2011 book 308

Markus Zusak's Underdogs
So before Zusak wrote the incredible I Am The Messenger and The Book Thief,  he apparently wrote a trilogy about a couple of teenage brothers and their slightly downtrodden family. Now they're published in one volume in America--which is fine, b/c they're not very long, and the first two aren't particularly strong works. They're likable, and of course the characters are compelling b/c it's Zusak, but each book has these short interludes interrupting the story (in the first, the younger boy's dreams; in the second, his late-night conversations with his brother; and in the third, his attempts at writing, which are just excruciating to read and which I mostly skipped). It's possible to see the roots of Zusak's awesomeness here, but on the whole this is just good solid general YA. B/B+.