Jake the Fake Keeps it Real by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach

Jake the Fake Keeps it Real by Craig Robinson and Adam Mansbach, illustrated by Keith Knight

Crown Books for Young Readers

Rating: 4 stars (my kids would give it a 5)

Here's a new middle grade novel, one that was written to tickle the funny bone of every child who reads it. It has two authors: one (Craig Robinson) is an actor/comedian; the other (Adam Mansbach) is the author of for-adults-only book Go the F**k to Sleep. It's a good one to know about: it's a slim book chock full of silly illustrations by cartoonish Keith Knight, so it's an easy read for a above-grade-level readers but also engages readers who are struggling a bit. There's a ton of incentive to read because readers are going to want to get to the next joke! This book will get passed around the car from one child to another.

But this book is also good to know about because it's a great audiobook--Sullivan Jones performs it superbly, with silly voices, big songs, amped-up reactions to things that he'd easily win a standing O from the children in the back of your car. You might want this audiobook for a long car ride this summer...

So what's it about?

Jake declares himself the dumbest school at his touchy-feely "smart school," a magnet school in a fictional city. He realizes that he wants to fit in, and in this school you've got to be weird to fit in, so he brainstorms schemes that are so funny I laughed out loud at them--and I know my children would have laughed even harder. 

Things come to a head during the school talent show, when Jake feels he's got no talent whatsoever. But he pulls out a great act when he remembers that one time someone thought he was funny. So he runs with it, and tries his first little comedy act, and it goes really well. He's found himself, he gets laughs and high-fives from all his classmates, and he feels like he finally fits in.

Parents should know that, like most comedians, Jake is irreverent and pokes fun at anything and everything. He might offend an adult at some point or another. My two eye-rolling points were: First, when he described a home-schooled child as socially awkward in what I felt was a demeaning way; second, when he said "Americans get type 1 diabetes just by looking at large drinks from 7-11" or something like that. 

But I admit that these statements were a little funny because they are a little true. And kids love to laugh. Kids NEED to laugh! And...you know, we adults do, too. 

Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson

Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson
Walden Pond Press

Rating: 5 stars

You've probably already realized that most middle grade books are about a quest. The recent Newbery winner The Inquisitor's Tale is about a handful of young children in the Middle Ages who need to escape persecution and save holy texts. In another middle grade I recently read with Lorelei, The Last Boy at St Edith's, the lone boy at an all-girls school embarks on a quest to get kicked out.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day involves a quest, too, and a wonderfully unique one. Here's the story:

Topher, Brand, and Steve are three boys whose teacher is "one of the great ones." They each appreciate Ms Bixby in a different, special, sweet way; I love how you don't get the full story of why they feel so drawn to her until later in the book. The story is told through alternating first person voice--each boy gets their own chapter and the story unfolds from these similar but yet different points of view. I love how this sheds light on their own individual story as well as the bigger one of which they're all a part.

Anyway, because they really like and respect her, they're sobered when Ms Bixby announces to the class that she has cancer. To make matters worse, she is then too sick to attend her own goodbye party. The boys decide this won't do; they need to go out, find her, and have a goodbye party for her wherever she is, since she can't come to them. 

The boys skip school and navigate through the real world to the hospital--with great adventures on the city streets that both boy and girl readers will lap up. But, like any good middle grade quest, the adventure is simply the way in which the characters learn about themselves and, in this one, a little more about each other.  

What's so great about this book? Two things:

First, I think it's hard for a middle grade book to be both emotional and funny. This book balances the emotional heaviness of the subject--a favorite teacher is going to die--with the quirkiness and grossness and silliness of middle school boys. It's a fantastic reminder to young and old readers alike that it's important to find a reason to smile and laugh in the face of hard times. And hard times will come to those young and old readers alike. My children have lost two great-uncles in the past two years, one dying from kidney cancer, the other dying from complications after a stroke. And yet, we find a reason to come together in our clan of five and with extended family to laugh and play and bond.

Second, I love that the main characters are boys. Boy books are so often full of boogers and poop and potty-mouth words, and while this book does sprinkle in a little bit of that here and there because...well, call me sexist but boys will be boys..., boys are also emotional beings. It seems obvious to point out that they are full of as wide a range of emotions as their female counterparts, but I think we grown-ups forget that. I love that Topher, Brand, and Steve feel so much for their teacher that they feel the need to go find her and say good-bye in a way that feels right to them.

The party that finally happens does involve Jack Daniels, which keeps that final goodbye chuckle-worthy. Though you might, like me, tear up as well.

One final note: Lorelei read this first, and then Ben and I started listening to the audiobook together on a long drive. He's not finished listening to it yet, but on our Spring Break we cozied up for 30-45 minutes at a time listening together. It was a nice break from me reading aloud to him--it put us on the same pillow.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake
Rating: 5 stars

Puffin

We've been all about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory lately. The kids watched the old version of the movie--the slightly creepy one with Gene Wilder--a few times at the beach in August. Then, we listened to the book on CD this month. And finally, a week or so ago, they watched the newer version of the movie, starring Johnny Depp. At breakfast the next morning we had a fun, slightly nerdy, conversation about the similarities and differences between the book and the two movies. 

The book itself is wonderful. Do you remember it?

Young, poor Charlie Bucket's wildest hopes are realized when he is the fifth and final child to find the prized golden ticket that will gain him entrance into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Kids don't go on the tour alone; each brings along a parent or grown-up as chaperone. The parents are one of my favorite parts of the book--the parents are rather hideous, backbone-less characters who've enabled their children to be the horrid, selfish creatures they've become. All but sweet Charlie, of course, who brings his Grandpa Joe.

Throughout the tour of the factory, all of the kids are treated to amazing sights and sounds and smells that are miles beyond their wildest imaginations. The other children are, one by one, ejected in fitting, surprising, mouth-dropping ways from the factory because of naughty, disobedient behavior. Finally, Charlie is the only one left. I forgot the end of the book, to be honest, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear Willy Wonka bequeath his entire factory to Charlie. When Wonka says to Charlie's protesting, "But Charlie! Nothing is impossible!" I felt my little-kid self swept up, wanting to believe him. I sure hope my kids do.

The book is inspired by Dahl's childhood (you can read about it as I did in Boy--Tales of Childhood), when Cadbury mailed test packages of chocolate to his boarding school in order to get the boys' opinions of their new products. And, back then, Cadbury and another company I've never heard of, Rowntree, would try to steal each other's chocolate recipes, just like people tried to steal Willy Wonka's recipes in the book.

We've listened to a few audiobooks this year, but this was the best. There were sound effects during the reading that made listening to it even more exciting...although Kiefer kept wondering when they were going to sing the Oompa Loompa song, which I'll now have in my head all day.