Lasagna Drama (Venus Washington #1)
January 6, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by the publisher
Venus lives with her parents, grandparents, baby brother Zion, and hamster, Hamsterburger, who has an unusual "trick" of changing colors. Venus is a very literal early elementary student, who worries about her mother's pain in the neck, and the threats that her grandmother makes to kill people rather than give them her recipes. When her grandmother makes Venus' favorite, lasagna, she is enjoying her piece until her grandfather comments that "Grandma put her foot in this lasagna". Envisioning crusty toenails or even entire toes, Venus is repulsed but also wants to find out how her grandmother could have put pieces of her foot in her cooking. She deputizes her best friend, Summer Rivera, as well as her twin sister, Winter (whom Venus thinks is mean) to help her investigates. They try to get a look at Grandma's feet while she is talking on the phone, but she shoos them away. Venus sneaks under the bed and pulls down her grandmother's sock, which makes her grandmother believe there might be mice in the house. The grandfather sets out to catch the rodent, assuring everyone it will be "a piece of cake", which makes Venus worry that her grandmother's cake has had mice in it. In order to find the toes in the lasagna, Venus enlists Hamsterburger's help in rooting through it. He escapes, and the lasagna is a mess, so she tries to iron it down, since she has heard the term "iron chef". This makes a mess of the dish, and she decides to warm it up in the microwave. The Rivera's cat, Mr. Grouchy, chases Hamsterburger, and the household soon devolves into chaos. Eventually, Venus' actions are revealed, and her family helps her understand what the phrases she misunderstands really mean.
Venus lives with her parents, grandparents, baby brother Zion, and hamster, Hamsterburger, who has an unusual "trick" of changing colors. Venus is a very literal early elementary student, who worries about her mother's pain in the neck, and the threats that her grandmother makes to kill people rather than give them her recipes. When her grandmother makes Venus' favorite, lasagna, she is enjoying her piece until her grandfather comments that "Grandma put her foot in this lasagna". Envisioning crusty toenails or even entire toes, Venus is repulsed but also wants to find out how her grandmother could have put pieces of her foot in her cooking. She deputizes her best friend, Summer Rivera, as well as her twin sister, Winter (whom Venus thinks is mean) to help her investigates. They try to get a look at Grandma's feet while she is talking on the phone, but she shoos them away. Venus sneaks under the bed and pulls down her grandmother's sock, which makes her grandmother believe there might be mice in the house. The grandfather sets out to catch the rodent, assuring everyone it will be "a piece of cake", which makes Venus worry that her grandmother's cake has had mice in it. In order to find the toes in the lasagna, Venus enlists Hamsterburger's help in rooting through it. He escapes, and the lasagna is a mess, so she tries to iron it down, since she has heard the term "iron chef". This makes a mess of the dish, and she decides to warm it up in the microwave. The Rivera's cat, Mr. Grouchy, chases Hamsterburger, and the household soon devolves into chaos. Eventually, Venus' actions are revealed, and her family helps her understand what the phrases she misunderstands really mean.
Birthday Blowout (Venus Washington #2)
June 23, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by the publisher
Venus' younger brother Zion is turning one, so she is in charge of the birthday party. Well, her parents have asked her to help with decorations, but they are too old to understand what kids want in a party, so she has put herself in charge. Her mother wants to have a clown to entertain the children, but Venus is concerned when her father says this will cost "an arm and a leg", because she takes him seriously. Venus gets help from her best friend, Summer, as well as Summer's twin, Winter, and the three make invitations to the party and plan on inviting both of their classes from school. They ask for Barbies for presents, invite people to bring their pets, plan on charging the guests $1 each, and hope to have a "bouncer" to remove annoying guests... like Winter! On the day of the party, Venus wants to roll out the red carpet, so paints her mother's new towels with red paint. Grandma arrives to make food, including a homemade cake, since store bought ones are "garbage". There are plenty of complications as the red paint gets spread around the house, Venus is apprehensive about the clown, pets get locked in her grandparents' bedroom, and Venus ends up throwing the birthday cake because she thinks it is filled with trash. Venus gets grounded for a couple of weeks for the havoc she created, but her family doesn't seem to be too mad at her.
Eye Spy (Venus Washington #3)
September 1, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by the publisher
Venus is invited to go to a baby shower with her mother, but she is apprehensive when she learns that it is being held at a place that has one of her names. Our protagonist often makes mistakes, so she is sure that she and her mother are traveling to Venus. This is confirmed when her mother mentions having "eyes on the back of her head". Her mother must be an alien. She is also a terrible cook, so Venus doesn't want to taste the "old" soup that her mother is cooking for her grandmother, who isn't feeling well. Along with her friends Summer and Winter, Venus tries to find her mother's extra eyes, which results in her cutting off the hair on the back of her mother's head while she is napping on the couch. After hearing that her grandmother is "burning up", she calls the fire department. As usual, Venus creates a lot of chaos and ends up being grounded, but her family laughs at her mistakes. For some reason, Venus uses grammatically irregular phrases like "aint' got no" in this book. I don't remember this from the other volumes in this series.
Venus is a younger, modern day Amelia Bedelia, who enthusiastically proceeds with her off kilter observations with hilarious results. I enjoyed her warm and loving family, the antics of Hamsterburger (which is a great hamster name), and her relationship with Summer and Winter.
The illustrations help support the text, and show what disasters Venus causes! The large text makes the story move very quickly, and readers will look forward to reading the whole series.
This is a beginning chapter book aimed at children ages 5-9. I can see it being popular with readers who enjoyed Hiranandani's Phoebe G. Green titles, Butler's Kayla and King series, Sheth's Nina Soni books, and Winston's Wednesday and Woof.
The illustrations help support the text, and show what disasters Venus causes! The large text makes the story move very quickly, and readers will look forward to reading the whole series.
This is a beginning chapter book aimed at children ages 5-9. I can see it being popular with readers who enjoyed Hiranandani's Phoebe G. Green titles, Butler's Kayla and King series, Sheth's Nina Soni books, and Winston's Wednesday and Woof.
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