Quick, light, entertaining book for older elementary kids. If you have a child that struggles with wanting to read, this book might appeal (especially boys with ADD). It has an uplifting and encouraging message without being too preachy.

If you recommend this book to a child, definitely screen it first, since there's a lot of behavior NOT worthy of emulation, and you may want to be able to discuss it. The main character has a lot of what some would call behavioral issues, and though there is some improvement/resolution, the story makes a big deal of a 3-book summer reading assignment and ends with him 'getting away' with reading only one. Overall, he 'gets away' with a lot of things that most parents and teachers would not consider acceptable.

I can see how it could be encouraging to a child that identifies with the main character, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

I got this book free as a Goodreads Firstreads entrant.