My Rotten Life

Lubar, David. 2009. My Rotten Life. (Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie, Book 1) Read by Matt Brown and Kathleen McInerny. Macmillan Audio.

About 3.5 hours.
An audio excerpt is available on the Macmillan website.

My Rotten Life is the first book in the Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series.  When Abigail's uncle's science experiment goes awry, Nathan begins to lose the ability to do things he has always taken for granted - feeling, breathing, and eating to name a few!  But the possibility of life without these abilities offers some interesting possibilities too!  While Abigail rushes to concoct a cure, Nathan and his goofy pal, Mookie, try to come to terms with his new "zombie" lifestyle.

Have a reader who is too old for Captain Underpants? (are we ever too old?) Looking for a new series to tickle the funny bone?  Nathan Abercrombie may be what you're looking for. For ages 8-12.

Fans of this quick-reading chapter book may also enjoy David Lubar's, Punished , Herbert's Wormhole by Peter Nelson, or Cyberia by Chris Lynch.  There is a book for every reader - if only we can find it!

Punished

Lubar, David. 2006. Punished. Plain City, OH: Darby Creek.

This is a short (93 pages) novel about a Logan, a young boy with a "punny" problem. The mysterious Professor Robert Wordsworth catches him running in the library, and declares that he should be "punished." It isn't until the next day that Logan realizes that he's been cursed with a steady and unceasing stream of involuntary puns!

His mom asks him to put the evening's dessert into the fridge, " 'Sure, I don't mind pudding it away.' Mom stared at me for a moment. 'We'll be eating in fifteen minutes,' she finally said. 'The spooner you lettuce eat, the better,' I told her."

The punning goes on with hilarious results until Professor Wordsworth offers him a way to break the curse. He must collect seven oxymorons, seven anagrams, and seven palindromes. The chapters are appropriately named, "Opposites Attract," "Scrambling for Answers," and "Either Way it's the Same." With a little help from his family and his best friend, Benedict, he fulfills his "sentence."

Guaranteed to make you groan (with delight), this book is punny for younger J readers.