FINISHED:

Feldman, Jody. (2008). The Gollywhopper games. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Holy cow! Follow the link above to the official website - how fun does THAT look!?!

Total fun, this one! Is it the best book ever? Well, no - the writing and the narrative aren't perfect, but golly-gee it's a compelling bunch of enjoyment. Gil's father was wrongly implicated in an embezzlement scandal at the Golly Toy & Game Company 18 months ago and now he's determined to get his "revenge" by winning a large-scale contest that the toy company is putting on. Gil makes it through the first few rounds of the competition and, as one of the final 10, is invited back to the toy company headquarters to participate in the Gollywhopper Games. Of course, the toy headquarters are an incredible land of large-scale rooms with rainbows, hot-air balloons, snacks, and toys and games galore. Thankfully, the set up is short with the majority being the games themselves. Readers are given the wordgames that the contestants get and can try to figure them out on their own, and there's loads of intrigue and cheating to keep the pace. In a note in the back from the author she says that she was inspired to write the novel after a child in a library asked her for a book that is like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and that's pretty much EXACTLY what she has produced here. Sure, it doesn't have the witicism of Dahl's timeless masterpiece, but Feldman does an admirable job. The location, the descriptions of these large rooms and crazy games, the honest boy competing against a couple of creeps, etc. HIGHLY recommended.]

STARTED:
Trueman, Terry. (2000). Stuck in neutral. New York: HarperCollins.

[Recommended by a colleague - looks like a quick read...]

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