Book Review: King of the Mole People by Paul Gilligan

Things are not going well for Doug Underbelly. His family moved into a freaky old house with a cemetery in the back yard. His father makes meals exclusively out of eels. His efforts to fit in at school all fail miserably. He has a back-up bully for when his primary bully is otherwise busy. And he's been made the King of the Mole People. Can it get any worse?

This book is pretty friggin hilarious. I'd have loved a silly book like this when I was a kid. It's all about fitting in, accepting yourself for who you are, helping out your true friends, and maybe caring a little less about what the other kids at school think about you in the meantime. And apparently you can make quite tasty mac & cheese from eels, who knew? Poor Doug will work things out, both above and below ground, although not the way he's expecting, and not in the way he'd like, but things do work out. And I'm pretty psyched to see what the King of the Mole People gets up to next!

This review is a part of Kid Konnection, hosted by Booking Mama, a collection of children's book-related posts over the weekend.

This book is published by Henry Holy BYR, a division of Macmillan, my employer.