I’ve always felt quite comfortable in my fur. So if I transformed into a totally different species one day, I guess I might not be too happy. That’s exactly what happens to Charlie in this week’s Operation Story Share, The Creature From the Seventh Grade: Boy or Beast by Bob Balaban.
Here’s the inside cover blurb:
If popularity was a score between one and ten, Charlie Drinkwater would be a zero. He can’t play any sports, his middle name is Elmer (DO NOT TELL ANYONE), and the cool kids at school won’t stop torturing him. Oh, and also he suddenly morphed into a giant mutant dinosaur some time between first period science class and third-period English. Boom. Just like that.
Now that Charlie is covered in slimy green scales, his two best friends are treating him like a science project, there’s a petition to get him kicked out of school, and for some reason his parents are acting like everything’s perfectly normal. The one upside of being a creature is that now the cool kids are paying attention to Charlie. They’re actually finding him interesting. And that’s all Charlie ever wanted . . . or is it?
This story was a lot of fun. I especially liked how all kinds of crazy things happened and the author didn’t try to explain them to death. As a reader, I could suspend my disbelief and just go with it. An eight-foot talking dinosaur sitting at the dinner table? Sure, why not!
Since you’re now reading a blog post written by an imaginary cat, I imagine you’re the kind of person who’d enjoy a wacky story like this one. The Creature From the Seventh Grade: Boy or Beast by Bob Balaban. I highly recommend you get your paws on a copy ASAP!
