Avoiding Lemony Snicket

I'm thinking that this weekend I will do a marathon and just finish them all up. That way, I'll be all set for my death march through R.L. Stine this summer.

Rachel Vail's Wonder is an Ellen Conford-esque school story, told with gentle humor, but showing many of the terrible social interactions that usually occur at this age. Everyone feels inept and unloved, allegiances change daily, and actual schoolwork is the least of one's problems. The best part of the portrayal of Jessica losing her long-time best friend. She not only loses her; the friend starts picking on her and ostracizing her. There is enough humor in this book to make it a fun read, and enough serious stuff for it to be used as bibliotherapy!

For wrestlers-- There's a Girl in My Hammerlock is a little heavy on the whole issue of girls wrestling, but has a ton of details about wrestling, training, and the whole culture to make it a worthwhile read. My daughter, who was a team statisticians, thought it was very funny. I wish that Mr. Spinelli would write a straight wrestling book-- it would be very popular, and he has the details down that the wrestlers want to read.

Hernderson's Bunker 10 looked very promising but dragged a bit. There was also some street dialect that was hard to take. I think I will pass, despite the intriguing description (Something is wrong at the top secret Pinewood Militar installation, and the teenage geniuses who study and work there are about to discover the horrible truth as they lead a small military force trying to retrieve data and escape before t he compound self-destructs.)and the shiny cover.