Books Jack Reads

US author James Patterson is a well-known name amongst most adult readers, with his bestselling thriller novels featuring characters like Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, and Harriet Blue.

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But what you might not know is that James also has a popular series for younger readers, featuring a new hero with an unfortunate habit of getting himself into trouble.

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Meet twelve year-old Rafe Khatchadorian. He's got lots of problems at home, including an annoying younger sister, a lazy stepfather, and an overworked mother, so the last thing he needs is to be enroled at Hills Village Middle School.

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So with the help of his best friend, Leonardo the Silent, Rafe comes up with an ambitious plan to not only survive middle school, but have fun along the way. 

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Code-named Operation R.A.F.E. (Rules Aren't For Everyone), Rafe's goal is simple: break every rule in the HVMS Code of Conduct.

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But when Operation R.A.F.E. starts getting Rafe into bigger and bigger trouble, both at school and at home, he needs to decide whether he wants to go all the way, or face up to all the rules he's been trying to avoid.

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If your kids are fans of authors like Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) or Liz Pichon (Tom Gates), then they'll enjoy this story.

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Kids will enjoy reading about all the rules that Rafe tries to break while at school, from pulling the fire alarm during a school assembly, to selling cans of Zoom energy drink (which are banned at school) from his locker.

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Rafe is also a talented artist, so there are lots of drawings throughout the book, most of them coming from Rafe's wild imagination, like when he's trapped in the Lizard King's dungeon (aka Principal Dwight's office), or when he's a knight facing down the Dragon Lady (even though he's actually in detention with Ms Donatello).

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Overall, this is a funny story from a great author, and the start of a very popular series.