Hi! It’s me, Tyler. It’s time for Summer Reading once again! I’ve got a great bingo card for you, this year. Click below to print your own or just follow along online. I’ll be coming to you every week with a review of what I’m reading. Feel free to choose your own books or visit this page for my previous reviews.

To print your own bingo card, click below:

(Use each book only once, Dudes!)

(And only books you haven’t read before count!)

(Sorry, Connor!)

(ITEOTWAWKI stands for: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It)

Tyler’s Recs:

Summer Reading is winding down and schools across the country are starting up. I chose this week’s book because, even though it is about school, it’s a wacky good time to help you look forward to the coming year and all the wacky fun you and your friends will get up to.
The book is The Unteachables by Gordon Korman. And the kids in it aren’t friends at first. They’re the “bad” kids who get stuck in an 8th grade class together to make a hard time for the “bad” teacher, Mr. Kermit.
Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different kid or Mr. Kermit or even an adult who used to be Mr. Kermit’s student a long time ago.
The kids are a mess, and so is their teacher. They do a lot of crazy things and make big, hilarious mistakes. Kiana isn’t officially enrolled in school, Aldo is a lizard’s favorite person, everyone is afraid of Elaine, and Mateo calls the teacher Squidward! But I liked them right away.
Mr. Kermit reminded me of Mr. Isaak. And the kids were a lot of fun to spend time with. (Wait until you see what they do with the props from the pep rally!) And that’s kind of the point of reading–to get in the heads of different characters and to spend time with people who you’ve come to know and like.
In the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo, this book qualifies for:LOL, BEEN THERE. HAVEN’T DONE THAT, BAD GOOD-GUY OR GOOD BAD-GUY, ‘CAUSE YOU MISS SCHOOL, ITEOTWAWKI (if that’s how you feel about summer ending), and ODDYSSEYS.

This week I’m reviewing one of Nate’s favorite non-fiction books: Defending Your Castle: Build Catapults, Crossbows, Moats, Bulletproof Shields, and More Defensive Devices to Fend Off the Invading Hordes by William Gurstelle. It’s kind of a wish-book for kids like the Dudes (and probably some paranoid adults).
Each chapter gives you an overview of how some famous warrior of history attacked or defended a castle, fort, or city. Then the author gives you real instructions for how you could build things like a palisade wall or an armored castle door using modern tools and supplies that you could buy at the hardware store. There’s even a Kevlar backpack shield!
Of course, the Dudes don’t have money, and our parents don’t let us use power tools. Besides that, we better hope that Teresa and her soccer team don’t acquire any siege engines. But a kid can dream. The history parts are really cool, and the diagrams and plans are bound to give you ideas. I advise reading it on the beach so you can try out some of the plans on your sand castles.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Book Bingo Card this book qualifies for: CAN YOU SEE IT?, THE OLD COUNTRY, CONTRAPTIONS, ITEOTWAWKI, JUST DO IT, and SWORDS AND CROWNS.

This week I read The Green Ember by S.D. Smith and Illustrated by Zach Franzen. Wow! This story really grabbed me and took me down the rabbit hole. It’s about these two rabbit kids, Heather and Picket, whose peaceful home is attacked by a wolf army. (The chase scene at the beginning of the book had my heart pounding.)
They get taken in by this group of rabbit resistance that are trying to rebuild their society after a bitter betrayal destroyed their king. Heather and Picket’s family is involved in the whole secret history. Turns out rabbit parents, just like humans, don’t bother to tell their kids the good stuff either.
There is an evil crow king and a war council and a secret heir to the crown. And Heather and Picket will have to make choices and sacrifices as they fight to build a better world. So I will totally be back for the other books in this 4-book series to see how they do it.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book fits: NOT A HUMAN STORY, BOOK WITH A MAP, NOT WHAT I EXPECTED, and SWORDS AND CROWNS.

This week I delved into the Jack Jones adventure series with The Pirate Treasure by Zander Bingham with illustrations by Andrea Dailey. Three modern kids go to a Caribbean island and brave secret passages and booby traps to discover a hidden Spanish Galleon. What a great idea! The setting and the map and clues are all awesome. So I can totally recommend this book on the plot alone.
However, to me, the kids talked like adults. And they weren’t quirky or interesting in themselves. So, while I loved the adventure, I didn’t care about the characters the way you do in, say, Treasure Island, where you wonder about the treasure, but you also worry for Jim’s safety and you like Long John but wonder if he can be trusted.
Of course, lots of people just want to follow the story. If that’s you, this story, and the others in the series will give you some thrills and chills. Also, the pictures are amazing, so you get to see all the cool caves and booby traps. They are pretty quick to read, too.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo Card, this book fits: CONTRAPTIONS (made by pirates!), BOOK WITH A MAP, JUST DO IT, THERE’S A SHIP IN IT, ITS ABOUT TIME.

This book, A Girl, a Raccoon, and the Midnight Moon by Karen Romano Young has a mystery, but it isn’t a mystery book like Encyclopedia Brown. The main character, Pearl, who is the librarian’s child is trying to solve the mystery of a stolen head (don’t worry, it’s a statue, so there is nothing gross). But she’s also trying to save one special library branch that serves her neighborhood. Pearl’s life has all the realistic things you expect in a story about the city: people of all colors and nationalities, a mysterious homeless guy (The Dudes have experienced that in the suburbs too!), subways and newspaper stands and government budget problems, a gossipy business owner, eccentric artists, a fledgling rock band, a nosy reporter, and developers who want to tear down the library and build apartments.
But there are other things…suspicious notes, a secret midnight edition of the newspaper, and wild creatures that aren’t as wild as Pearl expects. And then there are these strange sidebars in the book itself, written by a mysterious stranger who goes by the initials: M.A.M. Is there more to life in the city than seems realistic? Can you “suspend disbelief”? And, most of all, do you want to if it means saving the Lancaster Avenue branch of the New York City Library?
Bonus: there are lots of books mentioned within this book. If you haven’t read some of them, give them a try.
If you read my recs, you know that I like books that take me on a ride, but this one took me on a different ride than usual. It wasn’t sword fights or falling off cliffs. It was more like I wasn’t sure what the book was about or how it was going to end. I kept changing my mind about what was real and even about whether I wanted the library to be saved. That’s a ride worth taking. Hope you enjoy it too.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo Card, this book counts for: CAN YOU SEE IT?, BEEN THERE. HAVEN’T DONE THAT, NOT A HUMAN STORY (really, it’s both human and not), NOT WHAT I EXPECTED, CURRENT EVENTS.

Live and Let Swim, is part of the My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish series by Mo O’Hara. There’s also a spin-off series about the bad guys called My Fangtastically Evil Vampire Pet. First, let me say that this book is not one story but two! The book also contains a second zombie goldfish story: My Pet’s Got Talent. I had never read any zombie goldfish stories, and this is book #5, but it was totally fine to start in the middle of the series, as long as you accept the basic premise: that Tom has a zombie goldfish that can hypnotize people and Tom’s big brother is evil and has a vampire kitten. Once you get on that train, you’re on the way to wacky town.
So that’s a warning: you either love something that is this far off from reality or you don’t. If you like wacky, it still has to be funny and a good ride.
I liked this book because: The good guys were normal kids who had a clear enemy: evil megalomaniacal big brothers, the pets were powerful, and the parents were clueless. Maybe you can relate? Anyway, I also liked how all the chapters in the first story were take-offs on James Bond titles: “Tomorrow Never Dives”, “The Boy with the Golden Fish”, etc. The plots are completely unbelievable, but the solutions are clever. Using a pet talent show to take over the world? Foiling the bad guys with a teleporting turtle? All in all, it’s a good time.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo Card, this book fits: LOL, BEEN THERE. HAVEN’T DONE THAT, (the aquarium), NOT A HUMAN STORY (if you see it from Frankie’s point of view), CONTRAPTIONS, BAD GOOD GUY OR GOOD BAD GUY (Frankie is an undead good guy-uh-fish, and Tom and Pradeep’s evil brothers Mark and Sanj are evil incarnate), and, of course, BIZARRE.

This week I’m reviewing the second book in the City of Ember series: The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau. If you haven’t started the series yet, you could start with Book 1 or start here, with Book 2 and go back later to read Book 1 as a prequel–kind of like how Star Wars gave us three stories before and three stories after the original three stories.
The City of Ember Series is this epic story about the world after something horrible has happened. The kids in the first book escape the City of Ember and travel to a new place: The town of Sparks. They are trying to find out what happened to the world and also trying to find a safe place to be. In fact, everybody is just trying to survive. And it’s not easy.
After book 1, I really wondered how things went for the heroes, Lina and Doon, and all the people who had to leave Ember due to lack of food and electricity. So I had to come back to this book world to discover more.
Lina and Doon thought they would learn all the answers when they left Ember. But the People of Sparks are just as much in the dark about what they call “The Disaster” that ended our world (global connection and modern conveniences) and created theirs (basically pioneer farming and scavenging for scraps). Was there a war? A plague? Climate disaster? No one knows, but everyone seems to be suffering.
In this book, the people of Ember create a crisis in Sparks when they show up and need food and a place to live. Can the town of Sparks absorb so many visitors? Will they have enough food? And what’s the best thing to do when you don’t know the answers to those questions? There is a mystery going on and a clash of leadership.
At the same time, Lina goes traveling and gets a wider view of the devastation. There are more questions than answers, which is just how I like it. Can’t wait to return again for the third book. Reading this series just might become a summer tradition.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo Card, the book fits these squares: SEQUELS STRIKE BACK, ITEOTWAWKI, ODDYSSEYS, and CURRENT EVENTS (hello! refugees from Syria and Central America).

This book is not fiction. At least, I hope it’s not. It sounds like an old guy telling some really cool stories about this fort he and his friend built back in the day. The book is The Fort by JP Poley with pictures by Jason Blower.
It’s like you’re listening to your dad, but he actually did cool stuff when he was a kid. In the book, these two guys build this awesome fort with a dug-out room and a tower and every thing. They do it all by themselves.
They hang out there and keep valuables like candy and baseball cards. They even spend the night in the fort. Exciting stuff happens too, like getting attacked by girls and even a flood!
The book is only 50 pages, but I wish there was more. Apparently the 1980’s wasn’t as uncool as my parents make it sound.
Anyway, if you’re playing Dude-A-Rriffic Summer Reading Bingo, the book fits these squares: LOL, JUST DO IT, NOT WHAT I EXPECTED, and IT’S ABOUT TIME.

This week I read My Family Divided: One Girl’s Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope by Diane Guerrero with Erica Moroz. Sort of like the Dudes, it’s the author telling about what happened in her life when she was a kid. The problem is, a lot of bad stuff happened that wasn’t her fault. Her parents came to the U.S. as visitors and decided to stay, which is sort of illegal. So Diane has to keep their secrets and worry. And then, one day, the worst happens: her parents are taken by officers of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and sent away to Columbia. That leaves her, a middle schooler, alone and taking care of herself.
This book is kind of scary, even for kids like me whose parents have all the papers they need to stay in the country. I mean, the idea that officers wouldn’t help you, that the government wouldn’t care, that there could be no way to legally solve your troubles. It sounds like the Nazis rounding people up.
It’s also really interesting on another level: It turns out Diane is famous now. She’s an actress on a TV show. So you can see how she starts as a kid, training and working and hoping in order to become a real actress for her job.
The truth is, if she didn’t become a famous actress, her story probably wouldn’t have been published.
This book was a fast read and really exciting. I finished it in about three days. I highly recommend it.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo Card, it fits these squares: BEEN THERE, HAVEN’T DONE THAT (if you’ve been to Boston or Columbia), ITEOTWAWKI, NOT MY CULTURE, RACE OR RELIGION (Diane is Latina and Catholic), and, of course, CURRENT EVENTS.

If you don’t know what a crossover is, google it. Watch a couple video examples, and you’re set for this basketball-related book: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. I’m not much of a sports, guy, but I LOVED it!
Josh and Jordan Bell are star players on their b-ball team. But the book is not really about the big tournament. I’ve noticed that the best books are like that–they are not about the big game or the big fight or the big competition. They are about what’s going on inside the hero.
Josh has got some stuff to deal with: his brother has a girlfriend, his dad is sick, and Josh has just screwed up big-time in front of everybody.
Here’s the weird thing. We know what Josh is thinking because he thinks it all in poetry (not the rhyming kind). That means every page tells something he feels in a very small space. The book is a super-fast read, and you don’t have to deal with paragraphs of description. It’s like that crossover video plays in your head while you read the lines and you feel it along with Josh. I like a poetry book…who would’ve thought?
This book has tons of awards, so you might want to save it to read for some required reading for school (you can read the whole thing in an afternoon). But, if you’re using it for the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo, it fits these squares: CAN YOU SEE IT? (it’s all in your head, bro), THEY TALK WEIRD (all in poetry), JUST DO IT (may inspire free-throw practice), CURRENT EVENTS (there’s a driving-while-black police stop).

I have two more weeks of school, so, in my free time, I escaped it by jumping into the year 1491 and a spooky old castle in Midnight Magic by Avi. The main character is a magician’s apprentice, Fabrizio. Everybody believes his master’s tricks are real sorcery, so he’s in trouble (because sorcery is illegal back then). The only way out is to get rid of a ghost so the king’s daughter can marry.
Of course, the king’s daughter is one of those girls, like Teresa, who is both smart and crazy and has her own scheme going. And Fabrizio is caught in the middle. There are hidden passages, secret identities, and wailing spirits.
The people in this book were great. I loved the sly humor whenever Fabrizio and his master teased each other. And the way Fabrizio balanced sucking up to powerful people and unnerving them with his sleight of hand.
Even Fabrizio couldn’t decide whether this ghost was real or, as his master says, there must be a rational explanation. So it was a good mystery right down to the last page.
I would love to spend more time with these characters, and, if you’re interested, there’s a prequel to Midnight Magic called Murder at Midnight.
On the Dudes Summer Book Bingo card, here’s how this book qualifies: CAN YOU SEE IT? (can’t beat the spooky castle/hidden passageways setting), THE OLD COUNTRY, THEY TALK WEIRD (in ye olde medieval way), CONTRAPTIONS (read it and you’ll see), ONE WORD TITLE OR AUTHOR (Avi), GODS AND GHOSTS (obviously), ITS ABOUT TIME (’cause it takes you back to the old days).

Actually, my school isn’t quite over yet, but I got my first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine last week and had to wait the required 15 minutes after, so I couldn’t really help getting started on a good book:
The Secrets of Alaburg, by Greg Walters.
This book is translated from German. In fact, it’s billed as the “German Harry Potter”, and I would say it is not that. But it is long (488 pages – which is not a problem for me), and there is a magic school, and there is a crew of classmates who live together and struggle to pass their classes and develop their magic skills. Oh, and there is a magic tournament!
On the other hand, outside of this hidden school in the mountains, there is not a modern muggle world like ours. Instead, there is a medieval world of hamlets and dark forests where a new evil menace is growing.
The main character, Bryn, and his friends are in training to take on this menace, so, awesome.
I really liked the diverse group of misfits that become Bryn’s friends–a human (Bryn), a dwarf, an orc, and a half-fairy. (Like the Dudes, they don’t really have girls who are friends — at least in this first book). But there is a girl Bryn “like-likes” who needs to be rescued.
The kids have to learn to work their different skills together to be effective in battles. And I liked the idea that the school is meant to combat racism (like between the magical races and humans) but, like all schools, it sometimes makes things worse.
The second book in the series is coming on September 1, and I’m looking forward to it!
On the Dudes Summer Book Bingo card, here’s how this book qualifies: THE OLD COUNTRY, NOT A HUMAN STORY (except for Bryn), NOT WHAT I EXPECTED (because, even though it is Hogwarts-like, it is pretty different).

Where the Chronicles Fit In:

Here are how the Dudes books could be used on your card:
Save the Dudes: LOL (obviously), CONTRAPTIONS (the dojo challenges), ITEOTWAWKI (apocalypse, Dude-style!), JUST DO IT (because Dudes are all about doing)

Dudes Take Over: SEQUELS STRIKE BACK, CONTRAPTIONS (Nate’s robot/bomb), ‘CAUSE YOU MISS SCHOOL (yeah, right), GODS AND GHOSTS (the haunted side-yard)

Summer of the Dudes: CONTRAPTIONS (the earthquake simulator), ODD-YSSEYS (the voyage of the S.S. Dudes), BIZARRE (cryptid hunt)

Dudes in the Middle: CONTRAPTIONS (Nate’s art sculpture/jamming device), ‘CAUSE YOU MISS SCHOOL, NOT WHAT I EXPECTED (probably not what you thought middle school would be like),

Dudes Dog Days: BEEN THERE, HAVEN’T DONE THAT (Mt. Rainier National Park, anyone?), NOT A HUMAN STORY (this is the story of a Dude who is a dog), CONTRAPTIONS (dog elevator)

Tyler’s Card So Far:

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