  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 08/01/2017 Gr 2–4—This second book in the series takes a look at facing one's fears and telling the truth. Louie and Ralphie Ratso are brothers with a plan: build a Big City FunTime Arcade that offers carnival games for neighborhood kids. With the help of their friends, they clean up a vacant lot located next to the neighborhood's haunted house, despite Louie's fear of the ghosts that may live there. Ralphie has his own troubles when a story circulates around school that he has a girlfriend, Stinky Stanko, known only for her overpowering odor. Who started the rumor, and how will he stop it? As Louie and Ralphie face their respective fears, they discover their own roles in creating them, and learn that the answer to facing fear is having the courage to look past beliefs and see the truth. LaReau's dialogue is fast-paced and funny, and the frequent black-and-white illustrations by Myers further develop the characters. The story is believable and resolves in a realistic way without feeling heavy-handed. However, the large number of secondary characters, many introduced in the first book in the series, might leave new readers feeling out of the loop. VERDICT A strong chapter book that will appeal to both newly independent and slightly older but reluctant or stuggling readers.—Casey O'Leary, Mooresville Public Library, IN - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 09/01/2017 *Starred Review* The scruffy do-gooders introduced in the Geisel Honor Book The Infamous Ratsos (2016) return with a community improvement project—transforming a junk-littered empty lot into an arcade of homemade carnival games. Louie and his little brother, Ralphie, have no trouble enlisting their single dad Big Lou, as well as school friends like Fluffy Rabbitski and hulking Chad Badgerton—but upsettingly, the ramshackle house immediately adjacent to the lot is said to be haunted. While dealing with his fear of ghosts, Ralphie is faced with the additional challenge of atoning for endowing skunk classmate Millicent Stanko with the crushing nickname Stinky. A sincere apology is one good step toward mending fences, but Ralphie goes further by inviting Millicent into the enterprise. At the same time, after a few words of wisdom from Big Lou on owning fears rather than letting them own him, Louie nerves himself to knock at the “haunted” house’s door, and soon finds a way to draw its resident, lonely oldster Mr. Nutzel, into the arcade project. Myers endows LaReau’s large type, well-leaded narrative with plenty of cartoons infused with humor (one of the arcade games is a variant on Whack-A-Mole dubbed Whack-A-Chad) and featuring an expressively posed, all-animal cast in human dress. The arcade’s triumphant opening adds an upbeat closing flourish to another tale for fledgling chapter-book readers that highlights the profound value of kindness to others. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. Loading...
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