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Welcome to Books to Hoot About! the children's book review blog from InfoSoup librarians and users!

humor

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Author: Jeff Kinney

This is an entertaining and engaging book that provides a successful reading experience for struggling reader at the older level.  The humor is on target for all ages.  Plus the fluency of the diary entries keeps everything tied in and connected through the reading.

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Author: Ami Rubinger

This was a fun book to read for my tenth anniversary! This book counts up to ten.

twits review

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Title: The Twits
Author: Roald Dahl

This book is about two Twits. Their names are Mr. and Mrs. Twit. The Twits are two mean, horrible, ugly creatures that play nasty tricks on each other. As an example, one time Mrs. Twit put worms in Mr. Twit’s spaghetti. They also have monkeys for pets. The Twits eat birds for supper; however, one day when Mr. Twit went out to get the birds, they were not there. This happened two more times causing Mr. Twit and his wife become furious. They went to buy some guns to shoot the birds. Find out what happens next (that means read the book)…

I give this book a 2, out of 5 stars.

Originally posted in: APL Picks for Kids

Gooney Bird Greene

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Author: Lois Lowry

Gooney Bird Greene loves to be the center of attention (just like most second graders) and only tells absolutely true stories. Gooney Bird is an excellent storyteller and tells a new story to her classroom every day. What's interesting is how Gooney Bird shows that words can mean different things than you might expect, for example, how Gooney Bird moved to her new home from China in a minivan.

A good book for second grade students who are ready for short chapter books.

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Author: Dav Pilkey

The story begins with two troublemakers/pranksters. George Beard and Harold Hutchins play a series of jokes that cause their school to lose a football game. Their Principal, Mr. Krupp, gets so angry at them he makes them follow a list of rules. If they don’t follow them, Mr. Krupp will give the football team a copy of a video. This video reveals George and Harold pulling the pranks on the team. Then they find a way of how to make Mr. Krupp hand over the video and forget the game. But it goes wrong and they turn Mr. Krupp into Captain Underpants and he fights many villains. The fate of the world lies in George and Harold’s hands. Will they succeed or fail…

If you read the first book you should read the rest of the series. I don’t recommend this book to any 6th graders. Because its easy and dumb. I also would recommend the book to younger children that enjoy dumb, funny books. I give this book three stars.

Originally posted in: APL Picks for Kids

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake

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Author: Michael B. Kaplan

When little Betty Bunny has chocolate cake for the first time, it’s love at first taste. “I want to marry chocolate cake!” she says to her family. Betty Bunny longs for more. But, being "a handful," as her mother puts it, she has trouble behaving and being patient enough to earn her next serving.

The cute illustrations of Betty, her bunny family, her animal teacher and classmates by Stéphane Jorisch are full of fun details for all to enjoy, especially chocolate lovers and kids ages 4-8.

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Author: James Patterson

This is really a unique book for James Patterson. It's not a graphic novel, by definition, but it is full of sketches and doodles that add a graphic novel quality to the book. This is a story about a boy named Rafe who is starting middle school and seems to only be noticed by the school bully, "Miller the Killer." After the first school assembly, Rafe makes a promise to break all the rules in the student handbook (without hurting anyone) by the end of the school year. While the story deals with some heavy issues, it does it with great humor and fun drawings along the way.

I highly recommend this book to students from grade 6-8. It's a great pick for reluctant readers too.

Make a wish!

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Author: Eric A. Kimmel

Joha has lots to wish for and is lucky enough to discover a magic wand. His wishes don't work as he expects. In fact, they make his situation worse. What will happen when the sultan forces him to use the wand?

Enjoy this humorous tale with beautiful illustrations.

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Author: Wilson Rawls

You're a regular kid, growing up in the country, with big wishes. You'd love to have your own horse. The trouble is that you don't have any money. However, monkeys have escaped from the circus and there is a cash reward for capturing them. All you need to do is catch the monkeys and get the horse. It's not as easy as it may seem.

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Author: Janet Tashjian

The most recent Diary of a Wimpy Kid is Cabin Fever. If you have a fever while waiting to read it, try My Life as a Book. As the main character Dereks says "If my life were a book, I'd have my own cool adventures instead of reading about someone else's." As it turns out, Derek does have funny life that is worth reading about.