Book Review 7: Voss: How I Come to America and am Hero, Mostly by David Ives

Voss by David Ives
Published by Putnam Juvenile on October 2, 2008
Genres: YA Contemporary
Pages: 208
Source: Bookstore Employee Checkout
Format: Hardcover
My Rating:
Goodreads

In a series of letters home to his friend Meero, Vospop Vsklzwczdztwczky (Voss for short) tells the hilarious story of how he smuggles himself to America in a crate of black-market cheese puffs with his gloomy father Bogdown and his nutty uncle Shpoont. Settling into the rundown Slobovian section of town, Voss soon finds his first job by opening the door for debutante Tiffany McBloomingdale (an unheard-of act of politeness), rescues his father from a sinister hospital, and even gets the girl of his dreams, though not the one he expects!
Through Voss?s comically broken English, readers will find a remarkably fresh view of America. Brimming with pointed satire, a healthy dose of action, and a one-of-a-kind narrator, Voss?s crazy adventures are sure to leave a lasting impression.

This book was one I actually am not a huge fan of. The story was only a little okay. It was told with bad spelling, to make you “hear” the main characters Slobovian accent. Voss came to America smuggled in with Cheese Puffs. He gets there, looks for a job, which first he finds, then he gets fired, then his dad gets kidnapped and he has to save him, but it turns out it’s not just his dad he has to save, and so on. A few funny parts, but one of the misspellings is the b-word, and I just feel like it is kind of a stereotyping book, and don’t know that I would recommend it to kids. Just my opinion of course, but it’s getting a pretty low rating on my scoring sheet for the Truman books. I actually finished it before bed last night, but no time or should I say too tired to come down and type up a blog. Today I started the next book called Hershey Herself by Cecelia Galante.