Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.
This Book Is Not Good For You by Pseudonymous BoschPublisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: September 2009
ISBN: 9780316040860
Source: Library
The secret to the most delicious tasting chocolate in the world? What could be bad about that? Unfortunately, this book is not good for you, and thus I can't tell you anything about it. Oh, except Cass' mom has been kidnapped by an evil master chef who, for the ransom, wants a magical instrument with super powers that will allow the Midnight Sun access to the secret. Read at your own risk.
Things I Liked:
Once again, this series delights and surprises me. I love the wit and the dry humor and the positively extraordinary plot. This book delves not only into the realm of the unbelievable, but it also manages to poignantly discuss the actions of people who are under stress and what we will do to save our families. A romping, funny, good time of a book that will delight kids and adults of all ages. And make you crave chocolate like you never have before. Favorite parts:
You know, people always warn children about taking candy from strange adults. But they never warn us adults about taking candy from strange children. All those sweet-looking kids who sell boxes of candy bars on the street to help pay for their schooling - how do we know what's in those bars? And don't get me started on that nefarious institution designed to lure unsuspecting customers into buying mysterious frosted goodies: the bake sale. p 36
I'm not anti-vanilla, just pro-chocolate. I wanted to make that clear for all the villains, oops! I'm sorry, I mean vanillains, out there. You know who you are. p 190Things I Didn't Like:
I imagine the humor and side notes would get old if you read all the books at once (well, if your are an adult, maybe not a kid). But one at a time, they are a delight!
Read-alikes:
Read the first two books in the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Reminds me also of the Alcatraz series by Brandon Sanderson
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none
mrg-factor: none
v-factor: none
Overall rating: ****
Totally unrelated, but I posted my 400th book review last week! Crazy!
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage
Posts
Love this series! It also reminds me of The Series of Unfortunate Events. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this series, but I'll keep in mind to not read them all at once. I think I would find that annoying.
ReplyDeleteVanillains....oh my gosh. That is too punny.
ReplyDeleteI have the first book on my TBR, but I hadn't heard anything about it or its sequels prior to your review here. I'm so glad I clicked on the Tween Tuesday link to your blog!
ReplyDeleteFrom the description, I got the impression that this would be a funny book with a lot of dry wit. Your review confirmed all my thoughts and then some. I'm really excited to start on this series.
Do any of the books end on cliffhangers?
Julia, oh yes! It definitely has that same feeling.
ReplyDeleteGreenBean, definitely you should try it, but one at a time, of course :)
Alison, it is chock full of that kind of awesome!
Small Review, thus far none of them are particularly cliff-hanger-y. In fact, they all seem to wrap up the current plot quite nicely. But, there's usually one or two small threads that will continue in the next ones. The villains are all the same, so they usually manage to escape justice. Definitely a witty series.
Thanks for the info. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear :)
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to read this author for some time. Is this a series that can be read out of order? This first one sounds delicious. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the review.
Small review, hope you enjoy them!
ReplyDeleteSheela, I don't know that I'd read them out of order, but I kind of forgot a lot of stuff from the other books anyway. Still, probably best in order.