Staff Picks

Roxie and the Hooligans by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Juvenile Book)

Roxie is a girl who loves to be prepared.  In fact, her very favorite book is the called The Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them.  She loves to imagine what she would do in all sorts of disasters.  For example, do you know what to do if you are buried in an avalanche and you find yourself covered in dirt or snow and don't know which way is up?  You dig a little hole around your head, spit into it, and the spit will run down towards the ground.  Then you dig in the opposite direction to get yourself out.  Roxie knows all sorts of tidbits like that.  But there is a band of bullies in her school and she doesn’t know how to deal with them.  Nothing in her book gives Roxie the answer to this. Then, through a series of strange events, she ends up stranded on a deserted island with these same bullies, not to mention a couple of criminals.  She has to learn how to team up with the bullies to survive on the island, which includes digging up and eating grub worms.  Then they have to try and outwit the bad guys, figure out how to get rescued, and find the way home. How our heroine does all this makes for a very entertaining story.

Virginia McCurry
Youth Services Specialist