Pages

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Fake Mustache

Title: Fake Mustache     
Author: Tom Angleberger   
Illustrator: Jen Wang  
Publisher: Amulet Books  
Publication Date: April 2012   
Genre/Format: Fiction/Novel   
GoodReads Summary: Award-winning author Tom Angleberger flexes his comic muscle in this hairy adventure story with twists at every turn.

Regular kid Lenny Flem Jr. is the only one standing between his evil-genius best friend—Casper, a master of disguise and hypnosis—and world domination. It all begins when Casper spends money from his granny on a spectacularly convincing fake mustache, the Heidelberg Handlebar #7. With it he’s able rob banks, amass a vast fortune, and run for president. Is Lenny the only one who can see through his disguise? And will he be able to stop Casper from taking over the world?                                     What I Think: Tom Angleberger really gets kids! He has come up with the craziest plot that actually makes sense! I loved reading about Lenny and his obvious understanding that Casper is at the heart of all these crazy happenings in Hairsprinkle while no one else can see through Casper's disguise. Lenny is great but then Angleberger brings in Jodie O'Rodeo, a teen cowgirl queen, to help Lenny stop Casper. I kept thinking of Disney channel and Nick TV shows and their kid actors as I read. Angleberger does an amazing job of bringing all of these characters to life. I didn't think it was possible to come up with such an outlandish story that at the same time makes sense. Fake Mustache is a book that kids will love - it's absolutely the perfect book to give to any student who wants to read something funny but also the perfect book for any student who wants anything to read. There is something in this book that every middle grade kiddo will relate to. It's hard to be more specific without giving the plot away - just read it already!
Read Together: Grades 4 - 7
Read Alone: Grades 4 - 7 
Read With: Capture the Flag by Kate MessnerWe Are Not Eaten By Yaks (Accidental Adventure series) C Alexander London, Genius Files (series) by Dan Gutman, A Whole Nother Story by Cuthbert Soup, A Series of Unfortunate Events (series) by Lemony Snicket, Matilda by Roald Dahl 
Snatch of Text: "My dad dropped me off at Casper's and made me promise to phone him to pick me up instead of trying to walk home. 'Remember, there's a mad genius criminal mastermind on the loose, and you never know where he might be,' he said. 

Actually, I was fairly sure that I DID know where the mad genius criminal mastermind was, but I didn't tell Dad that." p. 34                                                                                                           Mentor Text For: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Visualizing, Predicting, Making Inferences, Personal Narrative, Narrative, Characterization
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when someone didn't believe what you were saying or didn't understand that you were right. How did you convince them? Choose a scene from one of you favorite TV shows or movies and see if you can bring it to life in writing as a story, try to be descriptive and include dialogue to capture the action that happens in the scene.  
Topics Covered: Friendship, Family, Loyalty, Honesty, Integrity, Perseverance, Evil, Doing What's Right, Fake Mustaches, Rodeo/Horseback Riding, Humor
Jen *hearts* It:

No comments:

Post a Comment