Lenny Cyrus, School Virus

Lenny Cyrus, School Virus

By Joe Schreiber; illus. by Matt Smith

288 pages, ages 9 – 12

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013

Lenny Cyrus is 13. He’s also a genius. So when he decides that the way to a girl’s heart is to know what she’s thinking, he takes action. Nano-tech action. It may not be ethical, safe, or sane, but Lenny’s chosen course is to shrink himself to the size of an amoeba and get inside Zooey. His goal: her brain.

Turns out, girls are just as hard to understand from the inside as they are from the outside. Not only that, there are so many obstacles – like the semitransparent jelly-bean-looking thing with a flagella whipping back and forth who challenges Lenny for his digestive system pass.

Lenny hooks up with an astrovirus who serves as a guide, figures out how to cross the blood-brain barrier, and basically wreaks havoc and near destruction on his one true love all in the name of science…. or at least middle-school romance.

This book is funny – and I love the way Schreiber (he’s the author) tosses in caffeine molecular chemistry, osmoreceptors, limbic systems and Planck’s Constant.  A perfect April Fool’s read but for one thing: it isn’t released until tomorrow. No fooling.

 This is part of the Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday round-up. Check out more great reading here. Review copy from publisher.