Barftastic Life of Louie Burger

Fifth grader Louie Burger figures that with a goofy name like his, he must be destined to be a king of comedy like his idol Lou Lafferman. But he's only ever performed his stand-up act in his closet, where he and his dad created the most exclusive comedy club ever-if by "exclusive" you mean that no one's ever allowed inside. With the school talent show coming up, Louie's wondering if now is his moment to kill (that's comedian talk for "make actual people laugh"). And maybe, if he brings down the house, he'll win back his former best friend Nick-who seems to be turning into one of those annoying sporty types-and fend off his dad's home-improvement obsession, which threatens to remodel Louie's comedy closet into a private bedroom for his older sister. Barftrocious!

When a video of ten-year-old Louie Burger is aired on famous comedian Lou Lafferman's TV show, Louie is sure that his days of being a class B.U.R.P. (Boy Used to Ridicule and Put-downs) are gone and that his popularity will skyrocket. But his fifteen minutes of fame are over before he even realizes it, and he's suddenly back to being regular Louie. He tries to come up with ways to bump up his popularity, such as having the best Halloween costume. But Louie soon learns that in the end, friendship is more important than popularity anyway. This sequel to The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger, with its fun boy humor and copious line art (fifty illustrations!), is sure to satisfy.

For Louie Burger, things are going great in the fifth grade. He has two awesome best friends, Nick and Thermos, he's pretty much conquered his stage fright, and even mean ol' Ryan Rakefield isn't giving him as much flak. Yep, things are going pretty well. That is-until his dad has to go away for two weeks for a job and he is stuck with a house full of girls. Suddenly, it's makeup, princess dogs, love notes from your kissy-faced grandma, and heart-shaped pancakes all the time. How can Louie be the man of the house when it is constantly under attack by girlzillas? Jenny Meyerhoff's funny and sweet novel is packed with boy humor, a great school setting, and over fifty pieces of line art from the talented Jason Week. This is the third book in the series.