Eve Bunting is the winner of the Golden Kite Award and the three-time recipient of the Best Work of Fiction Award of the Southern CaliforniaCouncil on Literature for Children and Young People. She has written more than one hundred books for young readers, including is
Anybody There ?;Our Sixth-Grade Sugar Babies, a Best Book of 1990 (School Library Journal); Sharing Susan; and Coffin on a Case, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, given by the Mystery Writers of America.
Ms. Bunting was born in Ireland and now lives in southern California.
When 10-year-old Colin's dirty sneakers disappear from outside his apartment door, he's sure the culprit is Jack, his chief rival in a contest for the most offensive footwear (the prize: two new pairs of Slam Dunkers). Colin retaliates by hiding Jack's sneakers--only to discover that a well-meaning neighbor had actually rescued, washed, and returned his own, thus ruining his chance of winning. Hoping to undo the mischief, Colin, his little sister Amy, and best pal Webster plunge into the depths of a garbage truck, retrieve Jack's sneakers, and return them just in time. However, since obnoxious Jack and his bully brother Shrike have broken the sneaker-messing rules, none of the boys wins; the prize goes to Colin's secret sweetheart. Curiously, the icky appeal, kid-tickling story line, and lesson about integrity and fairness here all closely parallel those in Julie Ann Peters's half-as-long The Stinky Sneaker Contest (1992). (Fiction. 8-11) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.