Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Naughty List by Michael Fry

Bobbie is determined to get her little brother his Christmas wish.  After all, she's the one that sort of burst his bubble about Santa being real.  So she has to let him have Christmas even if she's not celebrating...

HarperCollins and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published September 22nd, so you have plenty of time to buy it before Christmas.

Bobbie's father has gone to a job a long way away.  Her mother is working three jobs.  Uncle Dave lives in the basement with a colander on his head to protect himself from rays.  Christmas doesn't mean a good time anymore.  What's worse is no one has taken down the blow up Santa on the roof.  He's like a Zombie Santa now.  When she gets to the point of no return, she takes him off the roof.  And falls off and breaks her arm.  Oh yeah, that's better.  Not!  Especially since the cast is bright pink.

Bobbie has no cheer but she's willing to try to dress up as Santa to win some money so she can get her brother's present.  Unfortunately, she doesn't win.  And she sees some weird kids putting something into her brother's big bag.  She gets the bag back and then finds out the game he wants is in the bag.  She escapes, hides the game, hopes things will settle down.  There's no hope of that!

This is a humorous tale with lots of tongue in cheek, bad smells, not well thought out action, and coincidences all intertwined together.  There's a lot going on and some of it is punny and ridiculous.  However, it was great fun to read.  If you need an irreverent Christmas story for your middle grader, this is the one to get.

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