Alf A. Bet

Shy middle grader Alf A. Bet (who wants to keep his middle name secret) accidentally learns the entire encyclopedia. He, three other children, and the school's pet hamster get thrown together against their wishes. They learn to work with each other and use their individual skills to solve a worsening life-or-death crisis. After a successful outcome, the town celebrates at a local amusement park. This quirky story playfully pokes fun at itself, the reader, students, teachers, principals, coaches, cooks, adults, animals, Grandpa, and even the English language. Clever, innovative use of footnotes, glossary definitions, em-dashes, ellipses, intentional misspellings, Roman Numerals, whimsical names, parenthetical asides, word play, and emoticons all help to build a reader-author bond. They also add to the laughs and have educational value. There is a little bit of early romance. Unique chapters contain: words that mostly start with the same letter; partial famous quotations that the reader may try to identify and complete; words using numbers 4 letters; a dream sequence containing all the words in numerous nursery rhymes; text printed in disappearing ink. The surprise ending is pleasant and thought-provoking.