Guy Wire

October 1, 2002
When best friend Buzz falls victim to a freak accident, Guy contemplates the meaning of fate in Guy Wire by Sarah Weeks. Despite its serious start, the fourth installment in the series begun with Regular Guy retains the humor of its predecessors

September 1, 2002
Gr 3-6-Guy Wire features the same characters as the three previous books. Weeks frames their earlier exploits with a bike accident that happens just before Buzz's 14th birthday. As Guy sits in the hospital waiting room hoping for the best and fearing the worst, he flashes back to when he and his friend first met in second grade. Buzz is not popular when he moves to the neighborhood. After all, his real name is Fennimore, he's wearing a suit, and he is overly polite to adults. Guy has his doubts about him until the new kid burps the alphabet for him. In keeping with the earlier stories, Guy's mom does everything wrong, resulting in some funny situations. The breezy conversations and observations will continue to please kids, but sometimes the boys' language, insights, and abilities don't mesh with their younger age. Children just starting second grade don't usually say "convinced" or "miraculously," read complicated letters, or treat their mothers as harshly as adolescents do. Still, there are touching moments in this lightweight and funny novel, the characters are as likable as ever, and Buzz's recovery, while abrupt, is certainly a relief.-Be Astengo, Alachua County Library, Gainesville, FL

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2002
Gr. 3-6. A frightening accident at the outset of this series entry places Guy Strang in a hospital waiting room, remembering how he and Buzz Adams became best friends back in second grade. After getting readers' attention, Weeks twists things enough to offer a satisfying dose of humor laced through ordinary and often embarrassing situations for her eponymous hero--just as she did in previous books in the series. In second grade, Guy's parents were still married, his mother was already an oddball, and when he wished for a best friend, Buzz appeared, arriving from Kentucky with a drawl and an extraordinarily bad haircut. The path to best friendship involved an attempt by Guy's mother to improve Buzz's haircut (leading to Buzz's nickname) and hilarious shrub costumes Guy and Buzz were forced to wear for the second-grade play. Then it's back to the recent past, as Guy recalls the discussion he was having with Buzz about the efficacy of birthday-candle wishing when the accident occurred. The upshot of it all is realistic and cheerful, and it will give thoughtful readers much to ponder.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)