MY LIFE AS A BOOK

MY LIFE AS A BOOK by Janet Tashjian, Cartoons by Jake Tashjian (Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt, July 2010, $16.99, for ages 7 to 12).

Twelve-year-old Derek Fallon hates reading, unless it's a comic book. So he's not looking forward to his summer reading assignment to read three "real" books. His parents even sign him up for Learning Camp to help him overcome his reading problems. Blech! What a lousy summer.

But the summer might just turn out to be far more eventful than Derek ever dreamed. He discovers an old newspaper story about himself as a two-year-old and vows to find out more about it. He makes some interesting new friends, including a boy with a monkey. And maybe, just maybe, he'll manage to read a book.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans, rejoice! Here's a story you'll love. Okay, so it doesn't have as many cartoons as Wimpy Kid, but it has a meatier plot, which I'm only hinting at here because I'm trying to avoid spoilers. And it's written by the amazing Janet Tashjian, of Gospel According to Larry fame. Here, she's reaching out to a younger audience and letting her 14-year-old son do the illustrations. A fun and fast-paced summer read.