I am a GENIUS of UNSPEAKABLE EVIL and I want to be you CLASS PRESIDENT

"What is evil?"you ask.
To which I reply, "Who are you? Friedrich Nietzsche?"
To which you respond, "Duh...wha? Me no understand."
Then I put you back in your cage.

And that, my friends, is your introduction to Oliver Watson. He is perhaps the most diabolical, most manipulative, intelligent, richest seventh grader alive. He doesn't care about you, he just wants to control you. That is, after you've voted him your class president. Will he sucker you in and win complete domination of the middle school? Will he defeat his arch nemesis who also happens to be his father? Will he obtain the elusive Boba Fett the bounty hunter action figure that fires real rockets out of it's backpack?

To find the answers to these questions check out I am a GENIUS of UNSPEAKABLE EVIL and I want to be your CLASS PRESIDENT by Josh Lieb. Read chapters entitled: "Girls Can Be Cruel", "What Use Is A Newborn Baby?", and "Evil Is Made, Not Born." Filled with instructions on how to be evil, ideas for bettering your school, and illustrative photos, this book is sure to please. Oliver Watson is a totally unique character with a voice that has not been heard in young adult literature ever before. I laughed. I laughed some more. I called everyone I knew to tell them to READ THIS BOOK!

Ye toads and vipers!

Newbery award winning author Karen Cushman may just win another with her newest book ALCHEMY AND MEGGY SWANN. Set in Elizabethan England the story follows a young Meggy Swann from her arrival at her father's alchemy shop to her part in trying to foil the plot to murder a local baron. Meggy is a young lady with quite a nasty temper and a gift at hurling insults, "A pox on you, moldwort, and a plague, and an ague, and the pukes!" Her only friend upon her arrival is a goose who happens to share a physical impairment similar to Meggy's lame legs as well as a bit of the same sort of surly attitude. Can they learn to survive in London a city "home to every kind of dirt, muck, and slime God ever created"?

I highly recommend this book. Pages will seem to turn on their own as you get caught up with Meggy in the twisted and surprising streets of London. In fact, you may find yourself thinking like her, long after you've set the book aside.

Check out other Karen Cushman books as well if you want to find yourself lost in the past and part of a suspenseful story. Other titles include THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE a Newbery award winner, CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY, MATILDA BONE as well as many more.

Look Me in the Eye

If you've read any of Augusten Burroughs's self-deprecating memoirs, you may have read about his older brother, John Elder Robison. While Burroughs covers some fun and interesting ground about his brother, like the time that they painted racing stripes on the neighbor's dog, Robison gives readers a more dynamic view of himself in his memoir, Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's.

Robison was diagnosed with Asperger's late in life. When he was young, he was just thought to be an odd child. While his Asperger's colors all of the events he discusses in the book, this is neither a tragic or inspirational story. Mostly, it's a riot, and when it's not, it's jaw-droppingly interesting. Robison documents his childhood, including pranks like the staged cult sacrifice he made for the police to find, up to the present, including life as a parent and independent business owner rehabbing expensive import cars. Along the way, Robison experiments with electronics and explosive chemicals, combines these skills to design flaming guitars for Kiss, and later settles down to work for a toy company designing electronic games--still pranking, he once leaves a cache of fake illegal drugs out in the office during an executive visit. This is an enjoyable read, guaranteed to provide some laughs and, as an added bonus, it lets us see what life with Asperger's can be like. If you're strapped for reading time, listen to the audiobook while you're doing chores, yardwork, or whatever.

Are You a Wimpy Kid?

Have you been reading any of the books in the Wimpy Kids series? I just finished reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, the third book in the best-selling "novel in cartoon" series by Jeff Kinney. As I did with the first two books, I laughed out loud while I was reading. When you think about it, how often does a book make you do that?

The Wimpy Kid series is about the misadventures of Greg Heffley and his quest of achieving middle-school popularity. Whether it's getting a date with the prettiest girl in class, outsmarting his parents, or playing sports, Greg's mini-dramas and his inclination towards being oblivious to those around him, always conclude with hilarious consequences.

For me, reading The Wimpy Kid series was a literary vacation from novels that often tell tales of kids in the midst of tragedies of a very serious nature - AIDS, teen pregnancy, abuse, death, and so on. The trials and tribulations of Greg Heffley seem pale in comparison to the issues faced by tweens and teens in other books (and in real life), but may be one of several reasons why the Wimpy Kid books are so popular. It makes me wonder - are the Greg Heffleys in life and their concerns about being seen in their Wunderwoman Underoos or getting caught by the "cheese touch" in the minority these days?

Do yourself a favor. Read at least one book in the Wimpy Kid series. If you don't and one of your classmates (or your local librarian) calls you "ploopy," you'll have no idea what they're talking about.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw can be found at the library, as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley's Journal, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. Book four in the series is due October 12, 2009, and 20th Century Fox is currently seeking a bright young male to play the role of Greg Heffley in the Wimpy Kid movie (check out some of the audition tapes).