Think there was a lot of trouble regarding the fountain? Just wait!

Geyser Creek Middle School's plumbing woes are far from over. Now the cafeteria sink is clogged and the smell is P-U-trid. Luckily, Sam N.'s sixth-grade class knows just who can create a fabuloso new sink--Florence Waters, who designed the school's OTT (over-the-top) fountain. But the famous designer is missing! Of course the students will do whatever it takes to solve the mystery. . . including following their noses all the way to China (yes, China!) to sniff out the stinky culprits.

Told in letters, newspaper articles, and BEAN-mails, this thoroughly original sequel to Regarding the Fountain is guaranteed to make your use your bean--and go with the Flo!

A note from the principal: "This is to acknowledge that despite my policy against humor in schools, I have read this book and . . . well, RATS. What I'm trying to say is that it's a pretty darn funny book. Now get back to your studies."

-Walter Russ,
Principal
Geyser Creek Middle School

Clearly, going with the Flo (a.k.a. Florence Waters, fountain designer extraordinaire of Regarding the Fountain fame) involved levels that the irrepressible Klise sisters had yet to plumb. In this sequel, Sam N.'s class, now sixth graders, deal with the Geyser Creek Middle School cafeteria's clogged sink and write to their now-missing dear friend Flo Waters to come up with a design for a new one. The story is told by means of the author's usual zany mix of correspondence --letters, memos, copies of the Geyser Creek Gazette, and school announcements, to which add BEAN mail (Brief Educational and/or Administrative Note)--and is illustrated with a stream of black-and-white drawings and an outpouring of inventive layouts and typography.

The chief nemesis here is the slimy Senator Sue Ergass, whose scheme to make money includes a "bovine sweatshop" in which the cows, fed nothing but beans, produce the gas necessary to fuel her scam. To their credit, the Klises provide a satisfying denouement to this utter mayhem, as the students literally "use their beans" to correct the school's feng shui and get themselves a tsunami of a new sink.

S.P.B.
- Horn Book

This amusing sequel to Regarding the Fountain (1999) parodies politics, business, and beans. The cafeteria sink at Geyser Creek Middle School is clogged and stinky. The sixth-graders want Florence Waters to design a replacement, perhaps one that includes an aromatherapy bar or a bean demolisher. But Florence is missing! She vanished on a trip to China investigating the rare Sinkiang Blinking Spotted Suckerfish, and the sixth-graders are determined to find her. Meanwhile, the price of ice cream skyrockets, school luches are replaced with beans, and AIR-igate, Inc. promises to replace unexpected weather with man-made nighttime rain. The intrepid heroes must rescue Florence, solve the mysteries of beans and Spotted Suckerfish, and get a new sink for the school cafeteria, all on their class trip's budget. Told in letters, notes, news reports, and drawings, a pun-filled adventure loaded with fun.

- Kirkus