Review by Brown Bear Daughter, age 11, almost 12:

I really enjoyed this book. It was absolutely HILARIOUS. It had a couple of places in the book where…oh…let me tell you all I liked about if before I tell you what I didn’t.

First off, as I said before, it was the most hilarious book I’ve read lately. Also, it shows the exact emotions that any real kid would show in the situations that the main character finds himself in. I just thought to myself, “This author (Gail Gauthier) must really understand kids.”

It was easy to imagine what I would do if I was accused of bringing a weapon to school, (though I’m homeschooled, of course) which does happen to Kyle, the narrator. Okay, now I’ll give a small summary of the first couple of chapters:

Kyle hears his mother yell for him to come open his “back to school present.” So after his sister opens hers, he unwraps Happy Kid: A Young Person’s Guide to Satisfying Relationships and a Happy and Meaning-Filled Life! After being reminded to thank his mother for the gift, Kyle says, “Thank you for believing I’m such a reject I need a book on how to be happy. I really appreciate the thought.” I couldn’t help but laugh at this because it sounds like something I would say. Is that good or bad? Anyhow, Kyle’s mother thinks that he looks at everything negatively…so when she saw the book that “just screamed (Kyle’s) name,” she bought it immediately.

There were a few gross parts which I will not mention, and a bit of bad language also, but altogether I consider it a very interesting and well-written book. I had sooo much fun reading it!

Happy Kid is another good book nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.