My Life as a Belching Baboon with Bad Breath

The Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle #25

by Bill Myers

Wally's got a bad case of the "I wants!" All his friends have way cooler stuff than he has, and he hates it. Even his prayers have turned into, "Dear God, gimme gimme gimme. And, oh yeah, gimme some more."

But then Dad drags the family to Africa on an aid project, and Wally gets majorly lost in the wilderness. He is attacked by hiccupping hippos, rampaging rhinos, and a herd of baboons--who definitely don't brush after every meal. Rescued by a boy his age, Wally finally learns what really counts in life and the key to real happiness.

Genres: Christian Fiction

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Bill Myers was born into a Christian home, and although as a child he became bored with Christianity, he decided at the University of Washington quote, to "make God my boss." Ironically, at the University his worst subject was writing. He claims to have prayed, and said that he would be able to do anything for God, except write. Even so, he has become a prominent Christian writer, and has a large amount of successful books and films to his credit.

Reviews

[Zaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great ending! Helping people is really important,and Wally the dork was very inspirational to kids who are spoiled. The superhero stories are still corny, though! I still liked the story fun to read and had a good lesson to it, too!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can definitely see how this book would appeal to (mostly) pre-adolescent boys. It's full of body function humor, written in a way that little boys (and some girls) find extremely funny. As such, it really didn't do a whole lot for me, but I would (and hopefully will) get a kick out of hearing giggles from somewhere in the house when my kiddo is able to read this one on his own. As titles go, this one ranks near the top in terms of creativity and general hilarity, and I would venture to guess that, to some extent, it will draw kids to this book who might not otherwise be inclined to read. I mean, belching and bad breath in one title...what's better than that in the eyes of an 8 year old?? And the bonus is, of course, that there is reasonably good teaching point at the end about happiness.

I'm definitely keeping this one on the shelf for my little guy, who will likely find it hilarious, but I hope that I never have to read it again. :-)