Shoebag

For my second outside reading, I read the book Shoebag. This book was quite humerous to me. Shoebag starts out the story as a roach. He is not that big of a family person in the beginning. One morning, in the middle of a dream, he is awaken by his mother's warning to avoid a spider. He is then suddenly transformed from a roach to a regular human boy. Shoebag to welcomed as a new family member by the family whose home he is a resident of. They change his name to Stu and involve him in human-like activities. Stu goes to school and experiences the hard times that children face. He is picked on by a bully, but is taken up for by a mysterous and bigger boy. The bigger boy is exposed in the end as a fellow roach, turned boy. Durning this whole time Stu is also struggling with situations at home. The daughter in the home is famous from a commercial that she was in. She is shielded from anything that may cause her unhappiness. He is also trying very hard to still be a part of his roach family's life. His old father seems to reject him because of the cahnge. In the end Stu is turned back into a roach and rejoins his family. I think this book, in its own silly, way teaches children to be happy with who they are and the family that they are a part of. It was a well written book, that seems like it would help children understand the importance of enjoying the life that they were blessed with.