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Not So Normal Norbert Author Joey Green Shares His Top 5 Favorite Funny Middle Grade Adventure Books
As a kid, I hated reading. My teachers assigned books that just plain stunk. They were boring, tedious, and uninteresting. The books, not the teachers. On second thought, the teachers too. For me, they turned reading into sheer torture.
Don’t get me wrong. I would still read stuff. I bought every Peanuts paperback book ever printed and subscribed to Mad magazine. You know, stuff teachers considered garbage.
It wasn’t until my mother told me to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that I realized not all books are boring. Like my buddy James Patterson says, “There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.” I had definitely been reading the wrong books.
So here’s the problem. Kids who can’t read by the time they finish middle school won’t make it through high school. If you want your kids to succeed, it’s vital that you (yes, you Mom and Dad) instill your kids with a love of reading. Don’t expect teachers to do the job for you. Fortunately, teaching kids to love reading is easy-peasy. All you have to do is give your kids books that capture their imagination, keep them on the edge of their seat, and make them laugh out loud.
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That’s why I wrote Not So Normal Norbert. It’s an adventure that’s anything but normal. It takes place in the future. The earth is one country run by a dictator. Anyone creative or imaginative is considered a crazy criminal. Creativity is crazy! Imagination is insanity! Different is dangerous! A kid named Norbert, who doesn’t realize he’s funny and creative, gets arrested and sent to Astro-Nuts Prison on a planet in the Orion Nebula. But when he gets there, he discovers that everyone at Astro-Nuts is creative and imaginative. And that’s where the adventure really begins!
When kids finish Not So Normal Norbert, I want them to say, “Wow! That was awesome! Please give me another book!” And here are some of those other books you should give them:
Gustav Gloom and the Cryptic Carousel, by Adam-Troy Castro
Adam-Troy Castro has written six highly imaginative Gustav Gloom books, all in his unique voice and peppered with hysterical descriptions and great jokes. Gustav Gloom and his friend Fernie What shine as two witty and warm adventurers. The fourth book in the series is my personal favorite. The mismatched duo leave Gloom Mansion, using the magical Cryptic Carousel to rescue their families from the Shadow Country, but wind up traveling through a bunch of kooky places to get there.
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The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
It’s short. It’s satiric. It’s silly. It’s superb. A pilot stranded in the desert bumps into a young prince visiting Earth from a tiny asteroid. The prince shares the story of his visits to other planets and moons, where he encounters absurd characters. My favorite? The businessman counting stars. I’ve read this book again and again. So will your kids.
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The Templeton Twins Have an Idea, by Ellis Weiner
Adult twins Dean D. Dean and Dan D. Dean kidnap twelve-year-old twins John and Abigail Templeton and their “ridiculous dog.” Why? To get the Templeton Twins’ father (“a brilliant, if sometimes confused, inventor”) to hand over one of his nutty inventions. I love the witty narration, funny chapter headings, terrific illustrations, and hilarious quizzes. And don’t miss the equally fun sequel: The Templeton Twins Make a Scene.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket
All thirteen books in this hysterical series are quick, fun reads. The orphaned Baudelaire children—Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny—go from one dire situation to the next, relentlessly pursued by the evil Count Olaf, who never stops hatching bizarre schemes to get his clutches on the Baudelaire fortune. The sardonic narrator repeatedly urges you to stop reading the book, warns there will be no happy ending, and gives wonderfully snide definitions of vocabulary words and clichés (in the spirit of The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce). My favorite book in the series? Hmm. That would have to be…#6 The Ersatz Elevator.
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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein
As a kid, I loved brainteasers and that’s what this hilarious, suspenseful, and high-speed book is all about. Famous game-maker and eccentric billionaire Luigi Lemoncello traps a dozen sixth-graders inside a brand-new, futuristic public library. To escape, the kids must follow book-related clues and solve a bunch of secret puzzles. What makes this clever book even more fun? It’s really a game in itself. And when reading is a game, how can kids not love it?
Not So Normal Norbert by James Patterson and Joey Green, with illustrations by Hatem Aly, is on B&N bookshelves now.