The Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman.

The Problem With the Puddles by Kate Feiffer.

Dessert First by Hallie Durand.

All three of these very silly stories were nominated for the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award. The Dunderheads is almost a picture book (56 pages), very silly, about a class of dunderheads whose teacher, Miss Breakbone hates kids. She also confiscates contraband, including a one-eared toy cat that Theodore aka Junkyard found in the trash and planned to give to his cat-loving mother for her birthday. Dunderheads to the rescue! The gang of multi-talented misfits finds its way to Miss Breakbone’s house to reclaim the cat and show Miss Breakbone that she can’t get away with stealing from the Dunderheads.

Fleischman says of his story, “Behind The Dunderheads lies not only Ocean’s Eleven and Mission: Impossible but also The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, The Five Chinese Brothers, and similar folk tales from deep in our past.” I was also reminded of Harry Allard’s Miss Nelson Is Missing.

Becky on The Dunderheads: “The premise of this is fun. And most readers will probably enjoy it more than I did. What with the plotting, pranking, and spitting.”

Dessert First features a teacher, Mrs. Howdy Doody, with quite a different personality from that of Miss Breakbone. In fact, I would guess that Miss Howdy Doody’s middle name is Pollyanna, and she says things like “I am inspired!” and “My dear happy learners.” A little too much sugar in Mrs. Howdy Doody’s make-up, and it turns out that sugar is Dessert Schneider’s problem, too. She likes dessert, talks her family into serving dessert first, and finds it hard to resist any dessert available. When Dessert’s mom makes Double Decker Chocolate Bars and leaves a note instructing everyone to leave them alone, Dessert is sorely tempted. What’s an eight year old dessert lover to do when there are Double D’s in the refrigerator “sitting together neatly on Mummy’s shiny turquoise paper”?

I enjoyed this little tale about temptation, and repentance, and confession, and forgiveness, and restitution–all in a shiny, easy to read package! I may have to read this one to Z-baby who has her own issues with sugar, and dessert and resisting temptation.

Reading Zone on Dessert First: “Dessert reminded me a lot of another fun early middle grade character- Clementine. She’s spunky, spirited, happy, and even a little “fresh” at times. Even better? She’s real! She reminded me a lot of the 3rd graders I student taught a few years ago.”

The Problem with the Puddles is the silliest of the three Sillies. Norton Juster (author of one of my favorites, The Phantom Tollbooth) contributes a blurb on the back of the cover extolling the wordplay and the “lively boisterous manner” of this book, and I would agree. However, it’s just not The Phantom Tollbooth. The Puddle family leaves the country for the city and accidentally leaves their two dogs, both named Sally, behind. Hilarity and confusion ensue. The dogs set off for the city on their own; the Puddles try to get back to the country to retrieve the dogs. Chronic disagreements, complications, a messy misunderstanding, and a dog-collecting secret catcher get in the way of the ultimate reunion.

I really think some kids would love this story, and others would just think it was . . . silly. You probably know already which of the two categories fits your reading interests.

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You should know that Alvin Ho is afraid of a lot of things: elevators, tunnels, bridges, airplanes, thunder, substitute teachers, kimchi, wasabi, the dark, heights, scary movies, scary dreams, shots, and school, to name just a few. However, he loves explosions, his dog Lucy, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, Aquaman, King V, and all the superheroes in the world. In fact, before he started school, Alvin Ho was a superhero; he was Firecracker Man! But now he can be Firecracker Man only on weekends and holidays because he’s about to start second grade. And going back to school is a problem because of the other thing you should know about Alvin: he never says a single word at school. He can’t. “Maybe if you didn’t use up all your words at home, you’d have some to use at school,” says Alvin’s older brother Calvin.

But Alvin doesn’t think so. He thinks he needs an emergency plan for making friends, one that doesn’t involve talking at school. And he also needs his PDK: Personal Disaster Kit.

The kit and the character, Alvin Ho, are both wacky, weird, and wonderful. Alvin’s adventures are things that could happen to any seven year old with so-so performance anxiety disorder:

He gets stuck hanging in a tree upside down like a duck hanging in a Chinatown window.
He ends up being desk buddies with Flea, a girl, even though he’s allergic to girls.
He finds the perfect way to avoid school, at least for a while.
He loses some of the pieces to his dad’s favorite toy.
He’s bewitched by his piano teacher.
He curses his therapist in Shakespearean English.
And he joins Pinky’s gang, which leads to another whole set of problems and adventures.

I love Alvin. I want Alvin and Clementine to grow up and marry each other. I want to meet their children and see them pay for their raising. I want to be some combination of Alvin’s and Clementine’s parents who seem to be the wisest, most patient and loving parents in the universe. Or as Alvin says, “My dad is not only a gentleman, but he is da man, which is a lot like being da dad, which means he can handle quite a lot.” I do wish I were da mom, or something like that.

I think every second grader in the United States should get a copy of either Clementine’s Letters (or the first Clementine book) or Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things for Christmas. Do your part for the nearest and dearest second grader you know.

More fans of Alvin Ho aka Firecracker Man:

At Mary Voors’ ACPL Mock Newbery blog, Lisa said: “I am thrilled to see that this is the first in a new series. Alvin Ho Allergic to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters is set for a June release, according to Amazon. With honest emotions, tons of humor and great illustrations this one is sure to have kid appeal.”

Abby the Librarian: “I loved Lenore Look’s Ruby Lu books and I enjoyed this one as well. I was chuckling the whole way through and I love the illustrations done by LeUyen Pham.”

Jen at Talk About It More: “While Alvin doesn’t have a particularly savory child’s view of either piano teachers or psychotherapists, we are still enjoying the book enormously around here. It is truly laugh-out-loud funny, has liberal, fabulous illustrations, and gives us a chance to talk about things that do (and don’t) give us pause in our own lives.”