Charlie Is Losing It, Until He's Saved By ....(?)

I'm a big fan of the Charlie Bumpers books. This is number four of at least five. If you start at the beginning you'll get to watch Charlie grow up and build confidence and maturity, but if necessary you can start anywhere. Charlie is a sort of everyman middle grader and is remarkably authentic sounding and relatable for such a character. These are to some extent "message" books, since there is usually at least one main thread and a few sub-threads that address issues middle graders are likely to encounter, but the books certainly aren't preachy or heavy-handed.

That said, this one started out poorly, to my mind. Charlie's family is hosting Thanksgiving, and Charlie is being quite a grump. Hosting the holiday interferes with some TV special Charlie's looking forward to. He has to share his bedroom with a cousin, Chip, whom he dislikes. He's very much annoyed by this cousin. Everything's just a pain and Charlie whinges constantly. Then Chip shows up and every time he misbehaves Charlie somehow gets blamed. Between the unfairness and Charlie griping about the unfairness I kept waiting for some uptick. It's all played for laughs and Charlie's never really a bad kid, but it was all starting to get dreary.

But get this. SPOILER ALERT. Charlie has an older brother and a younger sister, and both of them torment Charlie in predictable sibling fashion. This time out, though, the two decide that Charlie is getting a raw deal and they rally 'round to help him out. The theme is "go team Bumpers". I did not see that coming, and the cheerful strong feel-good finish was a treat. Indeed, the effect was a powerful pro-family, warts-and-all, we're all in this together, message that hit home. What a fine wrap to a Thanksgiving holiday themed book.

So, a slow start and a socko finish combined to make this another quality entry in the Charlie Bumpers series. (Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)