Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks

by Kate Klise, M. Sarah Klise (Illustrator)

Overview

The Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain has sprung a leak, so principal Walter Russ dashes off a request to Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc.

...We need a new drinking fountain. Please send a catalog.

Designer Flo Waters responds:

"I'd be delighted...but please understand that all of my fountains are custom-made."

Soon the fountain project takes on a life of its own, one chronicled in letters, postcards, memos, transcripts, and official documents. The school board president is up in arms. So is Dee Eel, of the water-supply company. A scandal is brewing, and Mr. Sam N.'s fifth grade class is turning up a host of hilarious secrets buried deep beneath the fountain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780380793471
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/28/1999
Series:	Regarding Series , #1
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	23,858
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.28(d)
Lexile:	830L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

As a correspondent for People magazine, Kate Klise covered everything from celebrity scandals to serial killers. After writing several bestselling children's books, Kate decided to write In the Bag, her first novel for adults, when she found a note from a fellow passenger in her carry-on bag.

Kate Klise and illustrator M. Sarah Klise are sisters who have been writing each other letters for more than twenty years, culminating in 1998 with their fiction debut, Regarding the Fountain. When they're not writing letters, Kate who lives in Norwood, MO, is a correspondent for People; Sarah is an art teacher that lives in Berkeley, California.

Read an Excerpt

Dry Creek Middle School
Dry Creek Missouri
"We Thirst for Knowledge"

Mr. Walter Russ
Principal

September 14

Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc.
Watertown, CA

Ms. Waters:

Perhaps you misunderstood the letter written earlier this month by the secretary of our school.

As per my request, Ms. Fisch wrote to you in the hopes of receiving information regarding a fountain. I am afraid, however, that she may not have made clear the nature of the fountain we are seeking.

While I'm sure the fountains you create for palaces and hotels are indeed lovely, we have no need for such extravagance in our school. Instead, what we are looking for is this:

Product: drinking fountain
Style: plain
Price:modest

Would you please send the product description and price list of any fountains in your inventory that fit the above description?

Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Efficiently,

Mr. Walter Russ
Principal

WR/gf

---

Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc.

September 27

Dry Creek Middle School
Dry Creek, MO

Dear Mr. Wally Russ,

I received your letter last week and, my goodness, you sound just like the author of the little book of directions that came with my blender.

I'm still not quite sure what your letter means (just as I'm not entirely certain how the blender works), but I'mguessing you'd like to see a catalog of my fountains. Am I right? If so, I must repeat myself: I don't have a catalog of my fountains. I never build the same fountain twice.

But here's my idea: Why don't I come to your school sometime in the next week or two? I'll make a few drawings in my sketchbook. I'll return to my workshop, begin construction, and bingo! Before you know it, you'll have yourself a new fountain.

What do you say, Wally?

Florence Waters

P.S. By the by, in the future, try not to blame your confusion on other people. Goldie Fisch made the request for a catalog very clear the first time around.

Regarding the Fountain. Copyright © by Kate Klise. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

Editorial Reviews

What Dry Creek Middle School needs is a plain, functional drinking fountain to replace its leaking old one. What it gets is Florence Waters, impresario fountain designer who has in mind something with exotic birds, an ice skating rink, geysers and chocolate milk dispensers. This rollicking story, told entirely through letters, memos, newspaper articles and transcripts, escalates into a hullabaloo involving a fifth-grade class, an evil school board member, a sinister water company executive and an increasingly bewildered principal who fruitlessly attempts to scale back Florence Waters's grandiose plans ("Do you all have scuba gear? What about ice skates?... Also, I'm sending a parcel containing cyperus papyrus. This is the famous Egyptian paper plant," Waters jots in one postcard). The artist's somewhat primitive illustrations add to the scrapbook effect of this novel, but in the final illustration not enough is made of the eccentric new fountain to satisfy the anticipation brewing for the previous 100-plus pages. Still, it's a good-natured story with an irrepressible main character who won't take no for an answer.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

When Dry Creek Middle School needs a new drinking fountain; school officials contact Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc. to provide one. A seemingly simple business transaction becomes complicated by flawed communication, uptight bureaucracy and a long-unsolved mystery in this hilarious tale! The characters are appealing, both in character in name. Readers will adore the free-spirited artist Florence Waters and the insightful mystery-hounds of Sam N's fifth-grade class, and they will groan over the dastardly under-handed villains Dee Eel and Sally Mander. More experienced readers may find the plot thin, but the real joy of the story is in the Klises' clever blend of text and image. From page one, readers will be captivated by the letters, memos, phone messages, interview transcripts, newspaper clippings, court proceedings and (most of all) the illustrations "collected and organized by Sam N's fifth-grade class."

Children's Literature - Heidi Green

A mystery with an unconventional, yet fun and effective approach. Through a series of graphically designed letters, newspaper articles, telephone and interview transcripts, postcards, faxes, memos, school assignments, and other types of communicative devices, a mystery is solved in a suspenseful, amusing conclusion. Dry Creek Middle School is in need of a new drinking fountain. The principal sends a letter of inquiry to the owner of Flowing Waters Fountains for an estimate on the installation of a new one. To his frustration and the enjoyment of the students, Florence Waters is no ordinary fountain contractor, but an artistic designer, ready to create a unique piece of sculpture that will also pump water. As the correspondence continues among the characters, various clues are left in the communications. In addition, a subplot involves a fifth-grade class's research for a town history project that ultimately reveals the villains and main deception in the plot. In addition to the planted clues, there are lots of puns and quirky sayings throughout. All works out in the end as the author cleverly establishes character traits and motive. Even if readers guess what's going on halfway through, it is still fun to continue reading the diverse pages, all in different fonts with eclectic drawings just to see how the mystery will be revealed and solved. Fresh, funny, and a delight to read. -- Rita Soltan, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI

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