Bizarre little book

I seem to be on a Neil Gaiman, bizarre book trend.  I just finished Fortunately, the Milk, a tale that begins innocuously enough, with a morning trip to the store for milk.  Take a look at the cover, and you can see that it goes seriously off-track

Our intrepid hero manages to save the milk through some fantastic events, as related to his children, demanding to know what took so long.  It begins with alien abduction.  Fortunately, he, and the milk, escape, and while plummeting to certain death lands in the sea, only to be captured by pirates.  He (and the milk) talks his way off the pirate ship, where he is rescued by a time-traveling stegosaurus, flying in a "floaty-ball-person-carrier."  His fantastic tale is met with scepticism by his kids as the tale grows wilder.  There are piranhas, volcanoes, pink ponies, and, fortunately, the milk.  The illustrations of Skottie Young only add to the joy of the journey.  It's a wild ride!

Wimpy Kid for science geeks

This book happened to by the second along the Wimpy Kid wanna-be line, and I didn't particularly care for the first, so I didn't have high hopes.   I'm happy to say Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor by Jon Scieszka pleasantly surprised me. I should have guessed, Scieszka is one of my favorite picture book authors.

The story is a tale of young Frank Einstein, his best friend, Watson, and their plan to win the Midville Science Prize.  Frank, our intrepid genius, fails in creating a learning robot, but a stray spark solves the problem.  The results...Klink and Klank....robots made from scraps, create themselves.  The four of them work together to create a new project.  But, his arch-nemesis, T. Edison, and Edison's sidekick, Mr Chimp, will stop at nothing to win the prize for themselves.  There are flying bicycles, robots that love hugs and knock knock jokes, and more than a little real science.

I love that this book checks all the boxes.  It's silly, with funny illustrations.  There is a chimp that uses sign language, an evil genius, and an absent-minded professor.  But, at the very same time, sometimes on the same page, their is serious science, complete with explanations at the end.  Laughing and learning, what more could you want?

Funny and insightful

I had no idea what to expect from Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle.  I found this book funny, touching, interesting, and insightful.  Quite a bit more to it than I would have guessed from the cover.

Nate has been ridiculed his whole life in his small Pennsylviana town.  He doesn't fit in.  His older brother is everything a son should be: handsome, athletic, well-liked.  Unfortunately, Nate is nothing like him.  Short, "husky," un-athletic, and a lover of show tunes, he has been called many names, none of which are cool.  His chance to escape his small town come when his best friend, Libby, lets him know that there is an open call in New York City for "ET," the musical.  He sneaks on a bus to make his dream of becoming a star on Broadway come true.  Of course, things never go quite as planned.

His trip to New York shows him how there is so much more to the world than his small town.  In a world where a guy must be gay if they don't like sports and girls, he learns not only that being gay isn't hated everywhere,  but also that it's OK to not be sure who you are quite yet.

Not my cup of tea......

I read the first book in the Accidental Adventure series, by C. Alexander London, called We Are Not Eaten by Yaks.  For reasons I can't fully explain, it was so-so for me.  Blah.  Which is odd because it is full of adventure, whether the main characters want it or not!

Twins Celia and Oliver are the children of famous adventurers and even live in the Explorers Club with their father.  Their mother has gone missing and while they miss her, they really HATE going on adventures...they are hot, buggy and uncomfortable.  They would much rather watch TV all day.  Unfortunately, a bet forces them to search for their mother and on the way encounter Poison Witches, jump from a plane in a life-raft, and even meet a Tibetan god.  They had better win and get cable out of this!

 

I think kids will love this.  I found it a bit melodramatic for my taste.  For some reason it reminded me of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which wasn't my favorite, either.