Tween Tuesday: Mischief Manual

 Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at GreenBeanTeenQueen.  The purpose is "to highlight great reads for tweens!"

Edgar and Ellen Mischief Manual: An Expert's Guide to Planning, Perpetuating, and Plausibly Denying All Pranks great and small (But Mostly Great) by Charles Ogden 

New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2007

ISBN: 9781416939351

102 pages

4 out of 5

Calling all Pranksters!

Think you have what it takes to join Edgar and Ellen in their worldwide crusade against boredom?  Then maybe you're ready to study at the footies of the masters in their first official Mischief Manual.

Learn how to:

     - Recruit and train your own devious underlings! 

     - Navigate and prank in complete darkness! 

     - Build your very first catapult! 

     - Harness the mysterious power of confuseyism! 

     - And oh so much more!

Prove your mettle and earn your place in the elite League of Mischievists.

Only the most promising pranksters need apply.

This is a companion to the Edgar and Ellen series about mischievous twelve-year-old twins.  There used to be an interactive website and even a TV show, but it seems both are defunct now.   That's a little sad about the website, because the book instructs readers to visit the site.  I guess I'll never know for sure what type of mischief maker I really am, oh well.

In any case, this was a fun, short little book about ways to make mischief. What else?  The tone is nonchalant and humorous, though there are some large vocabulary words.  For me this makes it more fun and interesting, but it's something to be aware of when suggesting the book. 

Also, Edgar and Ellen take turns describing what it takes to be great mischief makers.  There are also some "handwritten" side notes from the characters when they feel they need to add something or even bicker, as siblings do.  Switching between the two and the side notes gives the book a conversational feel.

Finally the layout is wonderful.  It's very visual with shaded text boxes and appropriate images throughout.  The layout helps break up the reading which would appeal to those who might get bored or overwhelmed with solid pages of text.

This was an enjoyable read.  I'll definitely check out the series.

Tween Tuesday: Football Hero

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at GreenBeanTeenQueen.  The purpose is "to highlight great reads for tweens!"

Football Hero by Tim Green 

New York: HarperCollins, 2008

ISBN: 978006112767

304 pages

4 out of 5

Ty Lewis can't believe it when Coach V recruits him for the football team.  This is Ty's big chance to prove how fast he is on the field, get a fresh start in a new school, and be like his older brother, Thane "Tiger" Lewis, who's about to graduate from college and is being courted by the NFL.

But Ty's guardian, Uncle Gus, won't let him play.  Uncle Gus needs Ty to scrub floors and toilets for his cleaning business while he cooks up gambling schemes with the local mob boss, a man called "Lucy."

When Lucy hears just how famous Ty's older brother is, he becomes suddenly friendly.  Are the questions Lucy is asking Ty really about fantasy football...or is the Mafia using Ty to get valuable insider info from his superstar brother?  Desperately worried, Ty must come up with a plan to save Thane's football career--and, ultimately, his life.

Author of the New York Times bestselling Football Genius, former NFL player Tim Green will have you on the edge of your seat rooting for Ty--and enjoying an upclose look at what it's like to be inside the NFL.

So Ty is this ordinary, poor, scrawny kid who gets invited to play football.  He's super-fast and has great hands.  Uncle Gus has other plans for Ty's hands--he has Ty join his cleaning business and Ty gets bathroom duty (no pun intended).  When Lucy takes an interest in Ty and the information Ty has access to, Ty is able to bargain for the opportunity to play but gets mixed up in more than he ever imagined.

Ty is only kid I can think of who actually measures up to his older sibling.  Most titles with this story line are about discovering how special they are in spite of a successful sibling, but with these two, football is in their genes.  Even though I'm not the world's biggest football fan, I enjoyed Ty's successes and felt empathy for his troubles.  

Even though this is a football book there are many other things that go on.  Yes, there are games and practices and football jargon, but there's also the story line with Lucy, Thane's entrance into the world of celebrity as a starter for an NFL team, and the two brothers are still coping with the loss of their parents.

Overall this is an enjoyable read and the next time I get asked about a good book for middle grade, I'll lead the parent to the Tim Green books.

Special Delivery

The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer

Delacorte Press, 2006

ISBN: 9780440421344

178 pages

4 out of 5

Vernon Culligan had been dead to the town of Draydon, Virginia, so long that when the crusty Vietnam vet finally died, only one person noticed.  Twelve-year-old Gabe grew up in the foster care system until a social worker located his Uncle Vernon two years before.  When he comes home to discover that his uncle has died of a heart attack, he's terrified of going back into the system--so he tells no one.  The next day, he discovers a strange not in his mailbox: I have a secret.  Do not be afraid.  And his uncle's body is gone.

Thus begins a unique correspondence destined to save the two people that depended on Vernon for everything.  Through flashbacks, we learn about Gabe and Vernon's relationship, and how finding each other saved them both from lives of suffering.  But eventually, Vernon's death will be discovered, and how will Gabe and the mystery note writer learn to move forward?  The Mailbox is not a story about death--though it begins with a death.  It's also not a story about Vietnam vets, although the author works with Vietnam veterans and wrote this novel, in part, to illuminate their sacrifices and suffering.  The Mailbox is a story about connections--about how two people in need can save each other.

The beginning of the novel caught me off-guard because Uncle Vernon speaks with a dialect.  But like any other novel with dialect, it's easy to read once you get used to it.  As the description says the story is about connections: Vernon and Gabe; Gabe and Webber; Gabe and Mr. Boehm; Vernon and the mystery writer.  These characters are very believable and I liked getting to know them.  Gabe is especially well-written and embodies not only the awkwardness of his age, but also the awkwardness (and occasional fear) of his situation.

There is a second plot line discussing Uncle Vernon service in the military.  The majority of these scenes are revealed as Gabe's memories of living with his Uncle.  It's both beautiful and sad.  Unfortunately, this plot line is dropped during much of the action of the story; I actually forgot about Uncle Vernon's army days.  But perhaps Gabe did too.  A twelve-year-old isn't exactly going to dwell on his uncle's army days.

From my point of view, the only shortfall was the ending.  It wrapped up a bit too neatly for my taste.  It was not a bad ending, I'm just not big on perfection, especially in realistic fiction.  It doesn't take away from the novel--in fact, the ending is one of two scenarios you hope for.  It's just a personal preference.  Overall, it's a great middle grade novel that I would definitely recommend.