Winchell Mink

It's always hard to write about books that I just didn't care for. After all, just because I didn't like it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't, and it certainly doesn't mean that it's a bad book and that no one should read it. So I hope that if I ever say that I didn't like something, you'll take that with a grain of salt.

That said, here's what I have to say about a book that I really just didn't care for. The book has its good points too, so I'll try to highlight those instead of its bad points:

Winchell Mink: The Misadventure Begins is a wacky story about a boy who is constantly being tormented by a bully. As Winchell's birthday draws near, he decides to take matters into his own hands and experience life it its fullest. Winchell, along with his pet turtle Hannibal, heads toward the forbidden cliff near his home and finds himself stuck on a ledge. The only person (or turtle) around to help Winchell is Hannibal, who's idea of a solution is to switch bodies with him. And so beings Winchell Mink's crazy adventures in time travel and body-snatching. The good news about this is that Winchell gets to play baseball as a dinosaur. The bad news is that Clayton, the bully who is cruelest to Winchell, seems to be following him during these adventures. How will Winchell get home? Will he ever find his body again? Will Clayton dissect Winchell in his turtle form during science class?

This book is filled with lots of zany humor that is truly laugh-out-loud funny. Sarcasm and puns abound, and several of the scenes in this book are really enjoyable. The one problem is that there isn't really much of an actual plot to tie all of these zany adventures together. The body-snatching seems completely random, and jumping from one adventure to another without transitions is just as exhausting for the reader as it is for Winchell. I'd really suggest that readers perhaps not sit down and read large chunks of this book in one sitting. Taking a break between segments of the story might make the lack of transitions easier to handle.

Overall Grade: C-