The Friendship War

The Friendship War by Andrew Clements, 173 pages

When Grace finds 27 boxes of buttons in an old textile mill that her grandfather just bought she has to own them.  She’s not sure why, but she knows that she does.  Then, when school starts and she sees her best friend, Ellie, for the first time that year, she tries to Ellie about her trip and about the buttons, but Ellie, as usual, interrupts to tell Grace all about her summer.  A series of events at school leads to kids bringing buttons, comparing, crafting, and trading.  And Grace has more buttons than anyone, many that are rare, unusual, and highly coveted.  This leads to big problems for Grace and Ellie’s friendship, because Ellie isn’t used to anyone upstaging her and Grace is tired of being second fiddle.  This is an awesome story about how fads get started and about friendship in middle school.  Kids who like realistic fiction will love it.

Road to Wellville

The Road to Wellville by T Coraghessan Boyle, 476 pages

In the first decade of the twentieth century , the capital of healthy living was Battle Creek, Michigan, and the center of Battle Creek was the Sanitarium made famous by Dr Harvey Kellogg.  Dr Kellogg, in turn, is one of the main characters of T Coraghessan Boyle's tragicomic novel of those seeking health and those seeking wealth in Battle Creek.  He is joined by the Lightbodies, Will and Eleanor, she devoted mind and body to the Doctor's gospel of healthy living, he somewhat more reluctant and skeptical; Charlie Ossining, a would-be cereal entrepeneur who increasingly comes to suspect that his partner, Bender, is conning him as well as their investors; and Dr Kellogg's Luciferian adopted son, George.  Individually and collectively, they must struggle to stay fit in a treacherous world of obsession, greed, lust, and daily enemas.

Boyle is undoubtedly a skilled writer, and there are definite moments where The Road to Wellville shines.  More frequently, however, there is a certain atmosphere of artificiality - the characters are not quite realistic enough to be entirely believable, not quite caricatured enough to be absurd.  The novel seems to promise a colorful cast of characters, from the quacks at the Sanitarium to the hustlers in the town, but remains stubbornly focused on the main characters, of whom only Kellogg is particularly interesting.  Combine this with the indulgent length of the novel, and many readers are likely to find reading about Dr Kellogg's Sanitarium as interminable as Will Lightbody found his stay.

Great Beanie Baby Bubble

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette, 245 pages

Ty Warner had a difficult childhood.  His father was emotionally, and sometimes physically, distant, while his mother was a paranoid schizophrenic.  Extremely, even obsessively, detail-oriented, he was somehow able to be convincing without being likeable.  He struggled in business and life until he created a line of understuffed poseable plush animals - Beanie Babies.

Initially not a hit, Beanie Babies became the best-selling toy of the '90s after being repositioned as a collectors' item.  Warner's constant tweaking of his products led to multiple variants and retired pieces, which turned the collectors' market into a speculators' market.  Prices soared, with Warner deftly manipulating supply and demand.  Toys bought for $5 sold for $5000 a few years later.  Then, suddenly, inevitably, the craze ended, and those $5000 "investments" found their way into bargain bins at Goodwill.

Bissonnette's book is fast-moving, well-researched, and fun, despite being a little rough around the edges.  Considering that the central character refuses to be interviewed and some of the supporting cast were reluctant to say anything that could damage their relationship with a notoriously litigious billionaire, it's remarkable The Great Beanie Baby Bubble has any substance at all, affording a bit of insight into the formation and collapse not only of this specific fad, but of speculative bubbles generally.