Amelia McBride, heroine of Jimmy Gownley’s long-running series, is a comic genius. And like most geniuses, she’s rarely appreciated for just how clever she is. That’s probably why she ends up in so many jams, including her latest one, in which she manages to alienate herself from just about everyone in her school.

That’s the premise of The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular, the hilarious latest installment. As for just how she manages to lose so many friends en masse, well, Amelia chooses not to reveal that information until well into the book, so I won’t ruin it for you here. Suffice to say, everyone in school was angered enough to chase Amelia and her best friend, Rhonda, up a tree, and they don’t show much intention of backing down.
 
Amelia Rules! has always been a fun, easy read with a lot of heart beating beneath its surface. It’s got charm to spare and no shortage of good humor (and I hate to sound so old when I say this, but, as much as I really appreciate immature humor, it’s so refreshing to see a kids book that is truly funny without having to rely on fart jokes). The sentiment behind it is always a good one too: Doing the right thing is ultimately the goal and the moral.
 
There’s a lot to be said for the easygoing readability of the book too, which while being aimed at 7- to 12-year-olds, includes a lot of intelligent text, both in the comic pages and in the supplementary material (the joke is that the title of this Amelia book comes from a book written by a motivational speaker, and that book is excerpted inside the Amelia book). One minor criticism of the book is that it would have been nice to have a jumping-on point for new readers to get to know some of the secondary characters better. It’s a minor point, but Amelia’s world is incredibly inviting, and having a sense of who all of her friends (and enemies) are would help.

As the first new Amelia book in two years, this volume should get quickly devoured by the younger set, and with good reason. It’s a hoot.

-- John Hogan

written by Jimmy Gownley

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