FAKE MUSTACHE: OR, HOW JODIE O’RODEO AND HER WONDER HORSE (AND SOME NERDY GUY) SAVED THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FROM A MAD CRIMINAL GENIUS MASTERMIND by Tom Angleberger
When Lenny’s friend Casper took him along on a birthday shopping spree, Lenny didn’t think much of it. Casper really wanted an expensive “man-about-town” suit and the world’s most realistic looking fake mustache. Lenny didn’t see the point of these purchases, but it was Casper’s birthday money, so he could buy whatever useless things he wanted. But when a slightly short man-about-town with a realistic looking mustache begins committing a series of high profile robberies, Lenny is unable to convince anyone that Casper is the guilty one. Instead, Casper (now using the pseudonym Fako Mustacho) convinces everyone that Lenny is the culprit! With everyone–even his parents–convinced of his guilt, Lenny is forced to adopt a disguise as he plots to separate Casper from his mesmerizing mustache. Fortunately, Lenny is about to get some help from an unlikely source when his paths cross with child TV star and cowgirl Jodie O’Rodeo.
This book was pure, delightful silliness. It really doesn’t try for a moral or any sort of character depth. It’s just a fun, completely absurd, light-hearted “thriller”–but one that will keep you turning pages. This book may appeal to readers who like Lemony Snicket’s All the Wrong Questions series, M.T. Anderson’s Whales on Stilts, or Lissa Evans’ Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms.
Susan the Librarian 