I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE PLANTS-“Aziphrale” (2013).

The Plants are Kids Corner favorites. And why not they are Philadelphia locals.  I have enjoyed several of their songs but I wasn’t familiar with this one.  And so I was surprised that it made the Top ten Kids Corner Countdown.

This song is another story song. It’s about a Chinese dragon called Aziphrale.  It has a cool horn sound, reminding me of some mellow ska or like the Squirrel Nut Zippers.  The song is bouncy and jaunty and has a kind of moral to it, which is always nice.

It even features a lengthy pirate section with people sailing a ship across the sea–(perhaps making future Decemberists fans?).

It’s an engaging story and a good song–a sea shanty about gold and dragons, what could be better?  And I actually thought it was quite different from their other song that I reviewed–Monster Under My Bed, but that song is also a story and features prominent horns and is bouncy and jaunty.  I bet they’d be fun to see live.

[READ: January 5, 2014] Desmond Pucket Makes Monster Magic

Although this book is about a sixth grader, C. loved it and encouraged me to read it.  Which I did.  And it is quite enjoyable.  It reminds me of Captain Underpants in spirit. But it’s very different in execution.

Desmond Pucket is a kid who loves horror movies and special effects.  And he is a great artist and creator.  Which doesn’t always fly in school.  So he gets an F on his math test but he draws a cool picture on the back.  The teacher tells him that if he spent as much time on his math as on his drawing, he’d get straight A’s.  Sigh.

He’s not popular, but he’s not an outcast either, he’s just Desmond and he has one friend, Ricky, his partner in crime.

Over the years they have pulled off some great pranks in school.  Like the goblin in the teacher’s lounge toilet or the parent teacher conference cake full of blood or the worms in the mashed potatoes.  He was never caught, although Mr. Needles, the disciplinarian sure has his suspicions.

Then Desmond went big, creating a tremendous prank at his sister’s sleepover party.  How could he resist the gullible girls?  Unfortunately for him, Mr Needles’ daughter was there and all suspicions were confirmed.

Mr Needles wants him out of the school, but Desmond’s mom talks Needles into giving him a three more strikes plan.  Desmond must join an after school extra curricular activity.  If he fails at them, he is going to be booted out of school.

The first failure was with the A/V Club.  He couldn’t resist this awesome.  Desmond went school-wide, hijacking the morning TV announcements with a hilarious prank (that’s what I opened up to in the book and it cracked me up).  However…he is obviously caught this time.  Next activity is the school newspaper.  He tries to be serious, but a joke between him and Ricky goes public and Mr Needles gleefully says he has one more strike.

So the real reason that Desmond is worried about this expulsion thing is because of the upcoming school trip to the Mountain Full of Monsters Ride.  He went there as a kid but was too short to go on it.  And he has been dying to go back ever since.  Now the school is taking a trip there and this is his big chance to see the ride.  So he can’t get expelled.  he just can’t.

His final strike is with the drama club.  He changes his attitude and tries to be proper.  Like really proper–he dresses nicely, speaks nicely and even disassociates himself from Ricky.   But then things start going wrong–someone has it in for him.  And it looks like his last chance is going to be ruined.  Desmond has a choice–run and hide or go out with a bang.

I enjoyed this book.  I actually assumed that a different person was trying to ruin it for him at the end–they fooled me!  I thought the story was very funny and I enjoyed the drawings that went with it.  I also liked that the pranks were funny and not too mean spirited although if C. does to T.’s American Girl doll what Desmond did to his sister’s, there will be hell to pay.  I also enjoyed that the end of the book shows how to make some of the less high-tech pranks, which is always useful.

And, as an added bonus, the book cover glows in the dark!