Strange Happenings by Avi

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152057900
• ISBN-13: 978-0152057909
• List Price: $15.00
• I finished this book on June 20

The subtitle of this book is Five tales of Transformation and that's exactly what it is. This was the last book for the challenge besides the extra credit book (which I'll be finishing later today) and it was a quick fun read.
When I was a little Bee I used to hate going to school and I would always wish I was my cat, Ivy, so I wouldn't have to go. Ivy got to sit at home in sunbeams all day and do whatever she wanted and I had to go to lame-ass school and do math (to this day math makes me ill). As you can guess, I never turned into a cat, but Tom did, in one of the stories in this book. Tom finds out, undoubtedly as I would have, that being a cat is kinda lame and he wants to switch back. Trouble is the former boy then cat now inhabiting Tom's human body does not want to switch back. Super weak! It just goes to show you kids, don't trust talking stray cats. Oh, who am I kidding? We all know I love talking animals.
I'm not sure what my favorite story in the book is, but I think the one titled "Curious" is sticking to me the most. It's about a kid who's very curious and sets out to find the truth about the town baseball mascot. And um, bad stuff ensues. Yikes. I think this one is too creepy for some younglings (by that I mean too scary for me). Did I mention that I'm afraid of mascots of any kind? Once a guy dressed up like a big stupid pink ice cream cone put his arm around me and I nearly punched his big pink gut. See, all I'm saying is, it could be a killer under there. Or Cher. I'm just saying, what's Cher been doing lately?
Anywho: this was a fun short one of stories that seemed somewhat familiar to me, like I'd heard them around a campfire before, or something. In fact, I think that would be the perfect place to hear them. Avi, of course, has written a gajillion books (48,317 results, Amazon? Really?) and this one probably just slipped out one morning while he ate his frosted flakes. But it was cool and worth a read, not to mention boasting a cool cover image. The last thing I read where people turned into other things was The Metamorphosis. Somehow, I think you won't find it hard to believe that this was a little tastier than Kafka.