The Manny -- Sarah L. Thomson

An entertaining diversionary read, I picked this up because my sister was a nanny in the Hamptons and I thought it would amuse me. It mostly did. It's kind of fluffy, which is not what I usually read, but it's what I needed at the moment so it all worked out well. The main character (is his name Josh? It could be, I don't really remember) is a male nanny out in the Hamptons so he can pick up girls. He learns that there's more to life than picking up girls and there's more to being a nanny than just taking the kid to the park.

It was a light quick read, girls would probably like it more than boys even though the main character is a boy. It's good for middle schoolers, and although the main character is obsessed with girls, the romance never passes the kissing stage.

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Reading: Talk--Kathe Koja; The Power Broker--Robert A. Caro
On My Nightstand: Before Wings--Beth Goobie

Funny Little Monkey--Andrew Auseon

I'm too tired to write intelligently... Arty is a midget and his twin brother is huge. They don't get along well. Arty plots revenge with the school underground, but winds up learning more about himself along the way... Good book. Arty was a bit of a jerk. The one problem I had was with Leslie-- the beautiful girl Arty is infatuated with who notices him one day and befriends him. Arty goes from being obsessed with her to thinking how mean she is... but there's only one slight incident to back this up. There should have been more of her mean side to explain Arty's sudden disapproval of her.

Other than that, I liked it. Hey, it's got monkey in the title.

**9/30/05 I fully admit I am adding to this review because I just linked to the author's blog and I don't want him to find it and think that i am some illiterate reviewer without words. so there. although, if he were to find it, he should give me a break since he's a new dad and knows the pain of sleep deprivation. but he didn't do the birthing so he doesn't know you lose your brain in the process. and apparently capital letters. hmmm. but i digress.

So, Arty suffers from Hormone Growth Deficiency. He's really small and in an ironic twist of fate, his twin brother is huge. Dad couldn't deal with Arty's treatment and all the doctors so he ran out. Mom has been trying to make ends meet. The boys lash out at each other--Kurt physically and Arty verbally. Arty enlists the help of the school underground to get revenge on Kurt for his abuse. Led by a cool high schooler nicknamed Kerouac (which will probably be lost on the rotten teens today who aren't reading On the Road), they wind up teaching Kurt *and* Arty a lesson.

I liked Kerouac. I liked the idea of an underground of students gathering information and helping others. Like I said above, I wanted a little more about Leslie and why Arty stops liking her. Don't get me wrong--I saw through her from the beginning, but Arty was so enamored and then it seemed like all of a sudden he wasn't. But overall, I really did enjoy it.

And I still like that monkey is in the title.

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Reading: The Manny--Sarah L. Thomson
On My Nightstand: more