Bobby and Holly have been friends since forever. They know boys and girls aren’t usually best friends and they know their friends at school wouldn’t understand, so they have a strategy they call “The Parting Place”.  They walk to school together everyday, but when they get to “The Parting Place” about a block from their school, Bobby speeds up and Holly slows down…just so they won’t be seen together. It works.

But then the week before fourth grade starts, Bobby starts to notice some weird things about Holly. She starts caring about her hair and misses a traditional rock hunting afternoon with Bobby because she’s going shopping with Jillian. On the first day of school their friendship hits a definite bump in the road:

“Hey Bobby, wait up!” Holly was running to catch up to him.

Bobby stared at her in disbelief. “Why are you wearing that? It’s not Halloween.”

Holly smoothed the sleeve of her light blue dress. The big white bow around the waist reminded him of toilet paper. “It’s new,” She said proudly, “Do you like it?”

Bobby shook his head. “Nope.”

Oh, man. NOT smooth. And it’s downhill from there!  When Bobby and Holly are both nominated to run against each other in their class election for Student Council Representative an all out boys vs girls war begins. What’s the best strategy when your arch rival knows your weaknesses and all your secrets? Game on! Author: Lisa Yee

• Read Chapter 11 Bobby vs. Girls
• Official Website Bobby vs. Girls (Don’t miss the Fish Tricks videos!)
• Read an Interview with the author Lisa Yee

Bobby isn’t the only boy mystified by girls. Alvin Ho is allergic to them! Holly isn’t the only girl mystified by boys. Sheila Tubman never has understood Peter Hatcher. Here are some more funny books that showcase the battle between boys and girls:

Twelve  year-old Ryan isn’t really into the great outdoors. He’d rather play video games. Ryan’s older brother Tanner would love to change that. Tanner convinces Ryan to go on a river trip to camp, fish and kayak, just the two of them. What could go wrong?

When their inflatable kayak hits a log in a rapid chute of the river, both boys are pitched into the frigid river. It is Tanner, the experienced one, the one who actually knows how to survive in the woods, who hits his head and is knocked unconscious.

Ryan manages to drag Tanner to shore but this accomplishment is only the beginning. With no cell phone service, little food and plunging temperatures Ryan knows that he is in a do or die situation - for himself, but especially for his brother.

This is a really tense, nail-biting adventure. Ryan has to break down his situation into a series of smaller problems so that he can solve them each one at time. Otherwise he would be totally overwhelmed. He tries things that don’t work. He gets discouraged, even panics…but then manages to calm himself down again and think. Reading Ryan’s thoughts as he puzzles out each step he has to take to rescue himself and his brother makes this a gripping, realistic story.  Author: P.J. Petersen

• Look Inside Wild River
• GORP Ready to Raft: Gear

I you like Wild River here are some more “kid against nature” survival adventures.

Sandy and Jack are scared of their Dad. He knocked their little brother down the stairs one day and then their brother never woke up again.

One day, their Dad shows up at school to take them home, but he doesn’t go home…he gets on the interstate and drives hours and hours and hours from Pennsylvania to the Florida Keys.  He won’t answer their questions about where their Mom is either.

Convinced that their Dad is dangerous and has hurt their Mom, the boys wait for him to fall asleep, steal his money, “borrow” a boat and flee into an area of the Florida Keys known as “Crocodile Swamp.” Surely no one will follow them into a crocodile infested swamp.

Armed with some basic survival skills and knowledge about the habits of the critters sharing the swamp including crocodiles, sharks and poisonous snakes, the boys set up camp.

With the help of an old fisherman and a young girl they meet making supply runs, the boys manage to evade their Dad..for awhile. During their life in hiding, the boys come to understand that people survival skills are just as important as wild surival skills and that figuring out who your allies are is very important indeed.

This story has some tough family problems in it but the resourcefulness of the boys, their desire to stay together and the friends who step up to help them find their way out of a scary situation make it a good true-to-life adventure. Author: Jim Arnosky

• Look Inside The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp
• Jim Arnosky Official Website
• NOVA: Crocodiles
• Florida Museum of Natural History: Crocodilians

The author of The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp is also a nature writer. Here are a couple of his books about the swamp, wild places and wild things. The action in Crocodile Swamp is very realistic because Mr. Arnosky knows so much about the Florida Keys. If you liked this wilderness survival story, try Alabama Moon or The Night of the Howling Dogs. In these, kids use their knowledge to survive in the wild also.

There’s a guy out there who wants to help guys find good books to read - that guy is Jon Scieszka. Jon is a guy. He reads. He grew up with five brothers, so he ought to know what guys like. He also writes books.

You know Jon, he writes the Time Warp Trio series and he wrote the Stinky Cheese Man, Math Curse, and many more.  Jon’s asked other people, mostly guys, to help him tell other guys about good books on the Guys Read website. On the website you’ll find books that guys have said they like. You can look at lists of books like “How to Build Stuff,” “Mysterious Occurences,” and the popular “At Least One Explosion” to help you choose something really good to read. You can also try the website Boys Read, which also suggests good books for guys.

Jon Scieszka is a pretty funny guy. You can tell how he got that way when you read his autobiography. Knucklehead is the story of Jon growing up with his five brothers. And then here’s a few of Jon’s books you might like.

In Book 1: Gods of Manhattan, we found out that 13 year-old Rory can see impossible things…a cockroach riding a rat like a horse, American Indians, and lots of people who have been dead for two hundred years! Rory is a “Light,” one of the few mortals who can see the spirit world, the Gods of Manhattan, who live in his city. Rory can see and talk to the spirits of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Walt Whitman and many more people from New York history.  He can also see the Munsee Indians whose spirits are trapped inside Central Park. To understand how Rory came to know he is a “Light” and understand how our world and the spirit world co-exist, I think it would be good if you started with book 1. There are a lot of characters to meet who all play important roles as the story moves along - a lot like all the characters in the Percy Jackson stories. 

In Book 2:  Spirits in the Park, Rory, his little sister Bridget (aka “Malibu Death Barbie”), his dog, some teenage Spirit friends and a couple cockroach warriors take on some of the most powerful and sinister figures in New York history.  The kids and their cockroach warriors want to free the Munsee Indian spirits trapped in Central Park . When they find out that freeing the Indians could start a war between the Indians and the Gods of Manhattan, the kids need to get to the bottom of who trapped the Indians in the first place, and why. The answers are not at all what they expect. Can they free the Indians and prevent an all-out war at the same time? Author: Scott Mebus; Series: Gods of Manhattan

• Look Inside Spirits in the Park

Like I said, you probably want to start with Book 1: Gods of Manhattan. Then, read the book Duel! It tells the story of the longstanding feud between Alexander Hamilton and Aarron Burr. Really, this is historically real…and the two guys appear in Spirits in the Park still hating each other. Knowing their real story will help you understand the conflict in Spirits in the Park. Plus, Duel! is a great book itself. Then, if you like the idea of a spirit world co-existing with ours, try The Night Tourist and of course, the all-time favorite, The Lightning Thief.