Tales of a Sixth Grade Muppet by Kirk Scroggs
Reviewed by Lori Twichell, Radiant Lit
Genre: children’s, comedy
Publisher: Little, Brown books for Young Readers
Publication Dates: September 5, 2011
Danvers Blickensderfer’s life is a little less cool than average. Okay. It’s a lot less cool than average. His kid sister has more going for her than he does, and that says a lot. He’s not even close to being on the list of popular kids in class and his biggest hobby is a desperate obsession over Gonzo and the Muppets. His goal in life is to meet the Great Gonzo.
So one morning when Danvers wakes up, he’s shocked to discover a fuzzy nose, fingers that don’t work very well and legs that don’t want to support his body. Overnight, he turned into a MUPPET! A real life honest to goodness Muppet! Needless to say this does not change his life at school for the better. In fact, it makes things quite a bit worse.
I’m a die-hard Muppet fan. I have been since I was a kid and that has never changed. In fact when I was in college, I was interviewed by a national news magazine about the fact that I was 20 years old and had parties in my room to watch the new Muppet show. So when I was asked if I wanted to review this book, the decision was a no brainer.
Danvers Blickensderfer is a great character. He knows he’s not cool and he knows what his issues are, but like many tweens and middle schoolers, he doesn’t always know how to increase the cool quotient. Ideas that are great on paper (or in a middle schooler’s mind) don’t turn out well and he doesn’t always make the right choices. Haven’t we all had those moments? This makes Danvers someone that kids can relate to – even when he wakes up a Muppet. And trust me, that’s hard to do.
The story moves quickly and at a steady enough clip that it’s easy to keep up with and it engages your attention. I have three kids who have read this book all the way through and in my house, that’s a miracle. Two of my kids are not readers or need a lot of encouragement to pick up a book. Both of them loved this. The third kid even went so far as to write a book report on it complete with illustrations that were surprisingly accurate.
Though there were moments in the book that I knew the humor was for mom and dad as opposed to the young reader, it wasn’t out of line or anything inappropriate. Long story short, my kids and I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for any young reader who is a Muppet fan.
*Review copy provided by publisher. Thank you!
Rated G - No worries here. Everyone in the house can (and in our case did!) enjoy it.
