We loved reading this with our 10 yr old. great story, very engaging, and not treacly ( )

Liked it and would have given four stars except for falling into a pet peeve of mine where the bullied person bullies the bully (or threatens to) in the resolution. ( )

Full confession: I have been recommending this book for years as a funny read without ever having read it. However, having chosen it for my new book club, Book Explosion, and our inaugural genre of humor, I felt that I must read it. Whereupon, I made a discovery. I didn't think it was funny. I actually got a bit teary-eyed at one point.

David Greenberg has plans for the best summer before middle school ever. Hanging out with his best friend, making funny utube videos like his idol, Jon Stewart, and not thinking about how his mom left. But then his best friend has changed and not only is summer ruined, they have a big fight right before school. David manages to make a new friend, Sophie, and suddenly his videos are popular! But with his mom gone, bullies on his case, his old best friend being mean to him, and his sister trying to kill him, will David ever survive middle school?

So, just so you know, the hamster dies. Seriously. David makes funny videos with the hamster, the last thing his mom got for him before she succumbed to her crippling agorophobia and ran away to live with a beet farmer. And the hamster dies. His best friend has a crush on a girl and ditches him for the whole summer and then hangs out with the school bully who has beat them both up in the past. Sophie was previously homeschooled and her mom is still taking out her own anxieties about being left by her husband on hovering over Sophie. David's dad writes an advice column. I'm like...how is this funny?

And yet.... it kind of is, if you like the realistic, "my life sucks but I'm going to deal with it through humor" kind of thing. I've definitely had plenty of 5th and 6th graders tell me they thought this book was hilarious. So I think I'm going to chalk this one up to not being a good fit for me as a reader (I'm going to have trouble recommending it as a funny book now that I know the hamster dies though).

Verdict: A fun book to recommend for kids who want something about the angst, drama and general misery of middle school. The references to Jon Stewart are going to eventually date it though, if they haven't already, so this one has a shelf-life. I wouldn't purchase it new at this point, but I wouldn't weed it either.

ISBN: 9780385737937; Published 2010 by Delacorte; Purchased for the library

From the looks of the cover, I thought this book would be funny, but it's not. It's filled with some really intense emotions and a lot of issues that are pretty realistic and believable. The main character, David, is a kid that's just starting middle school, and dealing with the fact that his mom left the family to live out a ridiculously selfish fantasy life with some organic farmer in another part of the country. Meanwhile, David's best friend, Elliot, won't talk to him because of a fight they a few days before school starts. They were supposed to figure out middle school together, but instead, Elliot is hanging out with their long time worst enemy, who's a typical meat-head bully.

David is a Youtuber...he and Elliot used to make videos together, but they never got many views, comments or likes. David dreams of hosting a real comedy talk show, like his idol John Stewart. A shake-up in his routine brings him more views than usual, and things start to snowball. ( )

David Greenberg plans to be the next Jon Stewart but he first has to figure out how to survive Harman Middle School.

David produces his own show TalkTime and posts the videos on YouTube. His best friend Elliott used to help him with the show, but they had a falling out. Now David has to figure out a way to deal with:
6. Middle school (much scarier than it sounds!)
5. His best friend gone girl-crazy
4. A runaway mom who has no phone!
3. The threat of a swirlie on his birthday
2. A terrifying cousin
1. His # 1 fan, Bubbe (his Jewish grandmother)
1/2. And Hammy, the hamster who’s determined to break David’s heart

David makes a new friend, the peppermint-smelling Sophie, while dealing with all of his issues. She loves David’s videos and shares them with a few friends, who share them with a few more friends. Before David knows it, TalkTime has gone viral and David is an internet superstar! You’d think he’d be thrilled, but instead he finds himself asking “What good does it to be famous online when in real life, I go to a school where all I am is ‘Lameberg’?”

Read How to Survive Middle School, and then join us at the January meeting of Cover2Cover to talk about the book and balancing an online life with a real life. ( )