Book Review :: The Mis-Adventures of Phillip Isaac Penn by Donna L. Peterson

Title: The Mis-Adventures of Phillip Isaac Penn
Author: Donna L. Peterson
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction / Action & Adventure

Publisher: Cedar Fort
Imprint: Bonneville
Publication Date: June 8th, 2011
Source: Received electronically from publisher via NetGalley

Did I like the cover?: The reason why I chose to read this book was because I loved the colors of the cover. So bright and catchy. Plus, the boy looks so cute!

First lines: Hello, my name is Pip. Please don't laugh. It really is my name.

This book reminds me of: Horrible Harry, Junie B. Jones, Ramona Quimby... they were also misunderstood kids.

The main character reminds me of: Pip reminds me of Luke Dunphy on Modern Family.

Summary from Goodreads:
Pip, whose real name is Phillip Isaac Penn, feels that the world is against him as he struggles to deal with angry parents, a bossy older sister, a frazzled teacher, and memorable characters such as Bully Bart, Cheater Chaz, Know-It-All Nell, Liar Lizzy, Stealer Steffan, Conman Cody, and Tattle-Tale Tess. Every day of the week brings another challenge that Pip handles in his own endearing way. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, he realizes that it’s just not easy being a kid.

Review:
This is a story that follows a week in the life of Phillip Isaac Penn, otherwise known as "Pip." Each chapter is one day of his life. He is a very misunderstood boy and seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is accused of all kids of mayhem, but he always seems to have good intentions.

The character Pip reminds me a lot of Luke Dunphy on the TV Show, Modern Family. He seems a little ADHD and everyone around him has a difficult time understanding why he does the things he does even though it makes complete sense to him. I kept picture Luke in my head while I was reading this book.

As a teacher, I had a really difficult time reading about how badly his teacher treated him EVERY DAY. Everything was his fault even before he was given a chance to explain, even after he was proven innocent just the day before. As a teacher, I understand how hard it can be to deal with challenging students, but I'd like to think that I'd give all my students a fair chance to explain before blaming them for something. I kept wanting Pip to defend himself in the story. To explain himself and his actions, but it seemed like he wasn't given enough chances to do so.

I didn't really care much for the pictures because they looked a lot like sketches and didn't quite match up to the nice cover, but I did like the discussion questions at the end, which would be good to use as a parent reading this book with their child over the summer break.

Even though, it really bothered me how Pip was picked on by everyone around him, I did enjoy how he reflected upon each day and how he planned on making the next day better. I kept wanting him to find redemption at the end, but the author did a good job of showing that it really is hard to be a kid.

Overall:
I think kids would enjoy this story of the adventures of a very much misunderstood boy. I can especially see young boys (ages 6-10) enjoying it.

Rating:
3 out of 5 stars

This is book #13 of the year. I am participating in the 2011 Goodreads Reading Challenge. My goal is to read 50 books this year.