Summary: The plot of Mega Weird! revolves around the mega street sale (basically a yard sale). Weir and his family have the biggest yard sale stall as they have many things in their backyard such as a dinosaur bone, which is sent to the museum for the archaeologists to study. Weir's family want to raise enough money from the mega street sale to pay for Grandma Do to visit them from Vietnam.
There is also a subplot in the story. Bella is writing something for the school writing competition to buy another sewing machine for her mum which was stolen. However, she has trouble thinking up of something to write and hence Weir helps her write a song involving a lot of rhyme.
Later in the book, Weir decides to join the school writing competition as his family did not raise enough money to pay for Grandma Do's visit. Weir, being inspired by the dinosaur bone, writes jokes about dinosaurs. Both Weir and Bella do very well in the school writing competition (both becoming finalist) but, in the end Bella gets the highest applause and wins the writing competition. Weir feels bittersweet at first as despite his best friend winning, his family still did not have enough money to pay for Grandma Do's visit. Thankfully, the dinosaur bone which Weir's family sent to the museum earlier in the book is the bone of a T-Rex bone. Hence, Weir's family sells the bone to the museum for a lot of money and is able to pay for Grandma Do's visit.
Pros: This book, just like the other books in the series, flows very well and is very easy to follow. The plot is not confusing and is a good book for children who want a good laugh. I also liked the inclusion of the school writing competition subplot in this story and was happy to see that the subplot come together with the main plot in the end.
Cons: My only pet peeve with this book is that I felt that the minor characters felt very flat. I felt only Weir and Bella were truly developed and characterised whereas the other characters such as the Dad felt just there to fill up space on the page.
Recommendation: I recommend this book for young children (5-13) as it is a funny book and easy to understand
Conclusion: Overall, Mega Weird! is the one of the better books in the series. It contains a concise plot and a nice inclusion of a subplot. However, its development of minor characters could have been better