Well, Summer Reading is winding down. My school doesn’t start up for a while, but my family has to go on vacation. (Of course I’ll still read, but I won’t be reviewing.)
Hope you all had a great summer and got at least one bingo–check out mine below! And don’t worry about school. Somehow, the Dudes always survive, so I’m sure you will too.
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!)
Hope you’re stoked for summer reading! I’m ready to keep my head in a book and ignore my little brothers all summer long. There are a lot of great adventures out there, and whenever the Dudes and I aren’t making our own, I like to soak up all the great times from great reads.
Where the Chronicles Fit In:
Here are how the Dudes books could be used on your card:
Save the Dudes: Bats, Man! (Deven becomes a vampire, if that counts), Chill Out (how we air-conditioned the Dudes Dojo), Keepin’ It Real (the Dudes series is totally realistic!), These Are My Peeps (my five best bros)
Dudes Take Over: Keepin’ It Real (the Dudes series is totally realistic!), Secrets and Legends (Mr. Maguire has some awesome spooky stores and school legends), Not This Again! (second book of the Dudes series), Cold Hard Cash (it’s all about the coconut bucks),
Summer of the Dudes: Worth 1000 Words (check out the pictures of Nate’s contraptions), Chill Out (keeping cool on the river), Danger! Will Robinson (emergency preparedness is key), Third Time’s the Charm (this is the third Dudes book), Keepin’ It Real (the Dudes series is totally realistic!)
Dudes in the Middle: Keepin’ It Real (the Dudes series is totally realistic!), Secrets and Legends (Dude! Stewart Towel is a secret and a legend!), Super Powers (Nate’s superpower is disrupting assemblies), Here There Be Dragons (Every middle school has one. It’s usually the principal.)
Dudes Dog Days: Winging It (Flying Hot Dogs!), Are We There Yet? (Freewheelin’ in Grandad’s RV), Keepin’ It Real (the Dudes series is totally realistic!), Talk to the Animals (this book has dogs, cats, and little brothers),
Dudes Hard Target: Keepin’ It Real (the Dudes series is totally realistic!), Mind Bender (Sarge’s defense strategies as well as his claim that girls are guys), War! (another word for Teresa’s soccer sleepover), Chill Out (the chapter on snow assassins will keep you cool),
Tyler’s Recs:
If you want to start off the summer with some excitement, try The Dragon Defenders: Book One by James Russell. Flynn and Paddy live on a secret island with their family. But the island has dragons, and a bad guy named The Pitbull sends men to kill a dragon and steal its egg. The bad guys have motor boats and helicopters, but the boys have slingshots and bows and arrows. They also have better knowledge of the island.
Can the brothers thwart The Pitbull’s evil henchmen and protect the dragons? You have to read it to find out, but I guarantee you’ll enjoy the ride. I liked the characters in this book. The brothers got along and worked together but still seemed like brothers. The dragons were wild, dangerous creatures. They didn’t talk to the kids or do magic. Also, other than there being dragons, everything seemed like our regular, modern world, which makes this series seem like something that could happen to me and the Dudes (I mean, if we had a secret island).
This is the first in a five book series. It also has something extra: augmented reality content. If you download the AR Reads app onto a second device and point it at certain marked pages in the ebook, you get to watch little scenes like the cut-scenes from a video game. They are the coded messages from The Pitbull as well as videos, and 3-D maps. You don’t really need them to read the story, but they are cool extras, especially when you get to see what The Pitbull looks like in person. They work whether you buy the ebook or the paperback.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: HERE THERE BE DRAGONS (obviously), WORTH 1000 WORDS (for the cool pictures), IT’S A FLICK (because it actually has videos embedded in the book), WINGING IT (dragons fly), and, of course, SECRETS AND LEGENDS.
The Boys Start the War by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is book one in a 12-book series called Boy/Girl Battle. The Hatford brothers want to make the Malloy sisters move away from their small West Virginian town. But the girls are tougher than they bargained for. Pretty soon, both sides are pulling pranks and making mischief. As a veteran of boys against the girls battles myself, I can attest that they are super fun. And, if you don’t have a gang of girls to match wits with, reading this series is the next best thing. Don’t worry. It’s not trying to trick you into liking girls or anything mushy. But you’ll come away respecting them and with some great ideas for mischief too!
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: WAR! (obviously), DANGER! WILL ROBINSON (due to the girls), KEEPIN’ IT REAL (realistic fiction), THESE ARE MY PEEPS! (I’m not from West Virginia, but I’ve got brothers and bros),
Big Nate Flips Out by Lincoln Peirce. This is the fifth book in the Big Nate series so far. But reading them out of order is no big deal. This episode is pretty funny and also pretty realistic. I mean, I know more than a few guys (Connor) who are as messy as Nate. But what I really like in this book is when Nate gets hypnotized to be neat. Classic funny for sure! Plus, how can Nate make it up to his friend, Francis, for revealing his biggest secret? And what happened to the school’s yearbook camera? See if you can follow the clues and figure it out. It’s LOL all the way.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: WORTH 1000 WORDS (it’s mostly comics with a few paragraphs thrown in), KEEPIN’ IT REAL, QUICKIE READ, SUPER POWERS (there’s a guy who can hypnotize people), NOT THIS AGAIN (it’s the 5th in a series), THESE ARE MY PEEPS (if you’re a middle schooler)
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Mattie lives with her mom and grandfather over their coffee shop in the heart of the city of Philadelphia. But, when yellow fever strikes the city, Mattie is left on her own to deal with it. Should she hide or should she run? How can she protect herself and her home? When the city is quarantined, how can she find food and take care of her grandfather? This is an epidemic in a time with no vaccines and no tests and no internet to keep you sane. It’s like a futuristic dystopia but set in the past. I really got into it, and I think you will too.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: THESE ARE MY PEEPS (if your people are from Philadelphia or you’ve caught Covid or any other pandemic), DANGER! WILL ROBINSON, FORSOOTH! (because it’s historical), IT STANDS ALONE (not part of a series).
The Island Stallion by Walter Farley. You might have seen the movie of The Black Stallion. It’s awesome. But it’s based on a book, and that guy that wrote that book wrote a whole bunch of horse novels. I’ve read like twenty of them. And The Island Stallion is my favorite! The reason is that the island from the title has a secret valley hidden behind high cliffs of rock. To find the horses, the main character, Steve, and his friend, Pitch, has to scale rock walls and discover hidden tunnels lost since the time of the Spanish Conquistadors. Can he save the fiery stallion called Flame? You will not stop reading until you find out!
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: IT’S A FLICK (although the movie is of another book in the series), BATS, MAN! (there be caves here), ARE WE THERE YET? (this would be great to read on a cruise or a beach trip), SECRETS AND LEGENDS, and TALK TO THE ANIMALS.
Henry Reed’s Babysitting Service by Keith Robertson. Henry’s the kind of guy who likes to make the most of his summer. That’s why he starts a babysitting service with his best friend, Midge. Parents are willing to pay, and it sounds, easy. But (as the Dudes and I can tell you) babysitting little kids always leads to surprises. There’s a kid who keeps disappearing, and a kid who does death-defying stunts. There’s even an accidental flood! This book is set in some olden times too, where kids drink cokes at every meal, which is kinda fun to imagine. But all this stuff could totally happen in our neighborhood. Kids still want to make money over the summer and parents still want to find someone who can manage their little kids.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: KEEPIN’ IT REAL, MIND BENDER (how is that kid disappearing?), IT STANDS ALONE (although there are other Henry Reed books, so you should check them out), THESE ARE MY PEEPS (kids who have their own hang-out place and like to do stuff in the summer), COLD HARD CASH.We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes by Patrick Jennings. This is a prison story. What’s it like to be taken from your home and held against your will? Will the other prisoners help or hurt you? How do you feel about your jailer? And…do you have a chance of escaping? These are the makings of a great prison drama. But this prisoner is a snake–a gopher snake who is captured and held prisoner as a pet! Did you ever think about it that way? It makes me wonder what my dog is thinking. Anyway, this snake’s life as a prisoner is full of excitement from scaring the math teacher to going on hunger strike. You’ll be rooting for him and his fellow detainees. It’s a really quick read too. I didn’t put it down until I was finished. Warning: some minor characters/animals do die.
On the Dude-A-Rific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: HERE THERE BE DRAGONS (If you count the lizards. It’s a reptile-centric book.), KEEPIN’ IT REAL, TALK TO THE ANIMALS, QUICKIE READ, IT STANDS ALONE.
Hooky by Miriam Bonastre Tur. Hooky was originally a web comic released on the Webtoon app. It’s now out in print as a two-book series, and I read book 1. The story is about twin witches, Dorian and Dani, who miss the bus to witch school and get caught up in a wild magical adventure, meeting new friends along the way. Like a lot of anime/manga that I’ve seen, nothing is really explained. You just jump into the world and go “what?” when crazy stuff happens (like that there are fire-spitting
frogs or floating castles). The characters are funny and silly, and there are plenty of laughs. But don’t be surprised that there is a dark element here. Some angry witches are planning to destroy non-witches, and there is a prophecy about an evil witch king. People die and fall in love (not in that order) and change allegiances, which definitely kept me reading. It’s super fast to read too because it is mostly pictures.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: WORTH 1000 WORDS, IT’S A FLICK (actually a webtoon), WINGING IT (lots of flying), HERE THERE BE DRAGONS, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (kids are supposed to be learning magic skills), SECRETS AND LEGENDS, UH-OH! IT’S MAGIC, and QUICKIE READ.
The Boy Who Painted the World by Melody J. Bremen. This is a scary story. I mean, it’s not about murders and zombies and stuff. It’s about a kid who doesn’t have parents or a house to live in, which is really scary if you think about it. I was kind of on the edge of my seat the whole time, worrying where he would spend the night and how he would get food. I guess that’s what it is like for homeless kids. But there’s other stuff I didn’t know about too, like how it is to think like a real artist. Indigo (that’s the kid, but it’s also the name of a color) loves to draw–no, he lives to draw! And the drawing helps him live too. It keeps him company when he is alone and scared, and it helps him meet some people who are also into art. And pretty soon, he’s bringing art to his whole community! It’s a really exciting story, and I think you’ll like it.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: WORTH 1000 WORDS (because it’s about pictures), CHILL OUT (Indigo gets really cold outside at night), PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (Indigo keeps drawing and even learns to paint), DANGER! WILL ROBINSON, KEEPIN’ IT REAL, IT STANDS ALONE, THESE ARE MY PEEPS (if you’re an artist or a homeless person or an orphan), COLD HARD CASH (Indigo has to earn some money every day to eat).
I Am the Ice Worm by MaryAnn Easley. I grabbed this out of a Little Free Library in my neighborhood because it had such a weird title. But, once I started reading it, it grabbed me back. The story is about a 14-year-old girl named Allison, who’s in a plane crash in Alaska and gets rescued by the Inuit (they are native people who live in the arctic). Living with them is totally different than her life in California or really anyone else’s. I mean, night lasts all day, and you can actually just die from the cold there. And there are no schools or doctors or 9-1-1. They are totally off the grid, so no bathrooms or electricity. And everybody eats frozen fish and seal oil. It’s wild. And there is this mystery too, about a girl who everybody hates and a fire that’s started on purpose. And what will Allison do if the mail plane never comes to take her to her mother? If you read this, you won’t be bored.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: WINGING IT (for flying, and crashing, in a bush plane), CHILL OUT (If you’re having a heat dome, I feel you. We had one last year. This book will bring your imagination the cold, which might help.), DANGER! WILL ROBINSON, KEEPIN’ IT REAL, QUICKIE READ, IT STANDS ALONE, and THESE ARE MY PEEPS (If you’re Native American or First Nations–which is Native Americans of Canada.)
The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau. This is the third in the Book of Ember series. However, my copy said it was the fourth book. This is because there is another book, The Prophet of Yonwood, which is a prequel. Anyway, this book is the continuation of the story of Doon and Lina from the first and second books. This time, they return to Ember to find out about a secret piece of technology that could make surviving in the post-apocalyptic world easier. But there are others who also want it and dangers in the dark city that their people left behind. This series just grabbed me. Ever since I read the first book, I keep thinking about that world where people are struggling to survive and don’t remember how humanity got in this mess. In the world of Ember, the art of reading is rare, and the only answers come from tattered books the society of the past left behind. We’ve had our own brush with dystopia in the real world lately, so I’m grateful for all the great places summer reading can take me.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: BATS, MAN! (I like books with caves), STARTED AT THE END (the end of civilization, that is), CHILL OUT (it’s winter), DANGER! WILL ROBINSON, THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM, SECRETS AND LEGENDS, and NOT THIS AGAIN!
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. This is the second book of the Dark Is Rising Sequence. It is totally different from the first book which is about other kids who live in another place in England. They found a powerful object: the grail, which was meant to help the good Old Ones battle the Dark. The boy from this book, Will, must gather six magical Signs, and he IS one of the Old Ones. We get a lot more detail on the magic fight this time. The main character is an 11-year-old boys celebrating Christmas with his family at the same time that he is an immortal who jumps backward in time and matches wits with evil to collect the signs. It’s really spooky and also Christmas-y. The only problem is that whole thing feels pretty scripted, like it all has to happen a certain way and will always come out the same. The adult Old Ones basically tell Will what to do at every turn. Still, we don’t quite know how all this stuff will fit together, so I am up for reading the next book in the series just to get some more of that dangerous atmosphere and figure it all out.
On the Dude-A-Rrific Summer Reading Bingo card, this book qualifies for: WINGING IT (the Rooks are scary), STARTED AT THE END (Will is the last Old One), CHILL OUT (there’s a snowstorm), SECRETS AND LEGENDS (this all ties in with King Arthur), MIND BENDER (lots of secret identities here), WAR!, NOT THIS AGAIN!, and THESE ARE MY PEEPS (my ancestors were English).
Tyler’s Card So Far:
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