Post by DaNae on Jan 2, 2008 12:18:39 GMT -5
Remember the road trip song Me and You and a Dog Named Boo? Change the Dog to a cat named Pig, the Me to a precocious and somewhat defiant 11-year-old named Gratuity (Tip to her friends), and the You to an alien Boov named J.Lo. and you’ve got the gist of Smekday. Earth has been overrun by a six-legged alien race known as the Boov. In Pennsylvania, Gratuity’s Mom has been abducted to tutor the conquering race in the ways of Earth, now known as Smekland. After several months of attempting to cohabitate with “the Noble Savages of Earth” the Boov have magnanimously decreed that all the humans in the United States will be given Florida as a permanent preserve to reside in, while the Boov overrun the remainder of the country. Gratuity and her cat Pig set off, with the help of the handy renegade J.Lo., on their own trail of tears travelin’ and livin’ off the land.
Funny, hilarious, hysterical, uproarious - I run out of adjectives. This book is filled with satire that would do Lewis Carroll proud. I could stand in an elevator and read random passages to total strangers, and we would all exit slapping our knees. Adam Rex truly has the gift of wit. His book of poetry, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, is officially the hottest book in our library at the moment.
Issues I have with it are that most of the humor will fly straight over the average elementary student's head, although the story in itself is at a level that will more than entertain. Plot-wise it could be tighter. At 400+ pages it is a daunting read for the Captain Underpants crowd who will love some of the low, but not too low, humor. There were times when I had a hard time staying motivated. The ending is enormously satisfying. It was "wicked great" reading the final solution with my cat snuggled on my lap.
As far as Newbery in concerned, I doubt it. No question that the writing was excellent, but I can just imagine the uproar from the contingent that had trouble with scrotum, they would self-destruct when confronted with impregnate and B.O.O.B., "pardon my language".
Funny, hilarious, hysterical, uproarious - I run out of adjectives. This book is filled with satire that would do Lewis Carroll proud. I could stand in an elevator and read random passages to total strangers, and we would all exit slapping our knees. Adam Rex truly has the gift of wit. His book of poetry, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, is officially the hottest book in our library at the moment.
Issues I have with it are that most of the humor will fly straight over the average elementary student's head, although the story in itself is at a level that will more than entertain. Plot-wise it could be tighter. At 400+ pages it is a daunting read for the Captain Underpants crowd who will love some of the low, but not too low, humor. There were times when I had a hard time staying motivated. The ending is enormously satisfying. It was "wicked great" reading the final solution with my cat snuggled on my lap.
As far as Newbery in concerned, I doubt it. No question that the writing was excellent, but I can just imagine the uproar from the contingent that had trouble with scrotum, they would self-destruct when confronted with impregnate and B.O.O.B., "pardon my language".