This month's book reviews

A dog hero with the powers of Superman
and the instincts of a common pooch

McGrowl is his name. He's the unusual dog that chased a cat into a power plant and experienced thirty million volts of electricity. The jolt equipped him with bionic superpowers. He is now the smartest, fastest, and strongest dog in the world. He is also a dog with an obsessive hatred of cats and a preoccupation with food of any kind, but especially with cake. The combination of McGrowl's superpowers and his ordinary dog-like tendencies is the basis for some really hilarious incidents in this story.

Thomas Wiggins was the boy who "owned" this unusual dog. He and McGrowl shared a telepathic connection that enabled each of them to know each other's thoughts. Only Thomas' friend, Violet, knew of the boy's and the dog's special abilities. No one else knew. Certainly, Mr. Wiggins, Thomas' father, didn't know. He thought McGrowl was just a big, dumb dog, and he was scared to death of any dog. And that posed a problem. Thomas was afraid his father would make him get rid of McGrowl. And who would want to get rid of a pet with the powers of Superman?

You get the idea. This book combines lots of laughs with a plot about an evil guy and his girlfriend who are out to take over Thomas' hometown. When the bad guy figures out that Thomas knows about his evil intentions, the real action begins. Can McGrowl leave cats and cake alone long enough to save the town of Cedar 'Springs? That what "It's a Dog's Life" is all about.

 

Sometimes you can't play your best baseball
if something is bothering you

Sandy Comstock was a really good baseball player. He was a power hitter and his favorite position was center field. Because of his fighting with some troublemakers, he was unjustly accused of shop lifting at a convenience store and connected to the burning down of a storage shed. He was sentenced to do some community service. His record was cleared when he completed a number of hours helping to coach some even younger players in a baseball league.

Sandy's parents moved to a neighboring town and, of course, Sandy moved with them. He joined a team in that new town. However, he was placed at third base, a position he did not want to play. In addition, Perry Warden, the kid from his old hometown who had gotten Sandy in trouble with the police showed up at some of the games. Sandy was angry over not getting to play in his best position. He was also afraid that Perry Warden would tell the coach and the other boys about Sandy's past mistake.

Sandy's anger and resentment caused him to have problems with his coach and team members. Could he find a way to control his anger? Could he tell his friends about his past without being taken off the team? You need to read the book to find out. You will also be reading about some exciting baseball action.

 

Fifth graders find out that sometimes
they can change things

This story starts out in Mrs. Hanson's fifth grade classroom. Jenny, the main character in the story, is a pretty normal fifth grader. She's not too good at math and her little brother is a pest, but aside from that, things seem fairly normal. That is until Elsie shows up as a new student in the classroom. Elsie was described as having eyes that were "squished above cheek bubbles of fat" and chins that "rippled down her neck." She had no waist except "where her stomach bulged out below her chest." Her legs were described as like "two bed pillows with the ends stuffed in shoes." The whole class agreed Elsie was "gross."

Jenny and the rest of the class were grossed out even more when they saw how much Elsie could eat. When lunch money disappeared and Elsie showed up the next day with candy, Jenny and some of the rest of the class suspected Elsie was a thief also. But then Jenny began to discover that Elsie was just an unhappy fifth grade girl with other problems in her life that very likely were contributing to her eating and weight problems. On the plus side, Elsie was smart and good at math. She was able to help Jenny in math when the teacher and Jenny's parents couldn't help her.

The story goes on to tell how Jenny and the rest of the class came to understand Elsie and come together to keep her at their school. Her problems were pretty complicated, but fifth graders were able to help Elsie turn her life around and become accepted as part of the group.

 

If you think you are a computer "techie" and
a space travel fan, this is the book for you

"Outernet: Time Out" by Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore is a hard book to describe. The main characters are Jack Armstrong, a fourteen-year-old from England, along with two American teen-agers, Merle Stone and Lothar (Loaf) Gelt. The three of them are traveling around different locations in the Galaxy. They are accompanied by two friendly shape-changing aliens, Blitz, disguised as a dog and Googie, disguised as a cat. The human kids have in their possession a device called "The Server", which is a communication device and teleportation portal. The Server can take them anywhere and make it possible for them to communicate with any space creatures they might encounter. The trouble is the FOE's, or Forces of Evil, also are after The Server and want to use it to control and oppress the people of the Galaxy.

You have to be alert to the hidden humor distributed throughout the story. For example, a book that plays a part in the story is "A Short History of Time" by Seething Hawkthing. Some of the honored celebrities of that era are Leaf Ericson, the explorer, as well as Holly Wood, the TV star, and Forest Grump, a local hero.

Naturally, this kind of a setting has all kinds of trouble for the kids to get into. In one instance, because of a temper tantrum Merle has, she becomes separated from the rest of the group by a time warp. With so many different kinds of space creatures, it is almost impossible to tell which ones are friendly and which ones are dangerous members of FOE. As a reader, you never know what's going to happen next.

Actually, "Outernet: Time Out"is the fourth book in a series of four paperbacks. In addition, the authors maintain a website for fans of the books. The address is www.go2outer.net.