Little Klein    by Anne Ylvisaker Order:  USA  Can Candlewick, 2009 (2007) Softcover Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Bob Walch If you are not very tall and don't weigh much, you can appreciate my situation. I am the youngest and smallest of four brothers. Rather than use my first name, Harold, everyone calls me Little. I'm not overly thrilled by the situation but there's not much I can do about it. In this book you'll see me hanging around with my three older brothers who are referred to as the Bigs. I do enjoy it when they take me fishing or help build an outdoor house for our new dog, but they don't always want me tagging along with them. As you read this book you'll see how a stray dog became part of our family and you'll enjoy all the little adventures my brothers and I have. Although they have biblical first names (Matthew, Mark and Luke), the Bigs manage to get into a lot of mischief. You'll also meet my Mom and Dad (he's not home much, though) plus other people who live in our small Midwestern town, like Mean Emma Brown (the toughest and tallest girl in our school), Widow Flom, Officer Linden and Reverend Clambush. There's lots of action in my story, but when the Bigs decide to take the wood from the doghouse that collapsed (you can read how that happened!) to build a raft, things really get interesting. Did I say interesting? Well, that may be too mild a word because when the Bigs launch the raft on the river some really bad things happen. I'll let you read all about it yourself, but I will tell you this. By the time you get to the end of the raft episode (which is the end of the book too) you'll notice I've changed a little bit and now people are calling me Harold because I have earned the right to go by my real name and not that silly Little nickname! If you like to read and are about eight years of age or older you'll probably really like my book. I've heard that adults think it is a pretty cool book too. It is 186 pages, but once you start reading I bet you'll zip right through it. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Kids books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews