By James Patterson, Chris Tebbetts
A sixth-grader reads the school rulebook, decides to break every rule in it for points, and draws the whole disaster as he goes.
Rafe Khatchadorian starts sixth grade at Hills Village Middle School, gets handed the code of conduct, and turns it into a game. Break a rule, score points. Pull the fire alarm, that's a big one. Wear pajamas to class, run the halls, talk back — every rule has a price and Rafe intends to collect all of it. His best friend Leo keeps the tally and dares him higher. Nobody else ever seems to see Leo, and there's a reason for that, which the book saves for the end. Home isn't much of a break either: Rafe's mom works double shifts at the diner while her boyfriend Carl parks on the couch and makes cracks about her children.
You know the child who loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid mostly for watching Greg dig his own hole? Rafe does the same thing, except he's digging on purpose. The chapters are short and cartoon-stuffed enough that a page never looks like homework, and there's more of a real story running underneath than most books like it carry, so a child who's ready to be pulled by something other than jokes has it here. The series runs long, too, which buys you months.