Remarkably...odd?

Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind when reading Remarkable by Lizzie K. Foley, but it was so absurd that I had a tough time getting through it!  Ten-year-old Jane Doe is the only ordinary person in the town of Remarkable, where everyone has some extraordinary talent.  She's also the only student not admitted to the School for the Remarkably Gifted, and when she's joined at the public school (yes, shes's been the only kid there) by the trouble-making Grimlet twins, her life gets a little crazy.  Or perhaps things got out of hand because of the pirate who showed up, the argument over which town has the best jelly, the sea serpent named Lucky, the fifth-grade teacher who's oddly proficient at teaching pirate skills, the psychic pizza-maker, or the missing composer.  I thought there were too many strangely different elements for the story to come together, and the message that it's okay to be average gets completely buried...what's your opinion?

If you like the Wimpy Kid...

...you probably like books that are funny, and you can't much goofier than NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley.  With code names like Wheezer, Gluestick, and Pufferfish, a group of six 5th graders has been trained as spies, getting "upgrades" to their weaknesses.  Who knew that asthma inhalers and braces could help save the world from the evil Dr. Jigsaw?  The pace is quick, the action is totally absurd, the occasional illustrations are fun, and the reader has to pass several security clearances - but don't worry, your thumbprint, spit, or money will work just fine!  The first in a series that has its own web site (http://www.abramsbooks.com/nerds/), the fifth title is coming out in August.

Grounded for the summer!

Okay - after a week of insanely hot weather and power outages, I'm back in the swing of things with Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos.  Somewhat of an autobiography, the story tells about 12-year-old Jack, who's grounded for the summer of 1962 after goofing around with his dad's old Japanese rifle and shooting it off by mistake.  About the only way out of the house is to help Miss Volker, an elderly woman with arthritic hands, by writing down her eloquently spoken obituaries for the unusually high number of old woman in Norvelt who are passing away. Although a lot of the story is funny, be warned that there's some gore: Jack is prone to impressive and frequent nosebleeds, and one of his friends teaches him about some of the finer aspects of dealing with dead bodies at her father's funeral home.  Between Girl Scout cookies, Hell's Angels, a fake (or maybe not) bomb shelter, and the mystery of the dying residents, there's a lot going on in this book that won the 2012 Newbery.

Silly, but sweet

Never judge a book by its title, right?  I thought Olivia Kidney by Ellen Potter would be a completely fun and silly story, but there was some real heart to it, too. Olivia and her father have moved again to yet another apartment building.  She's tired of being the new, lonely kid, but this building is starting to get interesting, with Sidi and her talking lizards, an apartment made of glass, and the eccentric Madame Brenda.  And Olivia's happy to be making friends with Branwell, who remembers her from school - but there's something a bit odd about him, and Olivia really can't remember ever seeing him in class.  Sometimes the story reads like a fantasy, and sometimes it seems more like a girl who's simply using her imagination to work through her loneliness.  Either way, it's magical and delightful.

Pork Chop, Jelly, Slow Poke.....what?

You'll find laughs and some pretty interesting nicknames in Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. The year is 1935; Turtle's mom has just taken a housekeeping job that doesn't allow children, so Turtle is packed off to live with relatives whom she's never met in Key West.  Life's quite a bit different in this rundown little town, from the scorpions that occasionally show up in shoes to the nicknames (her cousins are Buddy, Beans, and Kermit) to the Diaper Gang - boys who've taken the unlikely job of caring for the neighborhood babies in exchange for candy. Turtle's a clever and funny story teller, and she gives a great sense of what life was like in Florida during the time period.  When she and the Diaper Gang have the chance to follow a treasure map, you'll wish them all the best!

Not exactly the Brady Bunch

I've been checking out some of the 2013 Rebecca Caudill nominees, and I sure like this one: Bounce by Natasha Friend.  Evyn is 13, and it feels like her life is being turned upside-down when her widowed father announces to Evyn and her geeky brother that he's getting married. And they're moving in with his soon-to-be wife.  AND she's got six kids.  Aauugh!  Soon you're hearing about the sweater twins (who always fight), Cleanser Boy (actually named Ajax), and the mean It Girls (like Andrea - On-DREY-a) at Evyn's snooty new private school.  Evyn has a wonderfully funny and very authentic way of describing her life, but it's touching, too - she often has discussions with Stella, her deceased mother, who offers advice and suggests that Evyn let things "bounce" off of her.  A terrific book, especially for those dealing with the ups and downs of a blended family.

A Boov named J.Lo

The last book I read was subtle science  fiction, but The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex is in-your-face sci fi...and funny, too!  It's a relatively long book and almost too complicated too describe. Gratuity "Tip" Tucci is writing an essay about Smekday, which  honors the day that the alien Boovs took over the Earth and renamed it Smekland in honor of their glorious Captain Smek.  So what should she start with: when she makes friends with a Boov named J.Lo?  The trip she takes with J.Lo and Pig the cat to Happy Mouse Kingdom?  The car they ride in - Slushious - which now floats, thanks to J.Lo?  Or maybe the battle against the obnoxious Gorgs, which clone themselves and travel around by means of...wait for it...teleclone booths?  If you like crazy, silly, laugh-out-loud books, you've got to try this one.

Yoda rules!

Right after I went to my public library and checked out The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger, I learned that it had been nominated for the 2013 Rebecca Caudill Award.  Excellent idea! Dwight is your basic middle school oddball - pretty much a loser, except that he has an origami Yoda finger puppet that somehow manages to give excellent advice to Dwight's classmates.  Each chapter is written by a different person about their Yoda experiences, followed by comments from Harvey, who doesn't quite believe in "Paperwad Yoda," and Tommy, who wants to know if he should follow Yoda's advice concerning a particular girl.  Chapters are short and very funny, the goofy little drawings in the margins are great, and yes, there are actual directions for making your own Yoda in the back.  A perfect books for middle schoolers!

An easy dose of humor

Sometimes good books are really short, and Flat Broke by Gary Paulsen is one of them.  Kevin is 14, and his allowance has been cut off for a month because of his problems with lying.  But the school dance is coming up soon, and Kevin wants to take Tina.  How can he get the money?  Go into business! Kevin's definitely a hard worker and can spot opportunities a mile away, and soon he's facilitating multiple poker games, cleaning neighbors' garages, selling cookies and coffee on a nearby college campus, and more.  And it's great...until things go wrong.  Everywhere. Fortunately, Kevin's pretty cool with that and learns a few lessons the funny way.  Do you think he ends up going to the dance?

Into the mysterious land...of Delaware

Do you like adventure with a heavy does of absurdity and craziness thrown in?  Then Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware by M. T. Anderson is just for you.  The tone of the book is very Indiana Jones-ish (yes, as in the movies), and it's almost impossible to summarize the plot.  Very short version: Jasper and his friends are after the bad guys in the mountainous (you read that correctly) land of Delaware.  Along the way, they encounter staring contests, dinosaurs, cannibals riding kangaroos, vaultapults (like giant spoons, they fling you through the air), Jasper's friend Drgnan Pghlik, a monastery, the evil Team Mom, a ginormous mountain squid, and of course, the blue glow of the flame-pits of Delaware.  Pretty wacky, right?  If you like it, be sure to check out other books in the Pals in Peril series, such as Whales on Stilts! or Zombie Mommy.

Who exactly IS Lemony Snicket?

I don't typically pick up biographies, but I couldn't resist when I saw Lemony Snicket (David Handler) by Dennis Abrams. Many of you probably know that Lemony Snicket is the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, 13 novels about the sad, amazingly funny and awful lives of the three Baudelaire orphans. But you may not know that the author's real name is David Handler. Not too surprisingly, he's a pretty interesting guy, with interests ranging from humor to poetry to playing the accordion. That said, I had a hard time getting into the book. It felt like the author was trying to write like Lemony Snicket, whose style is so unique that imitation of it just doesn't work. I also thought there was a pretty weak connection between the text and the pictures. But maybe I'm not a good judge, since I don't read many biographies. What do YOU think?

A wonderful smile...FINALLY

I didn't know until I was finished that Smile by Raina Telgemeier is based on something that really happened to the author. Poor Raina had an accident as a 12-year-old that caused her to lose her two front teeth. She goes through years of surgery, braces, false teeth, and pain on her way to a beautiful smile. Doesn't quite sound like the basis of a graphic novel, does it? But it works! The story is told with humor, even as Raina is going through typical middle school situations of crushes, betrayal of frenemies, and changing family dynamics. The characters are simply drawn, but the emotions are definitely there, and you'll cheer for Raina as she finds a new group of friends. A great story that shows readers no matter how tough your situation, it will eventually get better....just maybe not in the way you think.

I dare you NOT to read this

Hopefully you'll get the irony in Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald. What lengths would you go to NOT to read all the way through middle school? (I guess that's a trick question, since you're reading this, right?) Charlie Joe thought he had it figured out: he could pay one of his buddies with ice cream sandwiches to read Charlie Joe's assignments and then give him a quickie summary. And it worked!...for a while, and then he got caught. But now the big "Position Paper" is coming up, so Charlie Joe has to come up with a new plan. He'll let you in on his ideas, the school cliques and crushes, and typical middle school thinking; sprinkled throughout the book are Charlie Joe's Tips, such as "It's easy to convince others that you do in fact read, even if do in fact don't. (Use the word therefore a lot.)" I dare you NOT to read this, and I double dare you NOT to laugh. :)

A quinceañera for a tomboy?

The cover says it all for Sweet 15 by Emily Adler and Alex Echevarria. Destiny is 14 and is quite happy being a tomboy and skateboarding with her buddy Omar. But her 15th birthday is coming up, and her Puerto Rican parents are all set on providing with her a big, fancy quinceañera. Destiny knows her family can't afford it, and her feminist older sister is totally opposed to the idea. Her friends try to help, but Stephanie is African-American, Erin is Jewish, and both are well off, so they don't quite get Destiny's problem. And what to do about Omar, who might be starting to like her in more than a friendly way, and Nicholas the cute new guy? The story moves quickly, the conversations are funny, and the family and friend dynamics are believable, as Destiny figures out how to speak up for herself.

One of the strangest I've ever read...

Yes, I had read the plot line of The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater, but I still wasn't quite prepared for the sheer goofiness of it! As Neddie Wentworthstein and his family go from Chicago to Los Angeles by train, he meets Melvin the shaman, who gives him a small stone turtle and tells him to keep it safe (we don't yet know why); gets separated from his family in Flagstaff, Arizona; and meets Seamus Finn, his dad (a famous movie star), and Billy the ghost. Confused yet? Well, they all end up in L.A., and soon Neddie is dealing with bad guy Sandor Eucalyptus, who wants to steal the turtle. You don't discover the importance of the turtle until very late in the book, and by then you're reading about policemen from outer space, prehistoric creatures, and a huge circus. And the ending is totally unexpected. If you want a straight-forward plot, don't read this one, but if you can just go with the flow and accept all the strangeness, it's a pretty funny (but highly weird) story.

This is for you, puzzle lovers

If you like to solve puzzles, you might want to check out The Seventh Level by Jody Feldman. The main character is Travis Raines, a likeable seventh grader. He would love to get into the Legend, a secret group at his middle school that plans pretty cool events. When he finds a shiny blue envelope with a strange message in this locker, he can't believe it...does the Legend actually want him? Soon he's solving clues and figuring out puzzle after puzzle, but some of the tasks he's assigned don't really make sense...they have a not-nice undertone to them and they're coming in a different kind of blue envelope. Doesn't sound like the Legend, but who could they be coming from? The pacing is uneven (starts off SLOW) and the plot's a little confusing at times, but this is still a fairly entertaining story, especially if you enjoy solving along with Travis.

Who knew librarians could be so rotten?

There's no way I could resist a title like Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson! Alcatraz Smedley just turned 13, and for his birthday he received an apparently unremarkable...bag of sand? But the action gets fast and furious when his grandfather shows up and tells him the present was the Sands of Rashid, which the evil Librarians quickly steal to smelt into new lenses of power. Alcatraz learns that all Smedleys have special Talents - how can you not like a kid who's good at breaking things (and his grandfather, who's always late)? - and these talents are put to good use when they infiltrate the library (oh, no!) to track down the bad guys. The story is chaotic and fun; Alcatraz tells it with loads of snarky humor. And if you like it, you're in luck - there are currently three more in the series.

"Grown-upness is truly wasted on grown-ups"

If you can go with the far-fetched premise of Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce, you'll probably appreciate the book. Liam is twelve, but because of his height and a bit of early facial hair, he's often mistaken for an adult.  When he wins a vacation package to what he thinks is an amusement part, he pretends to be a dad and takes his friend Florida along as his daughter.  They end up in China, where the other prize-winning kids and one adult will train for a ride on an actual rocket ship!  Liam ends up going aboard, and all is well until there's an "oops" and the rocket is seemingly stuck in outer space.  Fortunately, Liam's skills obtained from hours of playing World of Warcraft save the day.  The story was originally published in Great Britain, and the British words and references may be confusing to some readers in the U.S., but the kids' humor, the general idiocy of the other fathers, and Liam's likable character make this a fun read.

You can be SPHDZ, too

If you're looking for something that's just plain goofy, Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka is the book for you.  Michael K. is starting fifth grade at a new school, and he's stuck with two other new kids who are extremely weird.  Bob always sounds like a commercial ("Think outside the bun!"), Jennifer sounds like a wrestling announcer ("Get rrrrready to rrrrrumble!"), and they insist that the hamster in their class is Major Fluffy, their mission leader.  Their mission?  To recruit 3,140,001 kids to become SPHDZ, so that Earth doesn't get turned off.  Meanwhile, super-klutz Agent Umber from the Anti-Alien Agency is on their trail, in hilarious disguises.  Tons of pictures will remind you of the Wimpy Kid series, and the web sites that are mentioned in the book are real!  Lots of laughs, and if you like it, you're in luck - it's the first in a series.

Not your typical grandmother

You might have mixed feelings if you were told you'd be spending a week of every summer at your grandparent's house.  In A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck, Joey starts out feeling the same way, but by the end of the book, I'd want to go to his grandmother's, too!  It's the time of the Great Depression, and each chapter represents a different summer that Joey and his sister spend with Grandma Dowdel.  She's NOT your typical elderly lady - she doesn't mind hauling out the shotgun, lying, stealing, or playing tricks on people.  But deep down, she's got a heart of gold.  Whether she's fooling the sheriff, hoping to win a prize for her gooseberry pie, or helping a young couple elope, Grandma will make you smile.