Dodger and Me by Jordan Sonnenblick

Dodger and Me by Jordan Sonnenblick is about Willie, a 5th grader who has everything going against him... his parents (especially his mom) don't trust him, his best friend moved away, an annoying girl from England keeps hanging around him, and he completely blew one of his team's most important baseball games of the season. Things for Willie can't get much worse, right? WRONG! On his way home one afternoon, he comes across a Happy Meal sack and picks it up - out pops Dodger, a big blue orange Hawaiian shorts wearing chimpanzee with an eye patch, who only Willie can see. Willie thinks Dodger is a genie and will grant him three wishes. Unfortunately, Dodger has some different ways of solving Willie's problems than Willie is ready for. Instead of getting Lizzie to leave him alone, Dodger solves that problem by making Lizzie friends with him! Instead of making Willie a baseball star, Dodger convinces Willie to practice his way - by throwing balls at him to get rid of Willie's 'fear' of the ball! And, to get Willie's mother to trust him, Dodger decides Willie needs to conquer FIRE! They do this by trying to cook a meal for the family, which literally goes up in flames! Just at that point, a strange genie shows up and explains that Dodger is not who he made himself out to be... now what will Willie do? He's in an even bigger mess than ever, and now his best friend, Dodger has been banished, Lizzie won't talk to him, and his kitchen is in shambles, not to mention the biggest baseball game of the season is just days away!

This was a great story! I loved it because it's about a regular kid - he's not great at sports, he's not 'Mr. Popular', and he isn't the smartest kid in school. I saw Jordan Sonnenblick talk about this book at the International Reading Association convention in Minneapolis in May of 2009. He's a great author and a fun speaker! I'm looking forward to reading the sequel to this book, Dodger for President.