Reviews of 13, the novel
By Dan Elish and Jason Robert Brown
From teensreadtoo.com
The authors made an unforgettable character out of Evan that made me laugh-out-loud and reminisce about days when I was his age. I remember going through similar situations as Evan did and handling them just about as well as Evan did! Just the style of writing and the words that came out of the character's mouths were funny.
While middle-grade novels may not be your first choice, I highly suggest you pick this one up and laugh along with the story. This book would also be good for reluctant readers. It's not particularly long, yet it is long enough to be a wholesome story. The message of self discovery and being your own kind of person is also a great part of this book. 13 was an enjoyable read that will keep readers wanting more.
KLIATT reviews
Bar mitzvah, divorce, leaving the familiar and moving to a new community-these are the serious themes of this novel for young YAs. Throughout is a healthy sense of the absurd. Evan is accustomed to life in NYC, and a private school filled with fellow students who are also preparing for their bar mitzvahs (some very elaborate); so imagine what a shock to move with his distraught, newly single mother to a small town in Indiana. They manage to find a rabbi but there is no Jewish community and no Jewish place of worship, so Evan is facing a pathetic situation for his coming-of-age celebration. His wish to have a lot of friends attend makes him vulnerable to trying to impress the popular kids in town, even if it means alienating the girl who truly has been a good friend. Then there is an amazingly unique character-Archie-a misshapen young man, suffering from cerebral palsy and shunned all his life, whose courage and humor help Evan understand what it means to "become a man," his challenge as he faces his 13th birthday and his bar mitzvah ceremony. The story reaches farce intensity at times, which will appeal to readers able to appreciate the wild situations. The authors collaborated on the musical 13, and each has a lot of writing experience.
KIRKUS REVIEWS
"No one said becoming a man was easy," Rabbi Weiner tells Evan Goldman during preparations for his Bar Mitzvah. But Evan, recently relocated to Appleton, Ind., from New York in the wake of his parents' split, just wants to "fit in with the people who fit in." He even manages the feat, for a while at least, hanging with the star quarterback and the prettiest girls instead of the distinctly less-cool alternatives, nerdy Patrice and disabled Archie. As Evan has a conscience and friends and adults helping him on the way to manhood, however, his enticing brush with coolness in his new school is short-lived. This tale of middle-school peer culture is familiar but handled especially well in this tie-in to the musical, which opened in Los Angeles last year. The pace is quick, the humor broad and the life lessons spelled out clearly. By the end, Evan's Bar Mitzvah has gone well, a sign that he is leaving the "mishegoss" about being cool and popular behind him.
Reviews of The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"This is ridiculous over-the-top fun all the way and Elish commits fully with exaggerated characters, a rollicking pace and, of course, the enormous rodents who hatch from pods."
The Washington Post
I have to confess that I'd never heard of Dan Elish until The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks caught my eye, so it's nice to be able to report that the book lives up to the promise of its title. In fact, it's better: The woodchuck that sets this yarn in motion isn't just frozen; it's 30 feet tall, it comes from outer space, and it's loose in Central Park. Unfortunately, when 10-year-old Jimmy Weathers's father disappears, it becomes clear "that dadnapping by woodchuck was not a crime that the New York City police department took seriously." So it's up to Jimmy to mount an extraterrestrial rescue, with the help of his best friend, chubby William H. Taft V, brainy Janice Claytooth and Jimmy's 2-year-old sister, a scene-stealing female MacGyver in a stroller ("I point! I click! I move!"). Luckily, Elish's earlier titles, Born Too Short and The Worldwide Dessert Contest, sound just as much fun.
Booklist
When Jimmy's dad (an imaginative but unpublished children's novelist) reports to his family and the N.Y.P.D. that he has seen a 20- to 30-foot woodchuck in Central Park, no one takes the sighting seriously. But when the writer mysteriously disappears, Jimmy, his techno-geek classmates, William and Janice, and his sister (a two-year-old inventor extraordinaire) spring into action. Traveling by homemade spaceship, they battle the aggressive woodchucks, foil a nefarious scheme to deforest whole planets, save Jimmy's father, and even restore Janice's relationship with her distant father. Combining science fiction with adventure and comedy, this inventive novel is over the top in some respects, but consistently entertaining. Readers willing to suspend disbelief will enjoy the story's more fantastic episodes in space as well as concluding scene back at school, when a surprising, satisfying reversal occurs on the kickball field.
Reviews of Born Too Short by Dan Elish
from School Library Journal
A hilariously honest, first-person account of Matt Greene, 13, as he comes to terms with his jealousy toward his best friend. Keith has it all: good looks, athletic prowess, and, most important, girls, girls, girls. Poor Matt is plagued by his 5' 1 and a half inch frame, cracking voice, and his lack of sexual experience. Still, he prides himself on being an accomplished classical guitarist. When Keith, who only knows how to play four chords, announces that he's going to write a rock musical, his friend hopes that it will flop. Disaster strikes on opening night when the show is a success. Matt learns he didn't make the Aspen Music Festival, and, worst of all, his new girl falls for Keith. At the cast party, the disappointed teen drowns his sorrow with beer (his first) and bonds with a casual friend from school. On their way home, Matt's anger and jealousy explode in a tirade of wishes against his best bud. Adding a touch of magical realism, a homeless man appears out of the blue and warns, "Better be careful. Wishes that strong can come true." Sure enough, Keith blows the school basketball championship and finds out his girlfriend is bisexual. Things are looking up for Matt, though. He gets his first real girlfriend and a shot at a music scholarship in Paris. Feeling guilty and a bit freaked out by this twist of fate, he imagines tracking down the homeless man to reverse the spell but finally realizes that the only way to set things straight is to talk to Keith. Written in an engaging, humorous voice, Born Too Short entertains while offering adolescents insight into friendship, dating, and life.
Publisher's Weekly: "Teenage angst may be no laughing matter, but readers will find it hard not to giggle over the misadventures of Elish's 5'1/2" eight-grade narrator, Matt Greene, who is constantly outshined by his best friend, Keith Livingston….the delivery is witty and potent, as fast-paced as the New York City setting."
Kirkus Reviews: "Elish deftly delivers the humorous side of the horrible - that's eighth grade life - told as a modern-day fairytale overflowing with adolescent hormones."
Booklist: "This book includes some very funny moments as well as the painful ones of adolescent angst."
The Worldwide Dessert Contest
From Booklist (starred review)
John Applefeller loves desserts. He especially loves apple desserts and his dream is to win the prestigious Worldwide Dessert Contest held each year in his very own town of Appleton. Not only does Applefeller never win, he always comes in last, because his desserts have the disconcerting habit of turning into other things. The perennial winner of the contest is Sylvester Sweet, the self-proclaimed King of Dessert, Captain of Consumption, and Duke of Decidedly Delicious, but who is, in fact, a bounder using a stolen recipe for his every-year entry, a double-chocolate-fudge-raspberry-coconut-lime swirl. Applefeller and his able assistant, a fifth grader named Stanley, are becoming decidedly discouraged, until they hear about a genius chef who might be able to help. The addition of Captain B. Rollie Ragoon to their team leads to some new recipes and recognition, as well as to the downfall of the sniveling Sweet. The plot goes down as easily as ice cream and is topped with plenty of laughs, both subtle and broad. Certainly its silliness makes for a pithy read-aloud and a booktalker's dream. Call this delicious.
Publisher's Weekly: "A little dash of Charlie and Chocolate Factory with a dash of Homer Price's donut maker, this novel pays homage to the longstanding rapport between children and sweets…Elish writes with a sure hand of this sugary world, his tongue squarely in the area of his sweet tooth. For his ability to praise desserts in an endlessly original fashion, he deserves a blue ribbon."
Jason and the Baseball Bear, Kirkus Reviews.
In Elish's deft, funny story, an elderly polar bear's private coaching transforms Jason from reserve Little League infielder to team star.
Jason, talented enough to be the only fourth grader on the Apaches, also has a unique ability to understand animal speech. He spends time at the zoo getting tips from Whitney, a bear who has become baseball expert after three decades of studying sports pages fished from the trash. Cheered on by Whitney and other animal friends - including a gnu Shakespearean scholar and an excitable gorilla with a major-league fastball - Jason shines in the Apaches' first two play-off games. When the secret of Jason's success comes out, Whitney becomes a sensation. Jason wangles tickets for Whitney and the other animals to his last play-off game, where comedy and baseball action alike are fast and furious. Jason saves the game with a dramatic catch, but in the excitement Whitney collapses, wills his collection of baseball clippings, cards, and memorabilia to Jason, and then expires.
Plot, characters, and baseball talk are all expertly handled here; the author's tongue is so firmly in cheek that it may require surgical removal. A delight.
The Five Owls (Children's Magazine)
Jason and the Baseball Bear is an entertaining fantasy, told tongue-in-cheek yet emotionally true. Whitney, a polar bear at the zoo, has never actually seen a baseball game but has a collection of clippings and cards to rival the Hall of Fame…This lively story holds many layers of humor, from its preposterous plot to its literary allusions to the reassuring predictableness of Jason's dad, a psychiatrist, who yells, "That's my son!" whenever Jason distinguishes himself on the Little League ballfield. Elish's last book was hailed as a great readaloud, and this book promises to be the same.
The Great Squirrel Uprising, Kirkus Reviews.
Tired of the humans' rudeness and their trash, Scruff the squirrel mounts an uprising in N.Y.C.'s Central Park beginning when, to the human's astonishment, a line of squirrels successfully blocks traffic at one entrance. Nearly captured by the police, Scruff is rescued by ten-year-old Sally March, who is taken with the squirrel's efforts. Believing that Sally could aid their cause, Scruff's comrade, Franklin the pigeon, tries to communicate through her with words torn from a newspaper by his bookish friend Mort, a mouse. An absolute purist, Scruff refuses to have anything to do with humans; still, time and again, Sally comes to the animals' aid. She even comes up with the key to their success: country birds are recruited to line the walls bounding the park, blocking all human access. It's also Sally who mediates the final resolution to the standoff, saving the animals from physical harm as the humans try to reopen the park, and finally gaining Scruff's grudging respect.
Populated with endearing, well-developed characters, this light, entertaining story will appeal even to reluctant readers. Particularly engaging are Scruff, who suffers from Napoleonic tendencies, and Franklin, a practical pigeon who loves classical music.
The Royal Order of Fighting Dragons, Publishers Weekly.
Eleven-year-old Ike Rupert Hollingsberry's father died while starring in The Fighting Dragons, a popular television show about a modern-day group of dragon-riding knights who fight giant locusts. When Ike is attacked by an enormous locust in New York City, he discovers that the show was a cover-up for actual events—and he is the latest member of his family to join the Royal Order of Fighting Dragons. Originally founded by King Arthur and the wizard Merlin, the Order is now focused on keeping big bugs from conquering the world. Along with the other knights of his generation, Ike must learn how to ride dragons into battle to fulfill a prophecy and save humankind. Elish (The Worldwide Dessert Contest) delivers a fast-paced, entertaining story with appealing characters, a healthy dose of action, and a dash of humor, but his treatment of both history and legend requires significant suspension of disbelief. Ages 8–12.