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    The Fourth Stall
    The Fourth Stall
    The Fourth Stall
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Fourth Stall

    Written by Chris Rylander

    Narrated by Mike Rylander

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Do you need something? Mac can get it for you. It's what he does—he and his best friend and business manager, Vince. Their methods might sometimes run afoul of the law, or at least the school code of conduct, but if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can pay him, Mac is on your side. His office is located in the East Wing boys' bathroom, fourth stall from the high window. And business is booming.

    Or at least it was, until one particular Monday. It starts with a third grader in need of protection. And before this ordeal is over, it's going to involve a legendary high school crime boss named Staples, an intramural gambling ring, a graffiti ninja, the nine most dangerous bullies in school, and the first Chicago Cubs World Series game in almost seventy years. And that's just the beginning. Mac and Vince soon realize that the trouble with solving everyone else's problems is that there's no one left to solve yours.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 8, 2011
    ISBN9780062036490
    Author

    Chris Rylander

    Chris Rylander is the author of the Fourth Stall saga and the Epic Series of Failures trilogy, as well as Codename Zero and its sequels. A fan of baseball, statistics, and baseball statistics, he lives with his family in Chicago. You can visit him online at www.chrisrylander.com.

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    Reviews for The Fourth Stall

    4.5/5

    17 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Chris Rylander knows how to write funny. I think humor is probably one of the hardest things to write, maybe because I'm not all that funny, but Chris Rylander must be, because I was laughing all the way through The Fourth Stall, even when I was trying not to. Even my very hard to please kids (12 and 15) laughed at the lines I read out loud to them. And when I told them how Mac and Vince got their "office" in the bathroom in the fourth stall under the high window (I know it's a mouth full, but in a bathroom, isn't next to the window important?), they snickered a little. It had to do with a bottle of superglue, a toilet seat and the principal's extremely regular visits to that particular stall, but it's not exactly what you might think. There was a whole lot of glue involved and Mac and Vince had nothing to do with it. Anyway, you know I enjoy my middle grade fiction, but this one, was better than most of the YA I've been reading!I was so tired of reading about angels and saw that The Fourth Stall II (the boys and I got a kick out of why they didn't call it number two, I do live with all boys, even the dogs I have to laugh at bathroom humor), was coming out in just a few days and I hadn't read it yet. So I figured I'd better read the first one. I could hardly put it down last night. I even picked it up before my morning coffee so I could finish the last few pages of it, it's that good. As you can probably tell from the front of the book, Mac named for MacGuyver because he gets things done and Vince run a business somewhat like the Godfather. My husband noticed the resemblance. He doesn't read much and tunes out on book discussions. But if it's the Godfather he perks up. "Hey, that looks kind of like the Godfather," he says after I've been reading all day. "Yes, honey, because these two sixth graders have a business kind of like that, they get things done for kids and if the kids can't pay, they owe favors." "Wow that's a great idea for a kids book." "Yes, that's probably what the author thought when he wrote it." "So what happens?" "I don't know. As you can see, I'm still reading." "Oh, I'll let you finish. Tell me tomorrow. Anybody named Sonny?" "No!" So , yes Mac and Vince run a business during morning and afternoon recess and lunch in this very far away bathroom that no one uses. Mac has a desk and people come to him with their problems and he solves them. Vince keeps the books. And they have muscle at the door, Joe the biggest kid in the school who only lets one person in at a time and keeps the crowd low so it doesn't look suspicious . Mac and Vince are the biggest Cubs fans in history and they are saving to go to a World Series game. And this year looks like it could be their year. This was another fact my husband was interested in because he told me the Cubs were the worst team"in the history of the free world." When he tacks that phrase on, I know they must be pretty bad. Anyway, I figured, this is fiction so why couldn't the Cubs go to the World Series. I was keeping an open mind about the whole thing as I'm sure Cubs fans do every year!Things are running smoothly until their worst problem in years comes in, a pint sized third grader who has been placing bets with the fabled Staples. Until that day, no one even knew that Staples was even real, he was just a rumor. Staples is sending The Collector after the third grader, Fred, and he's afraid of what The Collector might do to him. As Mac and Vince make plans to take down Staples who has infiltrated their school and therefore their business, they find they have a spy in their midst, a thief, they have to meet and work with the schools nine biggest bullies (reading about Kitten alone is worth the price of the books) and their World Series funds begin to dwindle. What ensues is a systematic take down of Mac and Vince's business and friendship and a backfiring and double cross of all the plans Mac makes to take Staples down. And as is always the case, the best laid plans of mice and men go awry and Mac has to step back and get his priorities straight before he loses everything. The ending couldn't be more perfect and I wish I could tell you about it. But I don't want to spoil it. It is absolutely fabulous and not something I would have imagined in a million years but can picture with such clarity and I'm still laughing! The mental image is hilarious except for Kitten, I might have nightmares of him. There is a set up for the next book, kind of like the old detective movies something along a sixth graders version of, "I knew the dame was trouble the moment she walked in." And I'm getting ready to dive into The Fourth Stall (number two) Part II. (Barnes and Noble will never accept this review with that in there. I'll have to write a whole different review, but maybe that's for the best.) But it's my blog, and I can write my review, here, how I want it!As I wrote in the beginning, the book is peppered with humor from Vince's crazy Grandma's sayings to the boys trying to trip each other up on Cubs trivia. Rylander's writing style is easy for any middle grader to read, though some of the subtle meanings may be harder for younger (8-9) readers to pick up on. It just depends on the reader. None of the situations are inappropriate for anyone in the MG age group. I loved the friendship that Mac and Vince had. They had been best friends since Kindergarten or even before, when Mac moved in to the trailer park where Vince lived. Vince is quirky, but Mac gets him and loves him, really, they love each other. They don't say it, but you know they do and they aren't afraid even to cry in front of each other. That's a true testament to a boy's friendship with another boy. And I loved that Rylander showed that even in 6th grade, it was okay to cry, because when you get the snot beat out of you, you might feel like crying. And during an emotional time, like when your Dad dies, you might also feel like crying, and your best bud says, hey it's okay and he doesn't think any less of you. That's what I hope kids will take away from this book when they read it. Kudos to Chris Rylander for and outstanding novel!!
    • 4/5
      The Fourth Stall is a fun read. It was surprisingly intense and very well written. It wasn’t as light as I thought it was going to be and there was a lot of action.The kids that are in this book are so brave, smart and tough. I wouldn’t want to go up against them.Rylander creates an exciting, unique story that is impossible to stop reading. I promise this is a very hard book to put down. I definitely recommend it.
    • 4/5
      The Fourth Stall is a fun read. It was surprisingly intense and very well written. It wasn’t as light as I thought it was going to be and there was a lot of action.The kids that are in this book are so brave, smart and tough. I wouldn’t want to go up against them.Rylander creates an exciting, unique story that is impossible to stop reading. I promise this is a very hard book to put down. I definitely recommend it.
    • 5/5
      One of the most amusing books I've read for that age group in a while. One of the signs that a book is good is that I being thinking of reading it aloud to a class. I thought about doing that within the first chapter.
    • 4/5
      The Good StuffRachel described it as Godfather for middle school & that is exactly what it is - well without the violent deaths of courseDialogue is hilariousfast paced, exciting and funny story that middle school boys will lap upGood message of friendship and trusting and being their for each otherWould be great book to talk about for Grade 5/6 classroomsDiscusses problems faced by those from lower income familiesThe premise is wonderfully uniqueLikeable characters that most kids can relate to The Not So Good StuffDrags a wee bit, might turn off the more reluctant reader Bullies are put in an almost postive light at times Favorite Quotes/Passages"By "they" I mean every kid in the school. First graders up to eighth graders. Everyone comes to me for help, and most of the time I'm happy to provide it. For a small fee of course.""There are teachers who monitor the halls, but I've found over the years that most teachers are pretty clueless when it comes to how things work among kids. They are never around when the real stuff comes down.""Plus, he used "please" and "thank you" more than any kids I knew, and those words were like drugs to adults."Who Should/Shouldn't ReadMiddle grade boys will love thisEven good for middle school girlsAdult readers will get tons of giggles with the thinly veiled Godfather plot points and dialogueA must have for middle school libraries4 Dewey'sI picked this up at OLA last year and hadn't gotten around to reading it till now
    • 4/5
      Mac's the guy you go to when you need a problem solved, but when a gambling ring muscles in on his territory has Mac finally come to a problem too big to solve? Mac is the go-to guy when you got a problem that needs fixing. Need tickets to an R rated film when you're only in sixth grade? Mac's your guy. And through a combination of traded favors and cold hard cash there is very little Mac can't fix. He's a sixth grade wiseguy with integrity, and honest, and he and his friend Vince have built quite a nice little business for themselves in the fourth stall of the East Wing boy's room. But that all goes south when a third grader comes in for protection from a gambling racket run by a legendary kid named Staples who is looking to muscle in on Mac's territory. Piece by piece, Mac's quiet little empire falls apart as Staples puts the financial squeeze on kids and sends in his high school thugs to do the dirty work. On top of all this is Mac's best friend and business manager, Vince. Together they've built the business and have been saving up so that when (not if) the Cubs go to the World Series they'll have enough to buy the tickets. But there are some problems with the books and all fingers point to Vince. It's beginning to look like Mac has a mole in his operation, confirmed when he spots Vince taking money from... Staples? Worse, someone has broken into Mac's room and taken all his business's assets, thousands of dollars worth. Just when it looks like he's going to have to fold up shop and join Staples, Mac makes a discovery that gives him just enough leverage that might allow him to regain his business and send Staples packing for good. I think somewhere along the way every middle grade boy has had a fantasy of running some great moneymaking business, and probably out of school if not a vacant stall in a bathroom. They are grandiose schemes built on the fine American notion that if you build it, they will come, never realizing they needed it before. Mac's services provide easy answers to generally easy questions but with some complicated twists. Mac has hired muscle – a loose conglomeration of the school's bullies who can be bought for a price – and the school has a genuine problem with gambling on school sports, athletes who are willing to throw games, and bookies putting the screws on kids who are too young to understand what they're really getting themselves into. It is the playground made hyper-real, the natural extension of the acceleration of childhood. Like a New Yorker cartoon with kids speaking and behaving as adults, only with a lot more malice involved. Rylander gets that childhood is a violent mirror of the adult world, and that kids choosing to emulate that world will make the same, and worse, decisions when confronted with trouble. Suspicions will be built on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence, trusts will be misplaced, character motives will not always seem as clear-cut as they are presented. Mac and Vince grew up together in a poor trailer park, but while Mac's family made it out to relative security things aren't so easy for Vince, and the unspoken tension grows throughout. Vince, it turns out, may have more in common with the super bully Staples which causes Mac to do some serious soul searching (and old fashioned gumshoe work) to better understand their common motivations. The emotional landscape of boys is rich in The Fourth Stall, with plenty of moral ambiguity to cause a careful reader to double-back on their assumptions the same way Mac is forced to throughout the investigations. There is a final confrontation that is inevitable but interesting an open resolution regarding Staples that suggests not all crimes stories are so neatly tied up as they are on TV or in movies.I keep thinking there has to be a name for this appropriation of adult genres into children's books; taking hard boiled detective, or in this case the gangster-crime boss drama, and layering the stories over a school setting. Odder still, they seem to be winking to an adult audience in doing so, giving a knowing nod to those who would get the book's cultural references. The Forth Stall has a cover that clearly references the book jackets and movie posters for The Godfather. Is a middle school kid going to get the reference?I only mention it because of the trend within family-centered movies to include references to keep adult chaperones engaged. You have a greater chance of parents spreading the word to other parents, or their willingness to take kids to the movie (and later buying DVDs) if they felt the movie truly had deeper layers for all audiences. This is a smart marketing strategy, and with animation there is a long tradition of making stories accessible, but I wonder if this is really the best approach for books aimed primarily at middle school readers. Is the idea that the stories will feel more sophisticated and thus "trick" kids into thinking they're reading a more mature book? I think kids are smarter than that, and maybe this is over-thinking. Maybe it's just as savvy a marketing choice to design a book cover with an adult buyer in mind, it makes it easier to sell to a parent of a boy to send a visual cue that says "this book is like a middle grade gangster story, your boy will love it." It may also be savvy of an author to write a book that will entertain an adult agent and editor as a step toward getting published. I've often wondered what would get published if kids were the gatekeepers. Despite my general misgivings about longer middle grade books, The Fourth Stall justifies its length with action and a quick-paced story. I don't know if the book is series-worthy, but I'd be very interested to see what Rylander does next.
    • 3/5
      Christian "Mac" (short for MacGuyver) Barrett is the kid who can get you what you need. From his office in the East Wing boys' bathroom, he deals in favors and cold, hard cash, helping kids with their problems, even if it means violating the school's code of conduct. But everything changes when Fred shows up: a scared third grader who's gotten in way over his head with a high school bookie named Staples. As Mac tries to help Fred, he learns just how deeply Staples has infiltrated his school. He's gotta shut Staples down, but when you factor in snitches, hit men, and ultimate betrayal, things get complicated really fast. This is a great concept for a middle grade novel and it's definitely got its moments. I loved the relationship between Mac and his best friend Vince. There are definitely some twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The writing is a little uneven and sometimes repetitive and I think the book would have been stronger if it had been more tightly woven. That said, the unique plot will be an appeal factor and I think the middle grade guys will dig it. I'd recommend it to fans of Gordon Korman's Swindle or Michael Winerip's Adam Canfield of the Slash.
    • 5/5
      Very well written. The voice of the main character comes through loud and clear. Mac runs his business out of the fourth stall in the bathroom. For a fee, he will solve your problems until a character named Staples arrives and threatens to end not only Mac's business but also life as he has known it. This is a great read-aloud book because Mac's voice comes through so loudly and clearly. The humor brings this story to life.
    • 5/5
      Unexpected.
    • 5/5
      Very well written. The voice of the main character comes through loud and clear. Mac runs his business out of the fourth stall in the bathroom. For a fee, he will solve your problems until a character named Staples arrives and threatens to end not only Mac's business but also life as he has known it. This is a great read-aloud book because Mac's voice comes through so loudly and clearly. The humor brings this story to life.
    • 5/5
      Do you want fast food for lunch? Or perhaps need a bully taken care of? Then Mac is your man. Mac, a short for MacGyver, is king of the school until a more menacing presence, the mythical Staples, starts harassing kids. Not only that, but Mac really needs to earn money to hopefully buy tickets to see the Cubs in the World Series. With friends betraying him left and right, Mac must find out who his real friends are, find and stop super-bully Staples, and hopefully see the Cubs. Timeless humor - great for boys.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars. First, let me say I love the parody of the Godfather cover it is hilarious. The Fourth Stall is the saga of best friends Christian, who goes by Mac, and Vince. The boys have been friends forever and have started a business together which offers services to the younger kids at low prices. When a small third grader named Fred comes to the duo looking for protection from hard nosed bookie, Staples, their lives are thrown into a tailspin. This book had some great laughs. I would recommend this to reluctant readers , sports fans or anyone who likes a good laugh
    • 4/5
      Psst! Hey, YOU. Yeah you. Come over here…Do I have a story that you’re gonna be glad YOU heard.Picture it. Sixth grade. Just last week.There were these kids you see, but mind you not just any kids. Kids with a mission and the means to accomplish them. The brains…Mac. The brawn…Vince. Together they were one unstoppable duo, but in a good way…at least for most of us. They could be depended on to get you outta a jam JUST like that. No problem. That was until Staples and his goons showed up. Whew. Let’s just say they got a run for their money.What’s that?Who ended up on top? Whadda I look like, some sorta snitch?I gave you the pieces…you put them together.I’m out.-- resumes normal voice -- So, need I say that this book was enjoyable? It was…it most certainly was. As a matter of fact, when I first heard about it a while back, I wasn’t too interested. I know, shocking right? It took coming across a copy in our local bookstore and a breeze through both the synopsis and first few pages to convince me, but then…I was hooked. Hooked I tell you! Let’s investigate this case of bookish hook-age a bit further (that sounded wrong, but you know what I mean)…Starting with the cover, one can see where this book might carry at least a few laughs. I mean come on…really, look at it! It’s a play off the old classic, The Godfather by Mario Puzo, while adding its own unique charm with a roll of toilet paper replacing the obligatory puppet strings, but really…that’s a way to control a situation as well as anyone knows that has been in the “Oh-dear-goodness-there-is-no-paper-in-this-stall!” issue before. *ahem* Anywho, book covers work to artistically portray the story within, and this is no exception. The events…or as we Italians like to say the bus-i-ness (