Ivy and Bean facts for kids

Ivy and Bean is a children's book series written by American author Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, and published by Chronicle Books.

Description

In the stories, Ivy (a quiet, intellectual girl) and Bean (a rambunctious, wild girl) become fast friends despite their differences and their initial reluctance to like each other – "two friends who never meant to like each other", as the tagline for the series goes. They are both 7-year-old girls who live on a cul-de-sac in a suburban environment on Pancake Court, in a town of which the name is unmentioned. In each book, they get into considerable mischief and have wild adventures with the other characters in the neighbourhood.

The books feature illustrations, but are not picture books; the reading level is suitable for middle-grade school readers. As of 2020, there are eleven books in the series.

Characters

• Bernice "Bean" Blue: A girl who is Ivy's age but very different from her. She is very rebellious, rambunctious, and devious. Bean has blackish-brown hair (eye colour unknown) and despises wearing any kind of dresses or skirts being a tomboy. She loves the colour green.
• Nancy Blue: Bean's 11-year-old sister whom she does not get along with. Nancy is much to Bean's annoyance; she cares more about herself far more than Bean. But in a few books, at the end Nancy and Bean are more friendly to each other.
• Charlotte Blue: Bean's mum's first name has never been mentioned in the series. (correction; in 'Take Care Of The Babysitter,' David says, "Best get going, Char! Don't want to be late!" when they are going out. 'Char' is most likely short for Charlotte; therefore, Bean's mum's name has been mentioned in the series)
• David Blue: Bean's dad is intelligent and has brilliant ideas. He once gave Bean and Ivy the idea for a newspaper when they wanted to make money to buy Beldaloon cheese in a special, "just-for-you" serving size.
• ZuZu: One of Ivy and Bean's friends from school who loves pink and is obsessed with penguins. A special skill that she can do is a perfect backbend.
• Ejkmmaju: One of Ivy and Bean's friends from school. In Book #2 he teased Dusit by saying: “Do sit, Dusit!”
• Sophie W.: One of Ivy and Bean's friends from school who is even taller than Eric, being the tallest kid in their class!
• Dusit: One of Ivy and Bean's friends from school who is smart and intelligent.

Books

The books in the series are:

• Ivy and Bean (April 2006)
• Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go (October 2006)
• Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record (August 2007)
• Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter (2007)
• Ivy and Bean: Bound to Be Bad (October 2008)
• Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance (September 2009)
• Ivy and Bean: What’s the Big Idea? (September 2010)
• Ivy and Bean: No News Is Good News (September 2011)
• Ivy and Bean Make the Rules (September 2011)
• Ivy and Bean Take the Case (September 2013)
• Ivy and Bean: One Big Happy Family (August 2018)
• Ivy and Bean: Get To Work! (Coming April 2021)

Adaptations

The books were planned to have an animated series that would have aired on Universal Kids. However, the series ended up in development hell and Universal Kids eventually ceased developing original content in 2019. In 2020, it was announced Netflix will adapt the books into a live-action feature film.

See also

In Spanish: Ivy + Bean para niños