Mercy on These Teenage Chimps

Gary Soto is one of those authors that I either love or hate, and I loved this one. Ronnie wakes up one morning and feels chimplike-- his ears stick out, he has fuzz on his chin, he lopes along and has an insatiable appetite. His best friend feels the same way, and after embarrassing himself climbing on a ledge to impress a girl, takes to staying in a tree near his house. Ronnie sets out to find the girl and let her know what his friend is feeling, but Jessica is so impressive that he falls for her too. Taking place in just a few days, I loved the sheer goofiness of this book. My own teenage chimp turned up his nose at the slim volume and went off, I kid you now, to eat a banana. Maybe I enjoyed this because it hit so close to home, but I'm definitely getting a copy for the library.