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Are you not a big fan about reading? This book is for you. Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide To Not Reading, literally had some "facts" (excuses to not read) in the book that probably every kid has tried to say to parents and or teachers. I enjoyed this book more than I expected. If you don't read, take a chance and read this book! This is a realistic fiction book that like I said, has humor in it and life lessons. I recommend this book to those non-readers and just anyone in general.

The setting of my book takes place in Charlie's middle school and at other times at home. Charlie Joe absolutely hates reading, he'll do anything to get out of reading. He's practically made it through his whole life without actually reading a book from the beginning to the end. Charlie has made a deal with his friend, Timmy for quite awhile now, Timmy reads the book for him and comes back with a brief summary of what happened, in return for some ice cream sandwiches from which Charlie buys him. Except, when a major book report was due in just a few days or so, Charlie has a little chat with Eliza, who claims to be the most popular girl there, from that chat everyone somehow finds out about Charlie's and Timmy's arrangement and even Charlie's parents find out. Oops! Things don't end up good, eventually Timmy stops doing what Charlie tells him. Now, he's in some major trouble.. Desperate for help, events start to occur, such as lying, betrayal, and even broken hearts. Will all this trouble convince Charlie to read? Or will he continue to avoid reading and basically get in trouble every now and then? Everything starts building up to the point where Charlie is alone and well, runs out of tips from all that has occurred. Then, it's the end of the school year and a "position paper" is due (a book report) and now he gets Jake, who happens to be quite a nerd, to read the books for him, in return of Charlie paring him up with his "never to be girlfriend," Hannah, but will his plan work in order for him to write a successful paper? The type of conflict is person vs person because he needs to now face his friends, his parents and teacher about the truth, or will he be able to get away with it by lying..?

I absolutely enjoyed reading this book! I loved the way the main character, Charlie, expressed his feelings towards books. He would never lie about it, he'd just kind of straight up tell you why he was never much of a reader. Charlie would give out tips such as, "you can go to the movies and still read." From the sound of that, you can honestly tell he tries and thinks he's reading by what, reading the credits at the end? His tips aren't so great by the way, but it's full of humor to see how he describes his feelings towards reading that it makes me want to keep reading, a little humor in a book is needed. Also, I'd say Charlie's main problem here was not the fact that he didn't have an interest for books, but he thought they are too long, boring, and there's no point, honestly it's just being lazy. Well, in his case laziness seemed to be his main problem, but I mean I'm pretty sure most of us were too lazy to read a book or think, "this book is too boring," or "345 pages, that's a lot." It's just that this book is filled with lots of exciting, sad, and honest moments.

I can relate to Charlie because when I was around let's say 9 or 10, reading was boring to me. I'd to whatever to get out of reading. So while I read this book I just kind of kept thinking, "wow, I remember this being me." I will admit I wasn't a huge fan of reading, I disliked it, reading isn't a hobby of mine, but nor do I dislike it. You kind of just have to find your interests in books, but Charlie still refuses to read, but yes indeed I can honestly say, I was Charlie when I was younger. I liked the way the author made this book simple yet brilliant. Even though this book was about 200 pages, I found it short since the chapters were short and little sketches were in it too. One major reason why I enjoyed this book and the way the author wrote it was because we got to see the kids point of view, what he thought about reading, not a teachers, parents, or any adult, just the perspective of a middle schooler and maybe that's why certain people might be able to understand, and enjoy the book more.

I'd give this book a 4 out of 5 stars because even though I was really into the book, it wasn't the best I've read. I say a few more details would be needed during some of the chapters but in the end, I'd read this book again. I recommend this book to people who might not enjoy reading, I think this book is great, probably an easy read and understandable. Who knows maybe you'll end up actually liking the book, and end up using some of his tips.. (Not the greatest idea though..)