Punished! by David Lubar

I thought that Punished! by David Lubar was a hysterically funny book. Two boys go running into the library to do some research for a social studies project. While they are chasing each other, Logan runs head-on into a strange, old man in the basement of the library. The man says that Logan needs to be punished. At first, Logan doesn’t think anything happened. Then, when he starts talking to his friend, odd words and phrases start coming out of his mouth. The first thing he says to his rambunctious friend is “Will you please try to behave your shelf?” Later, he tells the librarian, “Eyebrows the books all the time.” Soon, Logan realizes that being PUNished means that he has been cursed to speak in puns. Imagine the scene in class the next day when he gets in trouble because his teacher thinks he’s being a smart aleck! Read this book to find out how Logan breaks the curse and begins to speak normally again.

Indiana students might also enjoy Punished! because it is one of the nominees for the 2009-2010 Young Hoosier Book Award Competition. Students who read at least five of the twenty nominees are eligible to vote for the award-winning book in May 2010. The book, written in a chapter book format, is quite short with fairly large print; many 2^nd graders would probably understand the book, while even middle school students would groan at the puns.

For a link to the Indiana Library Federation, which sponsors the Young Hoosier Book Award, go to http://www.ilfonline.org/index.php?submenu=yhba&src=gendocs&ref=YoungHoosierBookAward&category=Programs_Awards .