Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Extra Credit

Gr 4–7—The boy introduced in Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading (Roaring Brook, 2011) is back, and with the summer looming and his grades far from par, Camp Rituhbukkee (Reading Camp!) seems inevitable. Charlie Joe makes a seemingly impossible deal with his parents-if he brings his grades up to all A's and one B (science is a hopeless cause for him), he can avoid the dreaded camp. Deal in place, he begs each of his teachers for extra-credit projects. The drama teacher tells him that he needs to audition for the school play, Paper Tiger: The Life and Legend of Arthur Scott, which is based on the life of the man who invented paper towels, and his art teacher uses Charlie Joe as a painting model dressed as a boy foxhunter in 19th-century England. As in the first book, Charlie Joe intersperses tips for readers throughout, such as, "If you're doing extra credit for a teacher, you have to like them. (Or at least pretend to like them.)" His likable friends try to help him achieve the nearly impossible, and along the way he begins to realize that completing the actual schoolwork in the first place would have been much easier than trying to catch up with studying and doing extra credit. Small comical illustrations complement the breezy writing style. Sure to appeal to reluctant readers who will identify with Charlie Joe's knack for avoiding reading and schoolwork, this title would also make a fabulous read-aloud. Luckily for fans of Charlie Joe, another installment in this unlikely hero's life is forthcoming.Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA