Greyson Mann

Gerald is a creeper attending Mob middle school. There are other mobs with different abilities, like bow-wielding skeletons, teleporting endermen, potion-making witches, drooling zombies, and bouncing slimes. Everybody fits into their own groups, but Gerald struggles making friends, especially when his annoying sister Chloe makes stupid nick names that stick to him the whole year, and when people joke about his psoriasis, he wants to explode. Gerald does not like fighting, and attempts to be a pacifist, but the only friend she has are different than him, and sometimes their hyperactivity bothers him. His home is even worse because he cannot relate to anyone, and he is misunderstood. But when he gets caught up in himself and forgets about the surrounding world, Gerald loses his only friends and must get them back. Even with the temptation of getting revenge on his bullies for sabotaging the school year, Gerald finds it in himself to not fight anybody, and to understand his misunderstood friends to gain them back.
I could compare this book to my school year. Sometimes doing what you wanted to could get yourself in trouble, and Gerald realized that when he was confronted by bullies. Gerald struggled to be recognized and not picked on by other kids and his bullies without fighting, which took much self control. I would say that is a similar situation for not just me, but many middle-schoolers. Gerald realized that being misunderstood is because you are different, and he realized that is why he struggled making friends and why he temporarily lost his. In the end, Gerald had enough self-control to not fight his enemies, but to also look outside from himself and recognize that just because he is different doesn't mean he is alone.… (mehr)

This isn't my favorite reluctant reader book, but fans of Minecraft will love it. It's full of the Minecraft characters. The story is told from a Creeper's point of view. Creepers blow up when they get mad. Gerald is a pacifist creeper, which is unusual, but he's proud of it, because his grandfather was a pacifist. Gerald is starting middle school and he wants to get things off to a good start, so he makes a list of things he needs to do to make it happen. One by one he's failing at his list and middle school is not looking good.

Other Minecraft characters in the book are zombies, skeletons, slimes and witches. I could care less about Minecraft, which may be influencing my opinion, but I don't think this book would stand a chance without its association with Minecraft. It's a typical storyline and the whole diary thing is starting to get annoying. But I'm a grown-up. What do I know?… (mehr)