Book Review: Teeny Sweeney Packs Big Fun

Teeny Sweeney’s dad drives a taco truck. Her mom drives an SUV with pointy cat ears poking up from the roof and whiskers sprouting from the bumpers. That’s because Mrs. Sweeney is an animal groomer. And all that clipped dog hair lying around the grooming room floor gives Teeny an excellent idea for a great business of her own—making mustaches for kids too young to grow their own.

Teeny Sweeney and the Mustache Cash, the first book in the Teeny Sweeney series from Amberly Kristen Clowe, is a delightfully silly tale bristling with dog hair, solid life lessons, and sprinkled with Bible verses.

Energetic and inventive third-grader Teeny keeps getting best friend Garrett in trouble, volunteers for anything teacher Miss Powl suggests, and constantly competes with rival Amanda Mayweather to create the best project/report/assignment ever. It can be exhausting, but Teeny’s just dramatic enough and ingenious enough—maybe—to pull it off.

So when Miss Powl assigns the class to put together a mock business plan for a make-believe business, Teeny tells Garrett that she’ll stomp all over whatever hotshot Amanda comes up with by creating a real business. And soon she’s getting five bucks a ‘stashe from the boys on the playground. Business is booming—until the boys find out what critters wore the hair first.

Amberly Kristen Clowe is a former elementary school teacher with young kids of her own, and is able to draw wonderfully full word pictures of real third-graders, their ideas, and the problems they face.

Her prose also tickles the humor writer in me with phrases such as “Teeny could almost hear the snot bubbles popping from Mark Klenton’s nose six desks behind her,” “The answer came to Teeny faster than a June bug to a porch light—even faster than Amanda’s usual know-it-all-answers,” and “Normally, Teeny couldn’t give a bump on a bullfrog’s back about popularity, but today, she needed every boy at Parker Elementary to want a mustache.”

The Bible verses that Teeny either remembers herself or that are quoted by her parents include, “Commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3)” and “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

At 90 almost pocket-sized pages, including illustrations by Janet Samuel, Teeny Sweeney and the Mustache Cash is a quick and fun read. It is published by Little Lamb Books, an independent publishing house that celebrated its sixth birthday this week. This delightful read was one of the reasons I felt comfortable signing with Little Lamb Books (full disclosure) for my faith-filled humor novels for middle graders.

I haven’t yet read Book 2 in the series, Teeny Sweeney and the Cousin Calamity, but I look forward to it—even if I am four or five years (or decades) older than the early middle grade target audience. And I heartily recommend The Mustache Cash as a safe family read packed with a great message and values.