Bel-Air+Bambi+&+the+Mall+Rats

Have you ever been forced into a new situation and felt like you've stepped into a parallel universe? It's not a good feeling, especially if you're a teenager. What can help, however, is using humor to deflect the problem. Richard Peck's book //Bel Air Bambi and the Mall Rats// is a good book and really fun to read. It's about a Hollywood family who is living the typical Beverly Hills lifestyle. After the dad borrows too much money to fund yet another bad tv show, they lose everything and have to move to Dad's hometown, Hickory Fork in the Midwest (the parallel universe.) Of course it's a long way (figuratively and literally) from Bel Air and the family has to do a lot of adjusting. The person who goes through the most culture shock is the oldest child, Bambi. Her younger sister, Buffie and little brother, Brick (good Hollywood names, huh?) are also shocked at the place their dad described as "the perfect place to grow up." The whole town, including the K-12 school and the mall, has been taken over by Hickory Fork's version of a teen gang called the Mall Rats. The family and then the town have to come together to save the day. The characters in this book are really funny making this book entertaining and a fast read. I recommend this book if you like humorous books and enjoy some silliness thrown in with twists and turns and a solid plot.