Junior Library Guild Selection
Scholastic Book Club Selection (Over 100,000 copies sold!)

Andy Shane does not want to go to Dolores Starbuckle’s birthday party. It’s on the same day as Halloween! Plus, Dolores is always ordering Andy around, making Andy lists on a clipboard, or squealing over Andy’s marble collection. But when Dolores tells him that someone is smashing pumpkins in front of her house, the idea of tricking the tricksters sounds too appealing to resist. Maybe there’s even a way to scare off the vandals and give Dolores a really great present, all at the same time!

With hilarious yet familiar situations, frequent pen-and-ink illustrations, accessible vocabulary and two characters filled with the feisty spirit of a very young Ramona Quimby, Jacobson’s offering is the perfect treat for newest readers.
— Kirkus

Dolores is still bossy and Andy still gets irritated. Their complexity, revealed in simple text adn natural language, is the strength of this series. Soft watercolor pencil-and-wash sketches outline the plot; spot art depicting potentially unfamiliar vocabulary (such as muffins, marbles, and balloons) provides an extra boost for beginning readers.
— Horn Book

Attractive pen-and-ink illustrations help move the story along. An entertaining, easy chapter book for holiday collections.
— School Library Journal

Jacobson’s kids act just like the real thing, and Carter’s ink-wash artwork adds just the right comic dash. Not just for Halloween or birthday storytime, this is a book ripe for reading year-round.
— Booklist