The True Meaning of Smekday, Adam Rex

After the Boovish invasion of Earth, Gratuity Tucci has learned a lot about human nature. For instance:

"--Most folks will steal if they can get away with it.
--Most people want to break other people's things and roll cars over, but won't unless their planets are invaded by aliens, or their basketball team wins the finals.
--About one in a hundred people resent having to wear clothes all the time.
--Alien invasions make people stick flags on everything. Not just American flags, either. The Jolly Roger made a real comeback around this time."

This book is brilliant and hilarious. It is framed as an essay for school: What is the true meaning of Smekday?--the day formerly known as Christmas, the day that the Boov arrived to colonize Earth, and the day the Boov left one year later. The winning essay will be put in a time capsule that will be opened in 100 years. In her three attempts at writing the essay, Gratuity reveals the story to the reader in a not quite chronological way, which makes it incredibly engaging. I loved the way the author structured this book. He is also an artist, so there are some amazing illustrations, and interjected comic pages drawn by the Boov who can't write in English.

Thematically, it is largely a comment on Manifest Destiny and the treatment of Native Americans. It deals with issues of race and prejudice through the blunt, sarcastic, witty voice of 11 yr. old Gratuity. And the plot itself was amazingly conceived.

In an attempt to reach the human reservation in Florida by car, Gratuity and her cat, Pig, meet up with a Boov criminal, who has taken as his Earth name J.Lo. (Favorite line in the book: "It was a long message, and in pretty good English, but with that same pitched whine that J.Lo had. J.Lo the Boov, not J.Lo the singer/actress/perfume.") Together they travel across the country searching for Gratuity's mom, who was abducted toward the beginning of the invasion. Then Gratuity, J.Lo, and Pig join forces with a gang of boys who have been hiding under Disney World to drive the Gorg (another set of invading aliens--much more evil than the Boov) out of Earth. I won't ruin the ending for you.

One of the best things about this book is that even though the narrator is a girl, boys love it too. It's pretty gender-neutral in its style, and the sense of humor really appeals to boys. It's on a 5th/6th grade reading level, but we did it with a book group that included 3rd/4th graders and everyone loved it. Highly recommend it!

The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I won't say that it's the most brilliant bit of literature ever written, but then again it is for 3rd-5th graders. The characters are fantastic, and the book is full of puzzles for the characters (and reader) to problem solve.

Reynie Muldoon is an orphan incredibly gifted at solving puzzles and logic games. Kate Wetherall is an orphan who is incredibly resourceful with the items she carries around in her beloved bucket; she can create almost anything. Sticky Washington can read at lightning speed and remembers everything he has ever read, heard, or seen. And Constance Contraire. . .well, Constance is stubborn. And for reasons that will not become clear until the very end of the book, Mr. Benedict insists that she is far more brilliant than the other children realize.

Mr. Benedict gathers this group of brilliant children together to form a team of secret agents who will infiltrate an institution for gifted children that is a front for a madman's plot for world domination. Although the implications of the madman's plot are quite dark, the brain teasers vibrant characters keep the tone of the book light. I would not hesitate to recommend it to children. And to anyone who was once a nerdy child! It's a fun, suspenseful, exciting read!

Thanks for the recommendation, Tex :-)

Eleven Birthdays, Wendy Mass

We're doing this book in upper elementary book group this week. I enjoyed it. Not my favorite book in the world, but it was cute and engaging.

The story is that an enchantment has been placed on these two kids who happen to have been born on the same day. As long as they stay friends, everything's fine. In order to ensure that they stay friends, the enchantress arranges it so that they celebrate their birthdays together every year. But one year, they have a huge falling out (the boy is a jerkface and says mean things about the girl in order to seem cool in front of his friends) and so the next year--on their eleventh birthday, time changes for the two of them and they keep repeating the same day over and over again. Very Groundhog Day. And so they learn important things about themselves, each other, friendship, etc., etc., and in the end they're friends again (sorry to spoil the ending, but you had to see it coming).

It's a decent book. It's told from the girl's perspective, though, so boys won't be too keen on it.

The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor

OH MY GOSH! Cannot remember the last time I was that caught up in a book. Could not put it down.

The plot goes along with Alice in Wonderland--the story being that "Alice" is based on the stories told by Alyss Heart, the rightful queen of Wonderland who was exiled at age 7 when her evil Aunt Redd killed her parents and stole the throne. Alyss must return to Wonderland with the help of her friends Hatter Madigan the milliner assassin and her childhood love Dodge Anders, who I am now not so secretly in love with. . . . The book has elements of 1984, and an incredibly imaginative re-interpretation of Wonderland. One of my new favorite books!

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.