Dennis the Menace: Volume 1, by Hank Ketcham
Reviewed by Betelgeuse

This has been my fourth time reading this, yet I do not grow tired of Dennis the Menace. His spunky, brave, and rarely obedient charisma intermingles with his cute, innocent side, making a character that everybody loves. Even those hard-hearted ones will soften like butter on a summer day when they see his impish grin. I mean, who doesn't love comics? This book focuses on Dennis throughout the months, and each comic (which is one panel per page) has to do with a different topic. They vary from Dennis painting his father's expensive leather shoes black with paint, to him giving a girl his mother's engagement ring. These will have you bursting with laughter, inside andout. Hats off to Mr. Ketcham, who died in 2001 at nine-one years old.

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, by Jeff Kinney
Reviewed by Jack W.

In this funny book which reads like an illustrated diary, a boy named Greg bumbles through life, messing up nearly everything and generating a lot of laughs (I think Charlie Brown worked on the same principal). In this book, which has adventure, action, romance and . . . soap carving?, Greg tries to learn to dance, works out a way to get even with his classmates on valentines day, and buries a time capsue. His life is a lot of fun, but when his dad meets a former juvenile delinquent who is now a perfect gentleman, thanks to military school, he tells Greg he is going to send him to Spag Union, which will make a man out of him. Trying to find a way to get out of this horrible fate, Greg joins the boy scouts and tries to convince his dad that he is already manly enough. Will it work?

Click here to find this book in the library catalog.