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| Ardagh, Philip |
The Fall of Fergal The First Unlikely Exploit
Oh, how to begin to describe this book to you? It is placed in
Humorous Stories, but the humor is dark. The publisher recommends
the book for children ages 8 and up, but I don't know too many
third graders who would understand both the humor and the meandering
threads of this zany story.
The five McNally children find themselves
in a posh hotel after Le Fay wins a typing competition. The only
problem is that the sponsors of the competition will pay for
Le Fay's travel expenses and hotel room, but family members need
to make their own way. The McNally family makes do, what with
a dead mother and a useless father and are not in a position
to buy train tickets and rent hotel rooms. But they find a way,
which inadvertently leads to Fergal's fall.
Oh, and there is the unanswered question
about all those holes. I guess it will be answered in the next
installment, Heir of Mystery,
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| Cohn, Rachel |
The Steps
This is a breezy, fun book
told by a twelve-year-old girl named Annabel and her very extended
family. Her parents, known to her as Jack and Angelina, had never
married and split up. Her father moved to Australia after marrying
Penny, who has two children. They now have Beatrice, who is Annabel's
half-sister.She and her mother moved in with Annabel's bubbe
which Annabel is happy with. But she is dating Harvey, the father
of Wheaties, the class nerd in Annabel's progressive private
school and Annabel is not happy about that. Confused yet? |
| Cohn, Rachel |
Two Steps Forward
A year and a half after the conclusion to The Steps, Jack and penny, Lucy, Angus and Bebe hav moved to L.A. because Jack's career has taken off. Annabel, Angelina and baby Ariel are spending the summer in a rental house close to Jack and Penny so that Angelina can pursue acting parts and contemplate whether to stay in her current marriage. Wheaties, Annabel's step-brother, will be in L.A. as well, spending the summer with his mother, who is a high-powered lawyer with very little time to spend with him. Oh, and Ben is visiting with his father and Ms. Shouty, his dad's new girlfriend. Ben barely remembers Annabel, but she has preserved every memory of him in her "Ben Museum and plans on picking up where they left off. Wheaties has quite the crush on Lucy and while she has developed some enviable curves, she has no interest in developing a relationship with any boy. Told from the four points-of-view of Lucy, Annabel, Wheaties, and Ben, this is a pretty adorable sequel to The Steps. |
| Elish, Dan |
Born Too
Short: Confessions of an Eighth Grade Basket Case,
This is a breezy book to read for fun. Matt Greene has been best
friends with Keith Livingston since they were in first grade.
Well they are in eighth grade now and Keith is tall, Matt is
short (5'1" to be exact), Keith is a star athlete, Matt
is a gifted guitarist, Keith is a chick magnet with lots of experience,
Matt has yet to find a girlfriend. Keith, who can play only four
chords on his guitar, decides to write a rock opera. Matt secretly
hopes the opera will flop, but it doesn't. As Matt finds his
JQ (jealously quotient) rising higher and higher, their friendship
is truly tested. The story is told from Matt's point-of-view
and at times is laugh-out-loud funny. |
| Griffin, Stewie,
helped into print by Steve Callahan |
Stewie's
Guide to World Domination
Stewie Griffin of Family Guy
fame, spouts his droll and flippant philosophy about everything;
his case for his being adopted, the education system, women,
parents, young people, pop culture - no subject escapes his scathing
tirades which are subversive, laugh-out-loud funny and dead-on. |
| Hiasson, Carl |
Hoot
Roy's family moves a lot, so
when his family moves from Montana to Florida, Roy is prepared
to be hassled by the school bully. But while he is being harassed
by the bully, which includes having his face smashed into the
school bus window, Roy catches sight of a barefoot, running boy
about his age. This boy is running away from the school bus and
Roy hops off in pursuit and heads straight into a mystery. |
| Hiasson, Carl |
Flush
Noah's father, who admits he
can be impulsive when angry, has been imprisoned for ecoterrorism
after he sinks a gambling ship called The Coral Queen,
whose owner is dumping raw sewage into the bay and endangering
the marine life as well as the swimmers who use the beaches.
Noah's mother is growing tired of her husband's rash acts and
he and his sister are fearful that she is considering divorcing
him so they set about trying to prove the allegations are true. |
| Hopkins, Cathy |
Mates,
Dates and Inflatable Bras
If you liked Louise Renisson's
Georgia diaries, you will like this book. If you've never read
the Georgia books, you will still like this book. It is from
England and so some of the language and school terms are different,
but not so hard to figure out. Lucy and Izzie are best friends,
until Nesta moves to town. Suddenly, Izzie is trying to make
Nesta feel at home and Lucy is feeling left out, especially since
Nesta is drop-dead gorgeous and Lucy still looks like a nine-year-old
instead of forteen.Funny, cute and there are three books which
follow. |
| Hopkins, Cathy |
Mates,
Dates and Cosmic Kisses
Izzie narrates this one. She has fallen head-over-heels for gorgeous
Mark who keeps promising to call; so she waits at home for his
call and begins to ignore her mates, Lucy and Nesta. She writes
some lyrics to songs which are kept absolutely secret ever since
she made the mistake of sharing one in class and being laughed
at. She also creates hilarious lists, such as flirtation tips
and boy speak; "call you later" translates to "sometime
in the next century." |
| Hopkins, Cathy |
Mates,
Dates and Designer Divas
This seems to be book three.
I ordered the two sequels to Mates, Dates and Inflatable Bras
from BCCLS and this one came
in first. Where Lucy narrates the story from her point-of-view
in Inflatable Bras, Nesta narrates Designer Divas,
which would leave Izzie to narrate Mates, Dates and Cosmic
Kisses. The books should probably be read in order because
Nesta refers to stuff that happens in the previous two books.
In Designer Divas, Nesta's mom has just announced that
the family has to do a little belt-tightening as she may be losing
her job as a news reader on television. This happens just as
Nesta meets Simon who is wildly wealthy. Simon invites her to
ride horses and when she shows up at the stables wearing jeans,
Simon's ex-girlfriend (the Designer Diva) is there and makes
her feel shabby. It's a breezy and fun read. |
| Kinney, Jeff |
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Don't dare call this a diary, says sixth grader Greg Heffey. The cover states that this clever, funny book is a novel in cartoons. The novel evolved from a web-based cartoon on the Funbrain web site.
The novel features the middle school trials and tribulations of Greg, the second smallest kid in sixth grade and is often laugh-out-loud funny.
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| Korman, Gordon |
No More
Dead Dogs
Poor Wallace Wallace tells
the truth no matter how much trouble he gets into! And he earns
what amounts to a permanent detention when he gives a poor review
to a book which happens to be his English teacher's favorite! |
| Lubar, David |
Sleeping Freshman Never Lie
Scott is facing his freshman
year with trepidation. His older brother had a bit of a reputation
in high school as a ladies' man and cut-up who was routinely
kicked out of class. Scott's feeling a little socially impaired
and also feels a bit like an odd man out in his family because
he enjoys reading and is not good with tools like his dad and
brother. He hilariously tries to avoid using big words around
his friends at the same time trying to suggest books that they
might like without actually looking like he was suggesting them.
None of his friends are in any of his classes
and they all seem very hard. One bright spot in his schedule
is his English class which is taught by an ex-marine who assigns
books that kids actually enjoy and doesn't analyze them to death.
It also helps that the object of his crush is in the class as
well.
On top of everything, he discovers that
his mother is having a baby! To deal with this news and all the
unpleasent associated thoughts that go along with it, he begins
writing to his imaginary sibling, "Dear microscopic intruder,"
"Hey, stomach virus," and "you quavering sack
of viscous fluids." It's not a journal because guys don't
keep diaries, just advice for his future brother or sister written
while he thinks of it because he will probably forget by the
time he or she arrives at high school.
It's laugh-out-loud funny.
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| Paulsen, Gary |
Lawn Boy
Lawn Boy is narrated by an un-named boy who receives his dead grandfather's ride-on lawn mower for his twelfth birthday. He's looking to earn some money so that he can replace the inner tube on his old bike, so he figures that mowing lawns is a good way to do that. He's got a ride-on mower and the neighborhood landscaper just happened to run off with the wife of one of his customers and everyone seems to need their lawn mowed. Soon our young entrepreneur has more lawns to cut than time and he learns first hand how successful businesses grow. |
| Paulsen, Gary |
How Angel
Peterson Got His Name
This is a collection of stories
about childhood friends of the wonderful author, Gary Paulsen.
It is laugh-out-loud funny at times and illustrates just how
stupid thirteen-year-old boys can be. This book was recommended
to me a fifth-grader who thought it was hilarious and amazing. |
| Rosenbloom, Fiona |
You Are So Not Invited to my Bat
Mitzvah
If you are in seventh grade,
been to a Bar or Bat Mitzvah or have been a Bar or Bat Mitzvah,
and looking for a quick, humorous read; this is the book for
you. It deals with stressed out Stacy Friedman and her Bat Mizvah
plans which include dancing with and being kissed by Andy Goldfarb
at her party. Naturally Andy has no idea that Stacy is crushing
on him, but her girlfriends do and when she catches one of her
best friends kissing him, she immediately un-invites her to the
Bat Mitzvah.
As if that is not enough to worry about,
her newly separated mother has chosen a hideous dress for Stacy
to wear and her father wants to bring his siliconed and botoxed
girlfriend who doesn't know a Bar from a Bat Mitzvah. While predictable
and doomed to be quickly dated due to the numerous pop culture
references, it is frothy fun.
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| Rosenbloom, Fiona |
We Are So Crashing Your Bar Mitzvah!!
Stacy and Lydia are back from summer camp and can't wait to see Kelly because they learned how to be cool at camp and need to share all the tips with Kelly. Only Kelly isn't answering her phone or the many messages that Stacy has left. Once the girls get together with Kelly, they are speechless because Kelly is hot and hanging with the Chicas. Could it be that Kelly is now cool and about to leave Stacy and Lydia behind? |
| Snicket, Lemony |
Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid
Delivered in true Lemony Snicket fashion, this book is a series of quotable quotes that instead of inspiring the reader, might feel instead, like a cold shower. |
| Sonnenblick, Jordan |
Zen and the Art of Faking It
Eighth grader San Lee is about to start a new school. Unfortunately, this is something he is very used to doing thanks to his father. But he doesn't want to talk about him. What he does talk about during his social studies class is Zen Buddhism since he studied world religions two schools ago. His classmates immediately peg him as a Zen master and San figures this isn't a bad thing so he heads to the library immediately after school to bone up on Buddhism. The results are hilarious and unexpected in this fresh and funny novel. |
| Stauffacher,
Sue |
Donuthead
Franklin Delano Donuthead is
quite an unusual eleven-year-old and his unusual name is the
least of his "handicaps." Not only is his left arm
eight-tenth's of an inch longer than his right (he measures his
arms daily), he is obsessed with cleanliness and avoiding risk.
On top of everything, his baseball obsessed mother insists that
he learn the game and go out for the team. Franklin has developed
a system for coping with life which includes sitting directly
behind the bus driver on the school bus and weekly calls to the
National Safety Board to assess risk trends.
Then "hygienically challenged"
Sarah Kervick comes into his somewhat controlled life like a
hurricane. Her hair is a matted, tangled bird's nest and her
clothing is tattered which might make her a target of the school
bully, Marvin but she decks him twice within a week and decides
that Franklin is worthy of her friendship because he has a cool
mom.
This story, as narrated by Franklin, is
laugh-out-loud funny and at times, touchingly painful.
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| Van Draanen,
Wendelin |
Flipped
This book is adorable from
is cover all the way through. Bryce moves onto Juli's block when
they are in second grade. She falls immediately in love with
him and he falls immediately in hate. She pursues him til seventh
grade and he is anything but kind to her. Then they flip. The
novel is told in alternating chapters. |
| Van Etten, David |
Likely Story
Mallory is the likable and funny narrator of this perfect beach book and start of a promising series, which will hold its own among the popular, mean girl, chick-lit series featuring drinking, drugs and designer duds. There are no underage drinking parties; there's some making out, some ogling, reference to some stoned students and very little cursing. All that is tangential to, get this, a story! A real story that is told by a smart girl, who reads, who writes and rewrites and who tries to be a good person while raising herself in L.A.
After a fight with her soap opera star mother, Mallory blogs about how stupid the genre is and how her soap would be meaningful and relevant. Two people read her blog; her best friend and her mother's agent, who wants to pitch it. What follows are the ups and downs of Mallory's life as she deals with re-writes, school, her jealous mom, her sorta boyfriend and her wannabe actress bff.
David Van Etten receives author credit but the book is a collaboration of two Davids, Levithan and Ozanich and Chris Van Etten.
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