Sonnenblick’s first for younger audiences features an ironic, sarcastic, self-deprecating narrator similar to his young-adult narrators. Ten-year-old Willie Ryan would love to be a fabulous baseball player, but as the reason his team loses their penultimate game, he is anything but. To make matters worse, since his best friend Tim moved away, Lizzie, a British girl from school, has been following him around like a lost puppy. And if any further evidence were needed that his life is a mess, his six-year-old sister Amy is evil and his mother is a safety fanatic. Willie needs help. Unfortunately, help comes in the form of a blue chimp-shaped genie—er, “bottled American”—named Dodger. Dodger’s “help” lands Willie in hotter and hotter water...finally requiring the condescending intervention of The Great Lasorda, Dodger’s supervisor. Willie’s progression from no self-confidence to slightly self-sacrificing saves this effort from being total fluff. Over the top, short on logic and often quite silly, this quick read will please fans of such televised cotton candy as The Fairly OddParents. (Fiction. 8-12)
