When we left the McQuarrie kids, they were fighting the evil FunTime empire. At the end of the last book, the principal had called all the Rebels’ parents in for a meeting, which didn’t got as she had planned. The parents began to realize that maybe FunTime wasn’t the best educational product. And the kids learned that they had allies in the grown-up and teacher world.
As ever, Tommy is building a case file about the FunTime situation, with all the kids contributing a chapter. But in this situation, we have another player: Princess Labelmaker. Someone has taken the case file, put labels on it, and given it to Principal Rabbski! You see, the Princess believes that the principal isn’t really the bad guy here, and believes that if the principal just reads the case file she’ll understand what’s going on and will help the kids out.
Tommy is supposed to be the leader of the gang, because Dwight has had to drop out of the Origami Rebel Alliance (once the parents got involved, he bailed – his mom is pretty high strung). Tommy and Foldy-Wan Kenobi try to unite the kids in their fight against FunTime, while still trying to navigate the usual messes of junior high.
The thing I enjoyed about this book (and the book preceding) was the way the kids worked together in a positive way to bring their concerns to the grownups. This is a lesson I’m trying to teach my kid – the lessons of the 60s, brought to his level. They may be necessary sooner than we think.
