Tag archives for Funny
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BOOK NAME: The Schwa Was Here
AUTHOR: Neal Shusterman
Calvin Schwa, also known as “the Schwa,” is not invisible. He is just easy to overlook. He is a nobody, so much so that he might as well be part of the scenery. Even his own father cannot be particularly sure of his whereabouts. Some call this “The Schwa Effect”, a condition that renders one virtually invisible to all but the extremely observant. It is said that this effect is terminal, eventually causing the person to simply fade away.
Anthony “Antsy” Bonano barely even noticed The Schwa when they first met. Calvin seemed to blend in perfectly with his surroundings, virtually unnoticeable. Moreover, the Schwa had sat next to Antsy in class for a long time without Antsy ever noticing until that fateful day. Antsy decided to befriend his “invisible-ish” classmate and assist him with his unusual predicament. After doing extensive experimentation on the effectiveness of the Schwa Effect, Antsy had the “brilliant” idea to use the Schwa’s stealth as a profit generating opportunity. The two-some completed spying tasks as well as dares for the entertainment of the other students, as well as for cash.
All is not well, however. Antsy and the Schwa may have just accepted one triple-DOG-dare too many. Furthermore, the Schwa is having trouble coming to grips with his Schwa Effect. He feels as if he is fading away, and that one day, possibly in the very near future, he will cease to exist. There will be emotional pain, there will be cold hard truth, and there will be plenty of ferocious dogs…
This book was excellent. My favorite part was the author’s style of writing. The book was full of humorous lines and phrases. Sarcasm, jokes, puns, and idioms were all present in this book. Such sayings as, “He didn’t have a cow, he had a whole herd,” and “It smelled like something had died in there because it had smelled something else that had died in there,” were commonplace. I could not stop chuckling to myself, and some were good enough to read aloud to family members for more laughs. Even the titles of the chapters were funny. Behind all of the humor, the plot was excellent as well. There were many unexpected twists and turns, as well as several shocking events. I will not spoil these, so read the book. I have also read another book in the series, called “Antsy Does Time”, which was similar to this book in many ways. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story with plenty of laughs thrown in.
Want another opinion? Read Mairen’s review!
Posted by BOOK NAME: Weird But True! Stupid Criminals
AUTHOR: National Geographic
Stupid Criminals was one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I couldn’t
stop laughing out loud as I read, and my family and friends kept asking me what
was so funny. In fact, I don’t even have the book right now because one of my
friends has it. After he’s done with it, another friend wants to read it too!
Stupid Criminals is about people trying to commit crimes but making dumb
mistakes at the same time–stupid criminals, get it? Just like it’s hard to do the
right thing sometimes, I guess it’s hard to do the wrong thing correctly! My
favorite story was probably about a bank robber who called the bank and
said, “Hello, we are robbing your bank at 1pm, bye!” Another favorite of mine
was about a robber who was burglarizing a house. He got hungry and had a
snack. He was caught because he left greasy fingerprints on the refrigerator door!
Duh.
Well, you get the idea. It is hilarious! I guarantee that if you have a sense of
humor, you will love this book. I hope you read and enjoy it!
BOOK NAME: Chomp
AUTHOR: Carl Hiaasen
On the day I received Chomp in the mail, I stayed up until after 11pm
reading it. It wasn’t Carl Hiaasen’s best book but it was definitely a good book,
worth reading.
The book is set in a Florida swamp with Wahoo and his dad, an animal
wrangler, as the main characters. They are working for a television show much
like Man vs. Wild. The show’s star goes missing and Wahoo, his dad and the
camera crew need to find him. I liked the plot, even though it’s a little confusing
in some places, and the characters in this book, especially Wahoo. He has a lot of
guts. When he was little his thumb was bitten off by an alligator and yet he still
plays with and feeds alligators and other swamp animals. Wahoo’s backyard is a
zoo of the most dangerous animals in Florida, and Carl Hiaasen gives great
descriptions of them. I’m a big animal lover so this was a big plus for me.
Like I said earlier, Chomp is not a GREAT book, but a good one. If you like
reading about animals and adventures in general, I would recommend this book.
I’d probably get it from the library though instead of buying it.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Skipping Christmas
AUTHOR: John Grisham
If you had the chance to skip Christmas, would you? Sure, it would mean not having to go to your siblings’ boring Christmas pageant, not getting sick on candy canes and fruit cake, and not having to pretend you’re thankful for the wacky presents your relatives send you, but wouldn’t you miss the Christmas tree? And the decorations and carolers? And not to mention, what would your family and friends think of you?
These are the types of questions Luther and Nora Krank are faced with when they suddenly decide to forgo the holidays in the novel, Skipping Christmas. With their only daughter leaving for a year to go teach children English in Peru, the Kranks are feeling pretty gloomy and don’t know if they are up to celebrating Christmas. In fact, Luther, who has never liked the holiday because of the all the stress and chaos it brings, proposes the plan of skipping altogether and going on a luxurious cruise instead. Although the idea at first seems crazy and Nora immediately vetoes it, the couple eventually comes around and they excitedly book their tickets for a Caribbean cruise, starting on Christmas day.
At first, Luther and Nora’s attempt to forgo everything that has to do with Christmas goes very smoothly and they begin to think that skipping the holidays will be easy. However, as they continue to refuse invitations to Christmas parties, turn down charities asking for donations to help give underprivileged kids presents, and go as far as to not decorate their house with Christmas lights, ultimately causing their neighborhood to lose the annual holiday decorations contest, they soon begin to be met with distaste from their neighbors. As the book goes on, that distaste grows into a full-fledged “war” between the neighborhood and the Kranks, the matter being over whether or not Luther and Nora are going to celebrate Christmas.
This novel is very amusing and will have you constantly laughing as you read it. I recommend it to preteens and young teenagers because it does contain some bad language (Luther utters the occasional swear word) and was originally aimed for an adult audience. Other than that, this book is very funny and entertaining and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
BOOK NAME: Scat
AUTHOR: Carl Hiaasen
Hi again blog readers! This is a review of my favorite book by Carl Hiaasen, Scat. It takes place in Florida near a huge swamp. Nick is the main character. His class goes on a field trip to the swamp. In the middle of the trip, a wildfire starts so everyone flees to the bus. Mrs. Starch, Nick’s teacher, goes back to the swamp to get Nick’s friend, Libby’s inhaler. The investigators think she is gone for good until the inhaler appears in Libby’s yard. The mystery of what happens to Mrs. Starch is really cool.
One of the reasons I like this book is because some of the characters are really likable. My favorite character is Twilly. He is very, very rich and he spends his money on donating wildlife preserves. He really stands up for what he believes in and doesn’t hesitate to show it. My other favorite character is Drake. I mostly like him because he adds humor to the book. He is the manager of an oil company in the area next to the swamp. He’s kind of foolish. He set up his business in Florida just so he can run the business while he spends his time water skiing!
Scat is one of the best books I have ever read. First of all, it’s about nature which I love. Also, it’s got some mystery, some great characters, some humor, and some interesting dialogue. I think you’ll really like it too.
Want another opinion? Read Jordan’s review!
Posted by BOOK NAME: Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo
AUTHOR: Greg Leitich Smith
Have you ever thought about how you met your best friend? Was it normal, or was it wacky – like how Elias met Shohei? Pulling a boa constrictor snake named Mathilda out of your backpack can make a remarkable first impression! This book is about three best friends Elias, Honoria, and Shohei, who are united against “That Which Is The Peshtigo School”. Their goal is to make it through the annual school science fair, but things don’t always go as planned.
Elias is part of a family made up of science fanatics who would do anything to win a science fair. Elias isn’t exactly what you’d call the ambitious type, especially when it comes to science fairs. So he becomes like Galileo and “retests” one of his sibling’s past projects. Honoria loves to be ambitious, especially when it comes to being a legal counsel extraordinaire. But when she faces a bigger challenge than beating Goliath Reed or getting a piranha to become vegetarian, she doesn’t know if she can make it. Shohei is an all around slacker who tries to mooch off Elias instead of creating something on his own. His adoptive parents are constantly encouraging him to start “hearing” his ancestors. His mom has even turned Shohei’s room into what looks like a walk-in Japanese museum exhibit!
This book is laugh out loud hilarious and the more you read, the more exciting and unexpected it gets. I love the title on this book because it really made me laugh and want to read the book. I also like how people so different from one another can be such close friends. There is not much excitement in the beginning, but it builds up very quickly. So if you like that type of story, then this is the book for you.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Liar, Liar
AUTHOR: Gary Paulsen
What’s up my readers? How are you all doing? I know I’m good. Today I get the honor to tell you about Gary Paulsen’s book, Liar, Liar. As you know, I love Gary Paulsen and this just adds to his long list of great books. I really enjoyed it and hope you enjoy this review.
This time, Paulsen came up with a great book for kids between ages 10 and 13. Liar, Liar is about a boy named Kevin who is great at telling lies and he uses his gift for bad things. It all started when Mr. Crosby assigned him a project. This project was to be done with assigned partners and Kevin got the worst partner, Katie. He didn’t want to work with her so he told her that he had some crazy disease and it would be mean to make her work with him.
In his mind, he is a really good liar. But what happens throughout the book is that his lies become bigger and bigger until he is in a very tough situation. All of a sudden he has made all of these lies to all of these different people and has a lot of explaining to do.
Most of his lying is because of this girl in his school named Tina, who he has a crush on. He makes up excuses and lies to get out of class so he can see her. And when he is finally with Tina it doesn’t look too good because of all of his lies that he told.
I think that if you liked Mudshark by Gary Paulsen then you will love Liar, Liar. They’re both great comedies.
Well guys, that is all that I’m going to tell you. See ya!
BOOK NAME: A Whole Nother Story
AUTHOR: Dr. Cuthbert Soup
I sensed this was going to be a different kind of book when I found out that the Cheeseman family included a balding dog and a sock puppet named Steve. Actually, it sounded like my kind of family! To make matters more intriguing, this particular family is on the run from top-secret agents, international spies, and one chimpanzee.
Mr. Cheeseman is an inventor and all the people chasing him want one thing, his greatest creation, a time machine! His family includes three children. They are nice kids, but have no friends. Why is that? The problem is that they never stay in one place for very long. They are always on the go because their father is afraid that those chasing them will use his invention for evil purposes. And he is correct!
Sometimes the kids have to get creative to keep themselves occupied. For example, the youngest child, Crandall, created his own best friend, Steve the sock puppet. The reason Crandall holds onto the puppet so dearly is because it was a gift from his mother. She passed away from a mysterious illness and so he takes comfort in her gift. Steve was a “snarky” looking puppet and “never missed an opportunity to comment on anything and everything in his annoyingly squeaky voice, which sounded not unlike a dolphin with laryngitis, if you can imagine such horrible squeaking.”
This book is full of these kinds of witty descriptions that had me chuckling throughout it. I don’t want to give away their adventures, but Dr. Cuthbert Soup does make an appearance as the head of the National Center for Unsolicited Advice. After reading this book, I’m definitely ready for some more Soup!
BOOK NAME: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
AUTHOR: Tom Angleberger
Hi guys, I’m back. I read a book that was just hysterical: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. I think that you guys are going to like this book.
This book is about a kid named Dwight who is the strangest kid ever. He made this origami Yoda and he puts it on his finger and walks around school like that. Origami Yoda starts to give advice to people about their personal problems. Dwight puts Origami Yoda up to his ear and Yoda “whispers” the advice and then Dwight says the advice in a Yoda accent.
Tommy is the main character in the book and he wants to get to the bottom of this, so he starts a file and asks people who got advice from Origami Yoda to write a paper to add to his file. The whole book you are reading are the papers from Tommy’s file. It is very interesting.
One of the stories in the file is about Tommy’s best friend who doesn’t believe in Origami Yoda so he makes another Origami Yoda. Dwight’s Yoda says that there will be a battle of the Origami Yodas. You are going to have to read the book to find out what happens next but I guarantee you that you are going to be surprised at what happens next.
Thanks for reading my review I hope that you enjoyed it. I know I did. Thanks again, and bye! See you next time!
Posted by BOOK NAME: Fudge-a-Mania
AUTHOR:
Judy Blume
When Peter Hatcher and his family want to go on vacation, Peter does not expect it to be right next to his enemy, Sheila Tubman. Not only were their houses near each other, but when he got to Maine, Peter found out that their houses were CONNECTED! How would he survive living next to the entire Tubman family? His family was enough to have to deal with!
In Maine, Peter meets Mrs. A and Mitzi, who he later finds out are wife and daughter of Big Apfel (only the greatest baseball player ever)! Peter goes through many weird times, including the time where his little brother Fudge’s bird escapes, and he has to go find it. Fudge was so weird. So weird, that he even wished to marry Sheila! But at the end of the book, Sheila and Fudge don’t get married, someone else does!
I really liked this book. I think Judy Blume is a great author. She has a great sense of humor. My favorite character in the book was Mitzi. She doesn’t have such a big part in the storyline, but she’s just so cute! I wish I had a little sister just like her! I also liked the way Judy Blume portrays Fudge’s character. It’s such a typical five year old! I could think of many five year olds who are just like Fudge. Just as annoying, and just as crazy! Fudge-a-mania is a great book! All the characters are great!
Want another opinion? Read Isabel’s review.
BOOK NAME: Masters of Disaster
AUTHOR: Gary Paulsen
Hey guys it’s me Reed. This time I’ve got an action and comedy book. Gary Paulsen is an amazing author, and you can read my interview with him. In this book he’s just amazing.
Henry, Reed, and Riley are best friends. Henry is the leader of the three. He also comes up with some of the most wacky ideas ever. He always uses Reed as a test dummy. Riley is always doing the research and he also is always prepared.
Here is an example of a crazy idea Henry came up with. A house in their neighborhood is perfect for an extremely high bike jump, and it also has a pool. The owners of it happen to be out. So Henry decides he’s going to try for a world’s record. He dresses Reed up in a lot of protection and even ties his hands to the handle bars. Riley says Reed can ride down the roof, hit the diving board and bounce really really high. He hits the diving board perfect on the first try. On the second bounce after hitting the diving board, he skids off at a 45 degree angle and slides into the back alleyway where he runs into about 4 trash cans. He got covered in baby diapers. And as Reed says later in the book: “The smell doesn’t come off. It gets worse.”
The book isn’t about one single story. It’s a mix of different stories like the one above.
This is another masterpiece by Gary Paulsen. You should definitely read it. And it’s not very long, only 102 pages!
Posted by BOOK NAME: I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President
AUTHOR: Josh Lieb
Hi, it’s Mairen again and yes, that is a very long title. However, don’t let it deter you from picking up this book. I started to read it a little skeptically, but was drawn in from the first page. The story is about a young boy, Oliver Watson, who has two identities: a less-than-smart overweight boy who loves his parents and an international business magnate who has absolute control over thousands of people. The book follows his double-life as he tries to integrate his evil genius personality and his normal kid personality to try to win a school election. Because he has so much control, he bribes, threatens, and steals his way to be a contender in the competition without anyone knowing what is going on.
The plotline is intriguing and the dialogue and narrative are absolutely hilarious, so much so that I was laughing out loud while reading on a few occasions! That garnered me a couple of weird looks from the bystanders (I was reading in my local library), but I just couldn’t stop laughing! Anyway, this book is amazing. It’s charming yet nerve-racking. We can all relate to Oliver’s yearning for his father’s pride, and these kinds of books are the kinds that will always stick in the reader’s mind, no matter how many other books they read. I would recommend this book to all readers, no matter how young or old.
Posted by Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas wanted to test their new invention, a remote-controlled buggy-mounted camera in Tanzania. The “Beetlecam,” outfitted with powerful motors, off-road tires, long-lasting batteries, and a digital SLR camera, can enter places where people can’t go. It takes pictures at set intervals or by remote control, but when the Burrard-Lucas brothers tried to take pictures of lions from a distance with the BeetleCam, a curious lioness made off with it!
The lions destroyed the camera, but its memory card was recovered in one piece, giving us a glimpse of the photographs the lion “photographer” took.
See more pictures and read more about the lion photographer on National Geographic News.
Play Crittercam: African Adventure and recover more footage of lions!
Photograph by Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas
Posted by BOOK NAME: Hoot
AUTHOR: Carl Hiaasen
This is book was made into a movie, and I liked the movie so much that I wanted to read it.
It’s a story about a boy who moves from Montana to Florida and becomes friends with a girl and her stepbrother who want to stop a restaurant from being built on top of some burrowing owls. The boy joins them to protect the tiny owls and other creatures that live on the land. The kids play tricks on the company, called Mother Paula’s Pancake House, to make it stop before destroying the owls’ homes. Their tricks include pulling up all the survey stakes on the property, putting big snakes all over it and taking the seat off a bull-dozer and other ground-moving machines that are parked there. It’s funny.
I would say the book is a little better than the movie because it is more detailed and the author’s voice tells you more than what you can see in the movie. I highly recommend reading the book and seeing the movie, but the book is long so make sure you have enough time to finish reading it.
Want more opinions? Read Eleanor’s review of Hoot.
Photograph by Melissa Brandts, Your Shot
Believe it or not, this picture is for real! While visiting Banff National Park in Canada, two park visitors put their camera on a rock and set the camera’s timer. The noise of the camera focusing caught the attention of a curious ground squirrel, who popped up in front of the camera in time for the click of the shutter. What a great (and unique) vacation memory!
Get the story of this amazing picture in the photographer’s words on National Geographic.
See pictures of national parks in the United States in the Photo Gallery.
BOOK NAME: World’s Dumbest Crooks and Other True Tales of Bloopers, Botches & Blunders
AUTHOR: Allan Zullo
This book is about some of the world’s dumbest crooks, stupidest sports plays and other stuff like that.
Here’s one example. This robber robbed a store and was so tired afterward that he thought he’d sit down for a while and he accidentally fell asleep! In the store he just robbed! The police caught him while he was taking his nap.
Then, there was this lady who had a vending machine at her store. She brought her cat to work everyday. She was going to sell her vending machine, but her cat jumped in the machine trying to get some food. The cat ended up on a five-hour trip to the store of the new owner!
There is another one was about a quarterback on a football team during a game. His team was lined up and he took the ball to the ref and said it was a practice ball. Then he yelled “Hike!” He kept the ball and ran all the way to the touchdown. And the referees said it counted!
This book was interesting because it had so many funny stories about how stupid and funny people could be. The book has chapters about crooks, sports, animals, movie stars and a few others.
I hope you enjoy this book if you end up getting it. It’s really funny.
BOOK NAME: Explorabook: A Kids’ Science Museum in a Book
AUTHOR: John Cassidy
If you like science, you’ll love this book. It doesn’t tell a story, but it tells you a lot about different parts of science, like magnetism, optical illusions, reflections, light waves and bacteria. One of the pages of the book is actually a mirror on both sides. Another page is like a giant magnifying glass that you can see through, but it’s made of thin plastic, not glass.
My favorite part is the optical illusions chapter, which shows all kinds of photos and drawings that fool your eye into thinking it’s something else. On one page, there’s what appears to be a perfect square on top of a bunch of circles, but when you look closer you realize all the sides are curved. In one photo, there are two girls standing next to two mirrors and one appears to be twice the size of the other, but really they’re the same size because the mirrors are so different in size.
The book has a lot of funny pictures, including one of scientists smelling the arm pits of different people for an experiment. My brothers and I always laugh at that one. The book also comes with two packs of Agar, which you can mix with water to grow bacteria that you can see under a microscope. Bacteria likes to eat Agar.
This book makes science fun and funny.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Superfudge
AUTHOR: Judy Blume
Superfudge
is a fun book about a regular a boy named Peter and his brother named
Fudge. Fudge is going into kindergarten but he’s a little out of
control. Peter absolutely wants to have nothing to do with Fudge but
when he finds out that their mom is going to have another baby things
only get worse. On top of that, they are planning on moving for a year
out of the city. Peter tries to handle moving, two crazy siblings and
staying cool all at the same time, but things tend to get a little
hectic!
I LOVED reading Superfudge! It was so much
fun to read all the wacky things that Fudge ends up doing. I am
definitely planning on reading the sequels to it. It was an easy read
so I could take a break from all of the other much harder books I have
for school. The book reminds me of my own life in a way that I am in
6th grade and Peter is too. My youngest brother Brady is SO the Fudge
of the family. He and Fudge are like wild childs. We really do have a
lot in common with them.
I rate this a FIVE out of FIVE! It
is a great read for people who like humorous fictional types of books
or Judy Blume’s others in the series. If you have a ‘Wild Child’ in
the family, tell me about it.
BOOK NAME: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
AUTHOR: Jeff Kinney
This is the third of four books that I know of about Greg Heffley, The Wimpy Kid. I’ve read all but one of the books and I like them all. Even though each book has “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” in the title, Greg makes it clear at the start of each one that the book is NOT a diary, but a journal. He explains that diaries are for writing down your feelings and others might think he’s a sissy if they see him carrying around a diary. So his books are journals, which just tell about what happens in his life.
In the beginning of this book, Greg is always accidentally making his dad mad by doing things like watching TV rather than going outside to play and making noises at night that wake up his dad. In the book, Greg admits to having a crush on a classmate named Holly Hills so he tries to make her have a crush on him by doing goofy things, like telling jokes. It doesn’t work. Greg then meets a girl named Trista and he ends up falling in love with her. He plans to bring her to his friend Rowley’s pool for a date, but he runs out of paper in his journal before he tells what happens.
I like the Wimpy Kid books because they are funny and they give me ideas for pranks and jokes to do with my friends, my dad, my mom and my brothers. If Greg were real, I’d like to play with him.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Sideways Stories from Wayside School
AUTHOR: Louis Sachar
Seriously!
This book is hilarious. It’s all about the kids in Ms. Jewel’s class at
Wayside School. The reason it’s called “wayside” school is because it
was built sideways. The school was supposed to be 1 story tall with 30
classrooms. But the builder made a mistake and built the school 30
stories high with each story only containing a single classroom. There
are a lot of crazy things that go on at Wayside.
Ms. Jewel’s
classroom is on the 30th floor of Wayside. At the beginning of the
year, Ms. Jewel has a substitute teacher named Ms. Gorf. She is mean
and can turn kids into apples. I know it sounds weird, but it’s true.
If you do anything wrong or give an incorrect answer, Ms. Gorf wiggles
her ears, sticks out her tongue and then…poof!…you are turned into
an apple. Pretty soon, all the students had been turned into applies
by Ms. Gorf. All of the “apples” demand to be turned back into kids
and they plan an “apple attack” on Ms. Gorf until she gives and turns
them back into kids again! After that, Ms. Gorf leaves the school and
never comes back and Ms. Jewel comes back to teach her class.
This
is only one of the stories from the book. There are 29 more chapters in
the book that talk about each kid in Ms. Jewel’s class. Once they get
passed Ms. Gorf and her apple turning magic meanness, Ms. Jewel’s class
has a pretty crazy rest of the year. There are 3 books about the
Wayside School. I liked them because they were all funny and
silly…and made me want to read the others.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank You Notes
AUTHOR: Peggy Gifford and Valorie Fisher
This is a funny book. I enjoyed it so much that I read it in one sitting. It doesn’t really say, but I think Moxy is about my age and in 6th or 7th grade. And the story in the book covers all the funny things that she does to get out of having to write thank you notes for the Christmas presents she has received.
The problem is that she hates writing thank you notes! She could just refuse to write the notes, but she is promised a very cool reward if she gets the notes written in one day. Plus, her mom insists that she do them before she gets her reward. The reward is that her dad has promised to take her to a big, fancy, Hollywood movie premiere. She might even get to be on TV. But her mom has told she won’t be able to go unless her thank you notes are done.
Moxy tries all sorts of short cuts to get her thank you notes done. Most of them don’t work out very well. First, she thought she would write a single note and run it through the copy machine. That failed because they ended up making thousands of copies instead the 12 she needed. Next she tried to make them look fancy by using gold spray paint. She ended up painting a “T” on her friends clothes and “hank you” on the wall of her room. She got in pretty big trouble for that!
The book has some cool illustrations that really make the book fun to read. You’ll have to read the book to see if she ever makes it to the movie premiere.
BOOK NAME: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
AUTHOR: Jeff Kinney
If you want to read a funny book, check this book out of the library and start reading. It’s about a wimpy kid who is going into middle school. His name is Greg Heffley. His older brother, whose name is Rodrick, is going into high school and Greg has all of Rodrick’s old teachers. They think Greg is going to be just as much of a problem as his older brother.
As you might guess, this book is Greg’s diary and is arranged by date. It has neat writing, just like a kid’s writing, and lots of cartoon drawings. It covers the school year and ends in the summer. Since Greg is just starting middle school, he is trying to fit in and be popular. He and his friend Rowley try to hang with the cool kids and talk to them, but they just ignore him and walk away. One time, right after Christmas, Greg and Rowley are playing with a scooter and Rowley breaks his arm. The popular girls make a big deal over Rowley’s broken arm and even though Greg was there he gets ignored like usual.
He also doesn’t get much help from the teachers because they embarrass him because they think he’s going be a troublemaker like his brother. But Greg is a good student and really good in class.
I think you should read this book because it has lot of funny parts that Greg and Rowley do together in their 6th grade year to fit in. It also shows that the best way to fit in to be yourself.
BOOK NAME: Toy Dance Party
AUTHOR: Emily Jenkins & illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
This is a really fun book because you start thinking it is about a girl that plays with her toys. But as you read it, you find out that it’s really about her older toys being lonely because she only plays with the new toys. So, the main characters of the book are really the toys and not the people.
The main characters are Bossyboots the Stingray, Lumphy the Buffalo, Bonkers, Rocky Road, Millie and Brownie stuffed Mice, Spark the Shark. The “Silent People” are the Barbie dolls. These forgotten toys have lots of adventures together. There was one time when Bonkers the Mouse sucked into the vacuum cleaner and Spark the Shark helped rescue him. He bit the outside of the bag and Bonkers bit the inside of the bag to make an escape hole that Bonkers used to get out. Everyone cheered for Spark and Bonkers.
Another exciting part of the book is when Spark got bored and decided to go a tour of the house. He found the Silent People and nibbled their arms and legs. He returned to tell everyone else how much fun he had. When the girl the Barbie dolls with small bite marks she was very upset and thought there were real mice living in the box where she kept her Barbie dolls. So, it was a funny trick that the old toys played on their owner.
I liked this story because it had funny parts, sad parts and really made you think that no matter how old you are, you can still have fun playing with your older toys.
