Dodger and Me [Hardcover]

Jordan Sonnenblick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2008 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Dodger and Me

What would you do if your best friend was:
1. Imaginary?
2. An oversize blue chimp in surfer shorts? (Potentially embarrassing, but hey, no one else can see him . . . right?)
3. Proposing a plan to help you improve your life?
4. Did we say imaginary?
5. Driving you crazy?!?!
Now you have an idea of what Willie Ryan’s life is like when he meets Dodger. It’s the beginning of a lot of trouble—and a friendship you’ll never forget!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–7—In this sweet but predictable novel, Willie Ryan is a boy with three problems: he's terrible at baseball and keeps letting his team down, his mother is overprotective, and a girl named Lizzie won't leave him alone. A detour through the woods leads him to a genielike blue chimpanzee called Dodger, who is at first visible only to the fifth grader. Dodger's attempts to solve Willie's problems lead to disaster. Some of the situations are funny, as when the boy's love for banana yogurt leads to chaos in the cafeteria, and Dodger's surfer-inspired vocabulary and wild ideas for improving Willie's life make for some lighter moments. However, some of the humor seems strained, and most of the characters, especially Willie's parents, are not well developed. Lizzie is also a bit of a mystery, as is her matter-of-fact reaction when Dodger appears to her. It's no surprise when Willie realizes that he's grown attached to Dodger despite the chimp's ineptitude, that he doesn't really want his mother to become a different person, and that he likes Lizzie after all. Baseball fans will enjoy this novel, while other readers will likely find the story amusing but shallow.—Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
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From Booklist

He knows he’s not supposed to take the shortcut through the woods. But after letting down his baseball team once again, Willie (a.k.a. Wimpy) disobeys his overprotective mother’s warnings and veers off down the forbidden path. There he finds, emerging genie-like from a magic lamp, a large blue chimpanzee named Dodger, who vows to be his new best friend. As Willie begins to use the three wishes he is granted, he grows more wary and more aware of what really matters to him. Like many a hero given the traditional wishes, Willie doesn’t always make good choices, but he picks up some useful skills and even a bit of wisdom along the way. Mercifully, as narrator, he doesn’t feel the need to spell out the lessons learned. The humor will draw kids— especially Dodger’s off-the-wall dialogue and the outlandish predicaments that result when he decides to help. The story grows increasingly engaging as Willie starts moving toward what he really wants. Grades 4-6. --Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends; First Edition edition (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312377932
• ISBN-13: 978-0312377939
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,486,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Here's my bio from the paperback version of _Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie_:

"Jordan Sonnenblick attended amazing schools in New York City. Then he went to an incredible Ivy League university and studied very, very hard there. However, due to his careful and well-planned course selection strategies, he emerged in 1991 with a fancy-looking diploma and a breathtaking lack of real-world skills or employability.

Thank goodness for Teach for America, a program which takes new college graduates, puts them through 'teacher boot camp', and places them in teaching positions at schools in teacher shortage areas around the country. Through TFA, Mr. Sonnenblick found his place in the grown-up world, teaching adolescents about the wonders and joys, the truth and beauty, of literature.

Mr. Sonnenblick always wanted to be a writer, too, so one day in 2003 he started in on the book that became Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. This book was inspired by several aspects of the author's real life: like Steven, the main character in the novel, he really plays the drums, he really went through an incredibly awkward year when he was 13, and he really was completely spastic around girls until right around his 21st birthday. The made-up parts of the book are all reflections of the author's basic philosophy, which is that the world is a tough place, so you'd better be kind and laugh a lot.

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie was published by Scholastic Press in 2005 to great acclaim, and was named to several Best of 2005 lists, including the ALA's Teens' Top Ten.

In October 2006, Scholastic will release Mr. Sonnenblick's second novel, Notes from the Midnight Driver, which is about drunk driving, lawn gnomes, divorced parents, a unique old man, and a beautiful girl with deadly hobbies.

Mr. Sonnenblick lives in Bethlehem, PA with the most supportive wife and lovable children he could ever imagine. Plus a lot of drums and guitars in the basement."

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humor with Heart, May 13, 2008

By 

Caliboots - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dodger and Me (Hardcover)

Hilarious! An insecure boy, his new friend (a large blue chimp named Dodger), and lots of adventure and baseball. Readers of all ages will appreciate Dodger's surfer accent (very funny to read aloud). If your young reader is too old for Captain Underpants and is reading longer books, this is perfect. It's not easy to find funny books with a great story, and this one delivers. Can't wait for the next one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, September 19, 2009

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dodger and Me (Paperback)

DODGER AND ME is the first book in a new series by Jordan Sonnenblick .

In this book we meet Willie Ryan, self-proclaimed wimp. The fact that Willie is definitely a wimp is immediately evident when he becomes the reason his baseball team loses the first game in the championship series. One might think it is bad enough that Willie can neither catch nor hit a ball, but Willie has more wrong with his life.

To start, his mother is so overprotective that a simple nosebleed becomes an emergency of epic proportions. If that is not bad enough, his best friend has moved away and asked Lizzie, a British student at his school, to keep an eye on him. Lizzie takes this request very seriously and follows him everywhere, even to the big game where she embarrasses him by cheering him on despite his horrendous playing ability.

Tired of always following the rules and getting nowhere, Willie takes a shortcut home. Though he imagines his mother's warnings to stay on the beaten path, Willie cuts through the woods. He comes to a meadow where everything is blue, everything but the McDonald's bag that someone left lying in a stream. Always conscientious, Willie picks up the bag to dispose of it. To his shock, Dodger, a huge blue chimpanzee, appears in front of him.

Dodger sets on a course that is supposed to make Willie's life better. Dodger is going to make Willie's mother less domineering, he is going to make Lizzie go away, and he is going to make Willie a baseball star. Unfortunately for Willie, Dodger's version of wish granting is a little more hands-on than the traditional genie's. Thus follows a series of delightful antics that will make readers of all ages laugh.

The story shows a clear difference between what we think we want and the reality of that desire in a lighthearted way. Though the plotline is a bit predictable, readers will enjoy seeing how Dodger twists Willie's simple wishes into slapstick solutions. Sonnenblick uses laughter to show original ways to overcome or accept issues that many middle schoolers struggle to overcome on a daily basis: loneliness, athletic prowess, bullying, and the true meaning of friendship.

DODGER AND ME is such an enjoyable trip that readers will look forward to reading the next installment in this delightful series.

Reviewed by: Theresa L. Stowell

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, good message, January 17, 2009

By 

Bort "book reader" (North Dakota, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dodger and Me (Hardcover)

Dodger and Me is the fourth book by Jordan Sonnenblick, and first aimed at elementary aged children. As I really enjoyed his previous three, I wanted to give this one a try.

Dodger and Me is centered around Willie, a 10-year-old who can best be described as a wimp or a loser. His mother is highly overprotective, and does not trust him at all. He also has no friends at school, although Lizzie, a girl he tries to avoid, lavishes him with attention. One day, after failing at the plate in his baseball game and causing his team to lose, Willie takes a forbidden shortcut through the woods to get to his house. As he is walking, he sees a fast food bag, and decides to pick it up so it will no longer spoil nature. After doing this, he is surprised by the appearance of a large blue talking chimpanzee wearing surfer shorts.

Willie begins speaking to the chimp, whose name is Dodger. Willie brings Dodger home, and he agrees to help Willie solve the three most vexing problems in his life - getting his mom to trust him, getting Lizzie to stop bothering him and becoming a better baseball player. Unfortunately for Willie, as Dodger is doing this, he also creates many new problems.

Dodger and Me was an enjoyable book with likable characters. Willie is a boy who wants to do the right thing, and Dodger is very amusing. The situations that Dodger gets Willie into are pretty funny, and kids would enjoy reading the book. I recommended it to my class, especially those who like books like Hank Zipzer. While I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie or Notes from the Midnight Driver, it was written for a different audience and it presents a good message.