My Life as a Book

I picked up this book "My Life as a Book" by Janet Tashjian today somewhat hesitantly. It looked goofy with stick figure drawings along the margins and I am not really into goofy. As I began reading I did find it goofy but also engaging and humorous. However somewhere along the way it also took a left turn and I loved it and I think you will too.

The main character, Derek, is the kind of boy who just makes you shake your head. He is always involved in some kind of mischief and now that summer holidays are here fun is Derek's middle name (for example he uses his mother's avocados as grenades). His parents send him to Learning School to help him with his reading difficulties as he is a reluctant reader at the best of times. However, when Derek finds an old newspaper in his attic that details the drowning of a teenage girl he is intrigued and asks his parents what it is all about. When they downplay the incident it only makes him want to find out more and he does, much more than he ever expected. He finds out he played a part in that tragedy when he was a baby. He convinces his parents to go visit the girl's mom so he can fully understand what happened.

This a such a funny and poignant book. Derek learns so much this summer like making movies in his head when reading ( I do too) but also that the knowing the truth is not always the best.

What are you reading today?