Review: 4.5 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2014
This book sure surprised me. I'll be honest that I did not have high expectations due to the cover of this book. I'm glad that I was proven wrong because this book turned out be such a sweet and endearing read.The book was told by short stories recounting the life of Willie when he was in elementary school. It opened up with the explanation towards the book's title. One cannot help but chuckle why Willie didn't want to be an orange in the school's play. Next, I was quite delighted to read all the things that Willie said, did, and went through after the orange event. He didn't want to be seen as a "dweeb" but unfortunately he was named as one. I laughed on all the "evil" thoughts he had about his sister and it was hilarious how his sister was able to manipulate the parents to her side. I also enjoyed reading about the other kids in school and I felt complete compassion for Willie when he was being bullied by Brucie.Everything described in the book was very realistic to the point that it made me question if any of it was true. It was told as if it were a memoir and the language that was used made it seem that this was non-fiction even though the synopsis said it was otherwise. Because of how real everything seemed to me, I was able to connect with many of the characters. I came to really love them to the point that a tear came to my eye when reading the fate of two of the characters at the end of the book.This book would have been perfect if it weren't for some of the editing errors. The errors became more apparent towards the last third of the book. Also, there were two instances were it felt like a whole paragraph was repeated. When reading the paragraph the second time, I felt dejavu.As a whole, this was a very delightful book. I was very surprised to find out how much I was going to love it. Yes, it was not perfect but it was still wonderful. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a fun and short read, no matter what age the reader is.