Dexter the Tough

Dexter The Tough
by Margaret Peterson Haddix


Dexter's life isn't going so well.  His dad is very sick.  His parents have left his hometown of Cincinnati to seek medical treatment in Seattle. Dexter has been sent to live with his grandmother in Bellgap, Kentucky.

With all the problems at home, Dexter needs the first day at his new school to go well.  It doesn't. The principal yells at him, the secretary doesn't show him where to go, other students laugh at him when he falls down, and he beats up a fellow 4th grader, Robin Bryce, before he had even makes it to class for the first time.

This book is really about discovering what kind of person Dexter is.  Is he as tough as he seems?  He isn't.  He actually feels pretty guilty about beating up his schoolmate. So guilty that he decides to write about it for a class assignment.  "I'm the new kid.  I am tuf.  This morning I beat up a kid."

How does he handle the guilt. How does he deal with his teacher after she reads his story?  How does he deal with Robin Bryce, the boy he beat up?  If you want to find out how Dexter does all those things read Dexter the Tough.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Difficulty: Average

Published: 2007

Locations: Class library and Amazon

The Golly-Whopper Games

The Golly-Whopper Games

by Jody Feldman

If you enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The 39 Clues series, The Golly-Whopper Games is the book for you!  It is filled with fantastic adventures and puzzles you'll want to solve all located in a giant toy company.

Gil Goodson, an honest hardworking boy, wants into the Golly Toy and Game Company's 50th anniversary celebration the Golly-Whopper Games. 

His father, a former employee,  was accused of embezzling money from the Golly Toy and Game Company.  His subsequent trial,where his father was exonerated,  has ruined Gil's life.  Old friends ignore him, and former acquaintances are down right mean to him.  In his mind, the only way to improve his life is to the win the Golly-Whopper Games and use the prize money to help his family move to a new town allowing his family to start over..

Along the way, Gil  needs to get into the Games and defeat 24,999 other contestants, including super jocks, bullies, cheaters and brainiacs, to improve his family's level of happiness.   Will  he be able to do it?  Read The Golly Whopper Games by Jody Feldman to find out.

Rating 5/5 stars

Genre: Puzzle solving adventure

Difficulty: average

Published: 2008

Locations: School library and Amazon