a griffin, and dragons, flying potatoes and pumpkins, and writing on the chalk board with just using your mind.

There is no irony

I like this story because there are dragons that burn up Rufus’ pants and Dr. Klunk’s name is funny. I like how the some character’s names rhyme with names in King Arthur like Furlin and Merlin and Marthur and Arthur.

Are like King Arthur but Marthur. The names are weird and my favorite character is Furlin because she is supposed to be Merlin.    

Texas 

I enjoyed this book but would make it like Hogwarts and about teaching magic, Fairies, monsters, flying brooms, wands, and owls and potions and spells and more magic.  The story would be better, in my opinion, if it also had a big epic battle between good and evil.  Overall, it is a great story that talks about theme of bullying and being famous.

I think the kids who like King Arthur should read this book because it has a lot of magic it will make you want you finish the book. It has dragons and dancing eggs, and an Excalibur-like spoon.