Dave Barry for Fifth Graders

I just finished two books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

The first was Peter and the Sword of Mercy (Book 4 in the Peter and the Starcatchers series). I have mixed feelings about it, because it radically changed the series. Books 1-3 are prequels to Peter Pan (the story of how Neverland came to be, and the adventures of Peter and 11 yr old Molly--the future Mary Darling). At the end of book 3, you can see how everything is set up for the story of Peter Pan to occur a couple decades in the future, when Wendy tells the stories that her mother has told her of Peter Pan and George Darling refuses to remember the adventures of his childhood. But book 4 sort of crosses the boundary from prequel to fan fiction, because it takes place 20 years in the future, and introduces Wendy and Peter in a drastically different way than Barrie's Peter Pan. It was certainly fun to read, and a great adventure, but no longer seems like Peter Pan could come after it :-/

The second book I read was Science Fair: a story of mystery, dancer, international suspense, and a very nervous frog.... This book was just hilarious. Very politically incorrect, but hilarious. The plot is amazing: international terrorists from Krpshtskan infiltrate the school science fair and are defeated by a boy, a frog, and a giant mentos in a 50 gallons of coke. And interwoven is the story of D. Arthur Vaderian, a star wars buff who is attempting to steal paraphernalia from the main character's nerdy parents. Yes, there is a lightsaber battle.

Both of these books are 5th/6th grade reading level. I highly recommend the Peter and the Starcatchers series to everyone, although again--it could have ended with book 3. I wonder if there are plans for a book 5 that will somehow round it out.