The Ultimate Top Secret Guide to Taking over the World, Kenn Nesbit

Okay this had to be one of the funniest children's books I have read in a long time. I loved the illustrations. My son laughed because he thought the main character looked like Despicable Me.

I agreed to review this book in hopes that my reluctant 7 year old reader (a boy) would pick it up and actually read something and be able to tell me about it. I was really surprised. Not only did he read it but he wanted to write his own review of it. He also recited much of it to me at different times and called his sister at camp just to read a few pages he liked to her. He loved the little exercises on memorizing pi and the alphabet backwards (and since we actually live in Texas he loved the end of the alphabet song..."I know my z,y, x's now my head's the size of Texas").

The overall book is cute and easy to read. It gives strategies of taking over the world (most of the ones in movies or cartoons - like Phineas and Ferb, or Despicable Me, or others like them). He loved the ease of the reading and the short chapters. I loved the fact that it captured his attention and that it gave him a sense of accomplishment as he read it.

Special thanks to Sourcebooks for this review copy.