Now here is a book I would expect to see on the Rebecca Caudill Nominee list. It is dead on appropriate contemporary realistic fiction and tech savvy to boot! David Greenberg is an eleven-year-old aspiring talk show host. Jon Stewart is his role model. David and his Hamster, Hammy, already have several videos posted to YouTube. He doesn’t have but a few followers, but this is just practice for the big leagues.
David used to have a partner in crime, his best friend Elliot. It helps to have someone to hold your camera and move when you move. But Elliot discovered girls the summer before the two began middle school as 6th graders. Girls? Really? David wonders what can be more fun that producing TalkTime with David Greenberg, watching episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and constructing with K’nex. According to Elliot… hanging out at the mall and scoping for girls. Being a good friend, David humors Elliot. Number of TalkTime videos made this summer? Zero! Number of visits to the mall? Twenty-four! Ugh!
So summer was a total waste and now middle school doesn’t look to be much better. David and Elliot have parted ways due to dissimilar interests and harsh words. Of course, starting a new school with someone at your side is exponentially better than going it alone. David is horrified to discover that while he has yet to replace Elliot, Elliot has replaced David – with the class bully! You know, the kid you are warned to stay away from or at least stay on the best side of? The kid most likely to lurk in the bathroom and surprise you with a swirlie. Yes, I really was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but it certainly did!
Life isn’t all bad though. In a school where everyone is essentially new whichever elementary school they arrived from, there is always a kid who is greener. Enter Sophie Meyers, recently homeschooled and now unleashed on middle school. And David shares math and science class with her. David isn’t the popular type, and yet Sophie takes a shine to him. Or maybe it is because they’re the only two 6th-graders in 7th-grade math…
When Sophie and David get paired up on their science project on Albert Einstein, David gets the opportunity to show off his strengths. He convinces Sophie to do a video about Albert Einstein by showing her his TalkTime performances. And she thinks his creations are hilarious! Hilarious enough to share with her entire homeschool network! So, while their Albert Einstein production gets rave review from their classmates as well as their teacher, David’s YouTube videos are practically going viral!
The home town paper wants to do an article on David. A Philadelphia paper features an article on David. And the Daily Show contacts David. You would think the world was his oyster! Well then, you forgot the aforementioned swirlie. Things aren’t going so well at school. Even with his rising online popularity, David discovers that not only is he a nobody at school, but he is less than a nobody. He is a Lameberg with no friends save Sophie. And he is miserable.
Luckily, great friends can eventually come around to forgiveness and you can find your footing even in a new school. I think 5th-6th grade kids are going to love David. And any child with a fascination with video cameras and the power of the internet might find a starting point here as well as a few pointers. Like not publishing footage of your sister wearing acne cream!!
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