Book 74 - Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to not Reading - USA

It is almost sacrilege to follow a review of 'The Book Whisperer' with a book with this title. I guess the title is what makes it so appealing. The story line is interesting. The main character hates reading so much he pays another student to read and write book reports for him - well buys him food. When suddenly his surrogate reader decides to stop Charlie Joe Jackson has to suddenly find a substitute. He has a huge assignment coming up which involves a lot of reading.

This book is very funny. Written in first person by Charlie he vows to keep the chapters short as he knows other children out there hate reading too. However, as his story gets more complicated he simply can't help himself but to write longer chapters. 

This funny exploration of plagiarism and academic honesty is a great read. I enjoyed every minute - but don't tell Charlie Joe.

Tommy Greenwald's Blog            P.S Charlie Joe supports libraries - see trailer below.

Book 53 - Alienated by Andrew Auseon - Santa Rosa, California.

This novel is Men in Black but funnier and for a tween audience. Two eighth graders, Vince and Gene are writers for their own newspaper 'The Globe' which investigates the alien life forms living in their town, Santa Rosa, California. They have uncovered quite a few aliens, Mold Man, Calamari Girl and Crumble Bun - and have befriended some as well. The book opens with some worrying events, aliens they have interviewed suddenly disappearing. Suddenly Vince and Gene find themselves in the center of an Inter Galactic struggle. This impending Universe changing war pits the friends against each other - well that and the fact they like the same girl at school. 

This book will have you look very carefully at the school Councillor and have you laughing out loud at some of the situations the boys find themselves in. I enjoyed this book immensely. It has some themes worthy of consideration in amongst the alien chaos. 

David O. Russell and Andrew Auseon Talk About Alienated