Book Review: The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue! by Karina Yan Glaser

The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first time reading anything by Karina Yan Glaser, and this book didn't disappoint-it made me want to read all of the books in the Vanderbeekers series. This was set during a week of Spring Break, and things were happening left, right, and sideways, and it was also pretty funny as well. Oliver, Laney, Isa, Jess, and Hyacinth planned for a really good Spring Break--with Mama's bakery about to be in Perch Magazine, to Isa's audition and Mama's birthday, things were going well...well it was.

First off, it went off the rails when a city official came to do an inspection, and it failed--twice. So the kids come up with a way to get rid of all of the animals that keep on appearing in the backyard of their brownstone so the next one can work smoothly, but sadly it didn't work the second time, and they also didn't tell Mama about it, which I was sad about. But while they figure out why all these animals are popping up, the children are also doing other things to keep themselves occupied.

Oliver, the builder of the family, wants to make a treehouse. When he couldn't make it because it was raining, he was upset, but he did make bookcases for it. Then when it cleared up, he and his uncle makes the treehouse, and he and his friends sleeps in it. The next morning when they woke up, chickens appeared in the yard, and while he and his siblings were thinking about what to do about who was leaving the animals in the yard, Oliver remembered a camera their Papa had, and he uses it to find out who was leaving them.

Isa is worried about her audition that was coming up during spring break. She practices so hard, even though the noises of the animals and her siblings around her. When it was time for her to finally have her audition, she thinks she does well, but then she does laugh during it, which was something she needed, because right after the kids went to see Herman's dad, who automatically told them no and also told his son that he couldn't hang out with them anymore (meaning I need to read the books to find out why).

Laney fell in love with a black and white cat she named Tuxedo, and then she also fell in love with a bunch of guinea pigs that she knew how to take care of. When Herman is going through his father's slides, Laney sees a place she knows would be perfect for Mama, and the kids go and see it. When they do go and see it--Laney cleans it up a bit--that's when Oliver has an idea for the shop, and how it can be the perfect solution for all of the kids and their Mama, who was studying to become an accountant again. Along with a cat that looks like Tuxedo, they surprise their Mama on her birthday with a sign for the Treehouse and Cat Cafe. When Mama started crying happy tears, that's when they knew that it could work--and it also helped them with their cat problem and animal problems.

This was a really cheerful book that made me tear up once, and I really loved all of the characters and how each of them worked hard to find something for their Mama, and also deal with their animal problem, one day at a time. Also I like the article in Perch Magazine about the cat cafe in the end, and that they went to someone who ran a cat cafe to get some advice.

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