CHEESIE MACK IS NOT A GENIUS OR ANYTHING

CHEESIE MACK IS NOT A GENIUS OR ANYTHING, by Steve Cotler (Random House 2011)(ages 8-12).  Eleven-year-old Ronald "Cheesie" Mack is on the cusp of graduation from fifth grade.  But to get there -- and survive -- he has to navigate an evil older sister, an idiosyncratic family, a best friend who's hatching a scheme to unleash mice on the school, a graduation party, and mysterious artifacts found in his best friend's basement.

CHEESIE MACK is an enormously fun read:  Cheesie is witty and his conversational voice and relationships ring true to middle school and all that that entails.  Altogether, a fine novel of family, friendship and fifth grade angst and adventure.

First in a series.