Really crazy stunts in this one. I often thought of Jack Gantos' [b:The Trouble in Me|23310664|The Trouble in Me|Jack Gantos|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1426512839s/23310664.jpg|42864790] while I was reading it because that one's full of unbelievably dangerous shenanigans, too.

We read this for my children's book club and the kids loved just rehashing all the insanity. We talked about why people do crazy stuff. ( )

The book is about a 13 year old boy named Carl and he did a lot of crazy things. One of the crazy things he did was to try to break the speed record on skis; he had to go seventy-four miles an hour to break the record. There were no hills that would allow him to get to this speed, so he decided to use a car. Another crazy stunt was peeing on an electric fence and getting electrocuted and ended up doing a backflip. This is biography is humorous retelling of these crazy stunts that lead to Carl never being called Carl, agin but instead Angel.
Classroom:
This would be a fun read aloud, as it is a very funny book. Depending on age, might have to have a discussion as to how dangerous these stunts really were and that possibility of injury.

Booktalk: Before I tell you about this book, I must warn you: Do not try this stuff at home. In fact, there will be a lot of things that you're going to read about that sound exciting, that might even be fun. But don't be fooled: the crazy stunts you're going to read about could get you seriously hurt or even killed. So what are these crazy stunts? Well it all starts when 12-year-old Gary reads an article called "Fools Who Shoot the Falls" which tells about several men who tried to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Though almost all of them died...it sounded like a pretty cool idea! (Read from last para of p. viii "and so I found" through the end of page ix, "and I would gain fame only as the first boy stupid enough to drown in a barrele.") Miraculously, the barrel is caught up in the current and lifted to the edge of the dam, dropped off the edge to fall the 12 feet below where it hits a river below where it hits a sharp rock, breaks into pieces, and leaves our hero stunned and with a bloody nose, but still alive. Think that's the end of the crazy stunts? Of course not! But if you ever come across an empty refrigerator box and three full-force M-80 firecrackers...just leave them alone.

Audiobook as narrated by Patrick Lawlor is even funnier than reading it!

Great guy books, lots of crazy stunts. Pair this with Harris and Me by Paulsen for a fictional account of some crazy stunts, or with King of the Mild Frontier by Crutcher for another ya author's crazy childhood. ( )

Great guy books, lots of crazy stunts. Pair this with Harris and Me by Paulsen for a fictional account of some crazy stunts, or with King of the Mild Frontier by Crutcher for another ya author's crazy childhood. ( )