By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Madhav Narayan

Title: Shredderman Secret Identity
Author: Wendelin Van Draanen
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Number of Pages:138

Shredderman Secret Identity is an outstanding book. It is hilarious. It is about a boy called Nolan Byrd or otherwise known Byrd-the-Nerd who becomes a superhero online.

Alvin Bixby, whom people call Bubba unless they want to get pounded, is a name-calling, hurting, bad breath guy who is the classroom bully. Nolan is a math whiz who does a weird power walk and can’t keep his shoes tied. Nolan really hates Bubba but can’t do anything about it, because he and most of his classmates are half Bubba’s size.

One day when the class does its everyday fraction time trials, which Nolan aces every time, Mr. Green writes on his paper “Nolan- You shred, man! Awesome!”. Shred is what Mr. Green uses to describe his favorite guitar players, his favorite bands, and his favorite presidents. Shred was beyond awesome.

When Mr. Green announces the monthly project, which Nolan always hates except for this one, Nolan is elated. The project is to design a newspaper page about any person of his choice. Nolan is very excited. This is his chance to crush Bubba Bixby.

I like this book because it is funny. The dialogue is just hilarious as you will see when you read this book. However, the story is not an epic drama. So if you are looking for a great story, you may be a little disappointed.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes humor. Probably the best audience would be fourth through sixth graders. It is humorous and is kind of like Captain Underpants.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable book. I loved reading it. (February, 2005)