I read an interesting article in School Library Journal recently about Dan Gutman. He talked about how an adult had written him a letter complaining about one of his My Weird School books. The letter writer didn't like that Gutman's main character said he hated school.
Gutman actually reprinted the whole letter so readers would know exactly what the complaints were. I decided to read Miss Daisy is Crazy!, which is the first book in the series, to see for myself. I certainly agree with Gutman that it seems silly to make such a fuss about these lighthearted books.
Miss Daisy is a second grade teacher, and she pretends that she doesn't know how to read, write, or do math. The narrator, A.J., gets totally taken in by Miss Daisy's act, but he decides he doesn't want to tell the principal how "dumb" his teacher is because then she would be replaced by someone who would make them work harder. A.J. and the other kids actually seem to learn a lot from Miss Daisy, and it seems clear that the learning process is actually pretty fun. I enjoyed this clever and funny book very much!
Libba Bray's Going Bovine received YALSA's 2010 Printz award. The description of the book on the YALSA web site reads, "Cameron, a sixteen-year-old slacker, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist to save the world and perhaps his own life." 
I found the book to be even more weird than this description suggests. Cameron is dying from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, also known as mad cow disease, so while Cameron's adventures really occur only in his imagination, his narration makes everything seem very real. Cameron begins the book by describing a traumatic experience he had at the Disneyland Small World ride when he was a child. Throughout most of the book he seems brooding and negative. For example, on page 1 he says his life from age 5 to 16 has been filled with "major suckage." However, Cameron's very strange journey leads to some positive moments and profound self-disovery.
I struggled reading this book and can't say I truly enjoyed it. However, I do look back on the story and appreciate that it is very imaginative, and that it tackles important life issues in a creative and interesting way.
Pandora Gets Vain, the second in Carolyn Hennesy's series about the young woman from Greek mythology who allowed all the evils of the world to escape,
was entertaining. In each book in the series, Pandora (her friends call her Pandy) has to track down one of seven evils and put it back in her jar. In this adventure Pandy and her friends meet Homer, a big, strong young man who likes to write poetry (yes, I suspect he is THE Homer). He helps them to overcome the various dangers that are part of finding Vanity. I really like that Pandy's friend Alcie curses using the names of fruits: "Pom-OH-granates! Great Apollo!" she exclaims at one point.
This series may be a read-alike for the Percy Jackson series, but probably more for girls. I think that, because I started with book 2 instead of book 1, I may not have enjoyed it as much as I could have.
I guess I'm just into cute furry animals right now, because I just finished The World According to Humphrey, by Betty Birney. 
Humphrey the hamster stars in and narrates this middle grade novel about his adventures as the class pet in an elementary school classroom. Mrs. Brisbane, the teacher, doesn't seem happy when she returns from an extended leave to find that the substitute teacher, Ms. Mac, brought Humphrey to class and that the children want very much for him to stay. She thinks of him as a nuisance and does not want to take him home with her each weekend as Ms. Mac had done, so the children get to take turns taking Humphrey home. These visits to the kids' various homes, as well as Humphrey's weekday talks with the school janitor, Aldo, provide Humphrey and his readers with fodder for many pleasant adventures. I think both boys and girls will enjoy tagging along with Humphrey and hearing about his life in Room 26!
