Cheese: A Combo of Oggie Cooder and Oggie Cooder, Party Animal

by Sarah Weeks

Everything's better with cheese in this hilarious combination of Sarah Weeks' Oggie Cooder and Oggie Cooder, Party Animal . Oggie Cooder loves cheese so much that he carries a slice of cheese with him wherever he goes. It's not just for a snack -- Oggie is an excellent charver. ( Charving is when you chew a piece of cheese to carve it in the shape of something.) The kids at school think Oggie's charving is a little strange. But when a big TV show comes looking for people with unusual talents, Oggie is suddenly Mr. Popular. Can Oggie charve a path to fame and score an invite to the party of the year without melting under the pressure? No matter how you slice it, you're going to laugh when you read about one small kid becoming a really big cheese, in this hilarious combination of Oggie Cooder and Oggie Cooder, Party Animal .

Genres: Animals, Childrens, Friendship, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2016

About the author

Sarah Weeks has been writing children’s books and songs for the past twenty years. She is a graduate of Hampshire College and NYU and recently became an adjunct faculty member in the prestigious Writing Program at the New School University, in New York City.

Her first YA novel, So B. It, which appeared on the LA Times bestseller list was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and received the 2004 Parent’s Choice Gold Award. In addition to being an author, Sarah is an accomplished singer/songwriter. She has written for television, stage and screen and a number of her picturebooks include songs which she both writes and sings for the accompanying CD’s. Sarah's titles have sold well over a million copies, including several foreign editions.

Sarah is a tireless promoter, visiting schools throughout the country, serving as author-in-residence and speaking to teachers and librarians at national conferences including IRA, ALA and NCTE. She lives in New York City with her two teenage sons.

Reviews

[Cmoore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Choice Between Yourself or Good of Others

School boy Oggie Cooder has an amazing talent. He is a charver. A cheese carver. A habit he tends to do in nervous situations. Oggie can charve all 50 states in cheese. Neighbor girl, Donnica Perfecto, wants in on the action. When Donnica uses Oggie’s ability to audition for the most popular show in Wisconsin, “Hidden Talents”, Oggie ends up accidentally winning, and he then faces a conflict.
In this compelling story, Oggie must decide between going with Donnica who demands to be his manager, and save his parents store with the money from the show, or stay true to himself and not do the show. He fights within himself to decide.
What I like about this book is the internal conflict of Oggie’s battle with himself that is so compelling, and keeps you intrigued wanting to know what is going to happen next, and not only is there his internal battle, but, there is also the external conflict with Donnica.
Oggie is quite oblivious to Donnica’s plan to become famous. When “Oggie Fever” spreads across the small town of Wisconsin, everyone follows his crazy trends, the show worries, will people get sick of him? So they go all out, give him crazier outfits, and blowing out his funky personality, but making him not who he is. “We have to make him more Oggie, even Oggier.’” This quote shows the big conflict he faces with Donnica when he can’t be himself.
Does he stay with his family where he is happy and not under the pressure of impressing Donnica and his town? Or go to the show, win 10,000 dollars, save his parents store, and go big time?
In this fun, quirky, yet compelling story Oggie realizes, should he let others push him into being something he isn’t, into having fame and glory, is it worth it? Read this interesting quirky story to find out.

[C.J. Milbrandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky boy with a bizarre skill has a brush with fame when he auditions for a television talent show. Fun and funny.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cheese was very interesting, but unusual because the main character Oggie Cooder is superb at charving many things. (Charving is a mix of chewing and carving.) He accidentally enters a contest, then he's really popular! This is a book that contains a series, even though Oggie Cooder is the only one that comes separately, and Cheese is around 352 pages long.

[Suzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this! Cheese is actually a combination of 2 books in one. The first one follows Oggie Cooder, A oblivious yet lovable 4th grade, who has a hidden talent: Charving. (A combination of chewing and carving, by chewing cheese slices into perfect replicas of US states) when mean queen bee Donnica Perfecto tries to manipulate him into showing her his talent, to use it to audition for game show hidden talents, and win a special prize. But can Oggie, with the help of his new outcast friends, foil Donnica's plan and give Oggie a chance in the spotlight before it's to late? I won't spoil the 2nd book for you, that's just a preview from the first one. Nice writing style, perfect mix of humor and seriousness, this if perfect for kids ages 9-up. It made me LOL multiple times, and in a library to! I was embarrassed, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[HW6thgrade · Rating 5 out of 5]

You should pick this book because it tells about struggles a character faces and how they overcome the challenge. It is for the high elementary and middle grade student because it has some extensive vocabulary. You should also pick this book because it is funny. It is a good read for both men and women and I would recommend it to anyone who likes books that make you think about life and friends.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This got so tiresome reading about a bratty, mean, spoiled, girl so wrapped up in herself it was disgusting and got very old. Hopefully children who read this will also be disgusted and never want to be like her. Oggie was a refreshingly naive and innocent boy with a kind heart. He had friends who liked him and appreciated him for who he was, and he also had a wise teacher at his school.

[Mary Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the sweet, yet clever tone of this two part book. Oggie and Turk are very likable and their free-spirited individualism is refreshing. They are stories of the value of real friends. Mild name calling/bullying is the only content concern. I'll discuss each book separately.

Book One: Oggie Cooder

Oggie is himself without succumbing pressure to fit in with the other kids. He seems mostly unbothered by the way the other kids treat him - even when Donnica tries to use him as her ticket to fame. BUT he does want to do fun things with the other kids. (He’s called names like "Weirdo." "Dork." "Doofus." "Dweeb.”) Oggie daydreams about being invited to Donnica’s pool parties, or to play basketball with the guys.

We follow as he figures out he can be himself and still make real friends. His nervous habit for dealing with tough situations ends up being his salvation. And he learns to stand up for himself, which earns him respect from his peers.

I’m pretty sure my kids will take up “charving” now because they are already crazy about cheese…

Favorite Quotes:
“That cheese would change Oggie Cooder's life forever. Because while sometimes the road to fame and fortune is paved in gold, there are other times when it's made of cheese. Processed American cheese, to be exact.” p. 12

"Oggie couldn't help it that he liked to do things a little differently than other people did. He was who he was. And even though there were times when his oddness made life a little bit difficult, if Oggie Cooder had been anybody other than who he was, the extraordinary thing that was about to happen to him never would have occurred."
p. 20

“And that's when Mr. Snolinovsky's words came back to him. Not the ones about how important it was to be yourself — he'd figured that part out when his own dog hadn't been able to recognize him. It was the other thing he'd said that Oggie felt was just right for this occasion. "Fifth of all," he said to Donnica, "I've had enough of this Hollywood hoo-ha." “For the first time in days, Uggie's stomach didn't ache. He actually felt happy, from the top of his head right down to the tips of his crocheted shoelaces.”(p. 171-2)

"Oggie's positive attitude and his good self-esteem make him an excellent role model for his dassmates." Mrs. Cooder beamed proudly as she glued the report card into the family scrapbook.”
(p.175)

“Oggie Cooder finally knew what it felt like to be a winner, and he thought it was just about the best feeling in the world.” [finding real friendships] (p. 176)
p176

Book Two: Oggie Cooder, Party Animal

Donnica is still just as mean to Oggie - I guess she didn’t learn much in book one. She decides the best birthday present he can give her is to NOT come to her party after she is forced to invite him (So that her mom can get Ms. Cooder’s help to win entry to the local garden club). Donnica’s friends even acknowledge that she is bossy, mean and completely self-centered. “It's my birthday. I'm supposed to get everything I want for my birthday. That's the rule." (p. 188) “Donnica Perfecto didn't "do" garbage. When she had something that needed to be thrown out, she simply handed it to Hannah or Dawn and they took care of it for her.” (p. 198)

Oggie’s friends come through for him when she locks him in the bathroom at the birthday party. He accidentally saves the day again and turns her party into the best one ever, not because she deserves it but because he was determined to get her a perfect present. But the real winner is Oggie because he recognizes what a gift his real friends are.

“Mr. Snolinovsky laughed. His name might have been difficult to pronounce, but he was the first teacher Oggie had ever had who not only accepted Oggie for who he was, but seemed to genuinely like him.”
P. 201

[Samihan Gidda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is a great! I liked the main character, Oggie Cooder because he was positive and even when people were mean to him he did not care and did what he liked. In the end he made some good friends and won awards.

[Nicole M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read to support one of my fifth grade book clubs.

[Chelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stopped after about 40 pages. It just wasn’t holding my attention.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute - would be a good read for grades 3-5.