By: N. E. Bode Publisher: HarperTrophy Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: HarperTrophy Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: June 01, 2007 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: June 12, 2007
Fern and Howard are off to camp to learn the art of being Anybodies. But Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times is not what they expected: The bus driver is blind, the counselors have beaks, and a vicious mole is on the loose, attacking campers! Fern and Howard are coping as best they can—but why oh why is it that every time Fern shakes a book, a message in a bottle plops out?
The messages are urgent: "Save us, Fern!" "We need you!" They are all signed by the Nobodies. But who are these mysterious Nobodies, and what do they want from Fern?
This book promises weird surprises! Multiple jujitsu-like plot twists! An escaped rhinoceros! A girl whose braids turn into snakes! So go on, snap to it! Read the book already! You might just learn the secret art of being an Anybody. . . .
Stupendous, magnificent and wonderful henceforthwith!! The Nobodies is a fantastic surreal adventure that had me on the edge of my seat for the whole ride. This sequel to The Anybodies allows us to revisit Fern and her 'brother' Howard. Howard and Fern were switched at birth. Howard was supposed to be raised by the ever-boring Drudgers, while Fern missed an upbringing by her very unusual father, the Bone.
The Bone is unusual because he is an Anybody. An Anybody is a person with a special ability to transform themselves or things. One of Fern's abilities is that she can shake items out of books. But nowadays she can only shake out Diet Lime Fizzy bottles with messages in them. Fern's grandmother (the ultimate Anybody) believes it is time for Fern to go to Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times to meet other Anybodies and to learn more about her powers.
But when Fern gets there (with Howard by her side), they find that Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times is not at all what they expected. Something is amiss. The counselors are mean, the campers are scared and no one has that Happy Sunshine Good Times feeling about being an Anybody. Fern has to find out what is wrong and, at the same time, she has to find out how she can save the Nobodies (it turns out that they're the ones who have been sending her the messages in the Diet Lime Fizzy bottles.)
In so many carefully crafted "jujitsu-style" twists, the author tells a wonderful tale about Fern and her brother, the Hermit and the mole, Holmquist and the campers. I loved every turn that it took and recommend this book to everyone. Great story, great writing. A real winner!
Heart-Touchingly Hilarious Now that Fern knows she's a natural-born Anybody, she can't wait to learn more and meet other Anybodies. When her father, the Bone, signs Fern and Howard (her almost-kind-of-sort-of brother) up for Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times, Fern is as thrilled as Howard is mortified. The camp is for young Anybodies, and the sappy name and matching brochure are intended to discourage "normal" camp goers.
Before Fern and Howard can even depart for camp, strange things start to happen. Fern overhears the Miser, a former villain, talking with a nasty mole--not the kind on one's face, but a furry, beady-eyed rodent with an unusually flared nose. And this mole is threatening dire consequences if the Miser doesn't get something from Fern. Just as strange are the notes-in-bottles Fern gets every time she tries to shake things from books. "Help us, Fern!" "Only you can save us!"
A rhino hunt, hunter hunt, flood and terrifying bus ride (really, blind men should NOT be allowed to drive camp buses!) later, Fern and Howard arrive at Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times to find what they did and did not expect. Fern did not expect the famous Anybody camp to be so dreary and frightening, and Howard did expect that very thing.
The summer camp gets progressively worse, with no end, or even a tunnel to the end, in sight. I mean, it's so bad that the end isn't even on the radar! How are Fern and Howard ever going to make it through the dangerously horrifying sequential events that are certain to bring them to their doom?! This is serious, indeed.
Young readers should make a point to read this extremely important novel. Fern learns things that will inspire courage and imagination. Or is it imaginative courage? Or courageous imaginings? Or... ?
Ahem. Er, yes. Anyway. I highly recommend THE NOBODIES. Whether the narrator, N.E. Bode, is or is not killed by his former writing instructor, readers will be wise to choose this exciting adventure for their literary lists. As with THE ANYBODIES, each intrepid soul will be challenged to diligently note all references to classic literature. (Recent classics count, too!)
Go forth, Young Reader, and seek adventure, with Fern, an Anybody among Anybodies.
Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer (or not...) 7/16/2006
The Anybodies This book was great! My daughter and I read it together. We laughed so hard at some parts we cried! This author really gets kids. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone!
cool This is the sequel to the Anybodies. Fern is the main character in the book. She is now living back with her father. She is spending the summer at Anybodies camp called Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times. The camp is really weird and she has lots of adventures here! Fern keeping finding soda bottles with messages for her to same some one. Join Fern as she tried to find out who she has to save and what she is saving them from!
The black and white illustrations through out the book were interesting. I enjoyed learning more about each character as I read.
This is a must read for those who enjoyed The Anybodies!
THIS AUTHOR HAS TERRIFIC IMAGINATION! What an imagination this author has!
In this sequel to ANYBODIES, fearless Fern, our heroine, has some frightening, fearful adventures, but nothing she can't solve ... with a little help from the amusing, magical characters in this book.
Fern no longer lives with the boring DRUDGER family who were ANYBODIES in the first book. She now lives with her real father who is a NOBODY, and is having even more exciting adventures, if that's possible.
I cracked up when she finds notes in soda bottles, like in fortune cookies! And WHERE she found them ... well, read for yourself. I promise you a fun time!
In fact, this book is fun from start to finish, but I recommend you read ANYBODIES first.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
