GREAT READS

Star Jumper: Journal of a Cardboard Genius

by Frank Asch

Alex is a genius at designing things like the Duplicator and an Atom Slider out of scraps he finds around the house and cardboard boxes.  His biggest invention yet is the space ship he's created to take him as far away as possible from his "evil" little brother Jonathan: another universe.  Too bad his brother is always underfoot when making his most complicated machinery and when the Micro-Blaster ends up in his hands, the results could have been disastrous if Alex wasn't smarter than Einstein.  When Alex starts to realize what he will miss in another universe and intergalactic chaos is diverted with the help of Jonathan, he begins to think he can put off his mission a little longer and that maybe it's not so bad having an "evil" little brother.

Recommended by Allison Holbrook