Nothing New But Entertaining
592195
Young Freddy Funkhouser is having problems. First, his father, Alfred, a genius inventor, can't seem to make any of his inventions work well enough to make the family money. Second, his older sister, Nancy, loves to spout lines from Shakespeare and TV shows to anyone who will listen, hoping that her acting career will take off. How embarrassing!

Freddy is trying to help break his family out of their obscure rut by building an award winning float for the Pookesville Founder's Day Parade. If he can do it, perhaps their floundering family restaurant - that offers healthy food compared to the burger stand across the street owned by the Spanker family - might take off. A large task considering the Spankers ALWAYS win the float contest. But if Freddy has anything to say about it, they won't win this year! With the aid of Howie Kapowie, his one and only friend in town who seems solely to care about eating cheese cubes, they have very little chance. And with Adam Spanker (the town hooligan) always on their heels, things look even bleaker.

Can Freddy do it?

Not on his own. And he knows it. So he rigs up a contraption of nanotechnology mixed with super-secret potatoes, and an interesting accident occurs. When lightning strikes the potatoes, they turn into living, breathing, talking ...uh ...spuds. Fries alive! And now with Theodore, Wally, Curly, Si, and Meese, the town of Pookesville is in for an amazing surprise ...and so is the rival Spanker family. Can a misfit family use its brains to beat the brawn of the town?

******************************************************************************

David Baldacci is normally known for his crime novels (Absolute Power, Hour Game, and the less enjoyable Split Second), but here he's dunked his hand into the children's literature cookie jar, perhaps hoping to come up with some tasty new treat for readers.

But no ...

Like so many other children's books and films, 'Freddy and the French Fries' treads over old themes and tries to put on a new face. Ever seen the film 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'? If you have, you will undoubtedly see parallels to it in this book (i.e., a genius father, a smart family that's stunted because of their intellect, absurd obstacles that need to be overcome by using technology, and, in the end, triumph).

That being said, this book will probably appeal to the preteen because of its fast pace, outrageous names (Howie Kapowie, Patty Cakes, Nanny Boo-Boo, etc.), and its action scenes.

There's also some learning that takes place that will obviously make parents happy. Such as knowing the proper term for siamese twins (conjoined); the advantages - and disadvantages - of eating soy products rather than hamburgers; how to beat a bully using your brains and not your fists; and a very basic understanding of how nanotechnology might benefit us.

All in all I think this book's chapters might be enjoyed by kids at bedtime, but don't expect much originality.
4556500
A reasonable documentary but nothing really new. You can only grind the same meat so many ways. An interesting read, but don't expect anything new. On the other hand if this some the first history you will read, it is worth the time.
2820193
same old..same old.. but still a quick and fun read
2032713
The writing style of the book was interesting simply because it was non-traditional. The storyline, however, wasn't all that original. It's a genre I enjoy, but I feel that there were no unique ideas introduced in this story; it's all been done before. Still, it was a fast and entertaining read.
2480464
I enjoyed this book, it was a quick, entertaining read.  Nothing earth-shattering, not provocative of deep thought, but a welcome distraction from a complicated life!
4926383
It was certainly entertaining, though the book lacked any thrilling twists and there were more than a few examples of deus ex machina devices. Otherwise, fun and quick.
971993
This was an easy read but not a great piece of written work. If you like murder mystery it was entertaining enough and I think it was a free download, so for free...it was an appropriate value.
1583769
This book is entertaining if you have never been exposed to the folklore and mores of cruise ships. Odds are, that if you have ever been on a cruise, you have heard these anecdotes and jokes, most likely from your Cruise Director. It's full of old standard tales (the woman who got stuck on the vacuum toilet; the passenger who asks if the crew sleep on board the ship; etc.) but unfortunately didn't supply a single anecdote that I was not familiar with. If you ever worked on a ship (I haven't), forget it. You have heard the tiny cabin/ shower jokes ad nauseum I'm sure. Fun material overall, but nothing new, and I found the author's tendency to present the information as if it were totally novel most annoying.
986054
Fairly basic and not a lot of meat. Still, the series was entertaining and you can blow through them without a lot of commitment. A touch on the adolescent side, but perhaps that was intentional.
3982289
Entertaining but nothing special.  This book is part of a series, but it does have an 'ending'.  I won't be reading any more in the series.
280561
This is the sort of movie you could watch on a bus or a plane, or in a hotel room if you were desperate for something to watch. A good time filler and mildly entertaining, but not much else. The story idea is interesting enough but the movie itself doesn't really have staying power. 5 minutes after you've watched it you struggle to remember what the movie was all about. I must confess my main interest in seeing it was for the motorcycle chase, that didn't disappoint me, although the sound effects for the bike sounded a bit fake.
But don't get me wrong, I wasn't disappointed in the movie. But that's because I didn't really expect too much out of it to begin with. And neither should anybody else who wants to see this movie.
4706719
This series has been entertaining so far. Nothing super extraordinary, but what I was expecting so it's been fine. I can't help but notice a familiar theme... "Hot, rich guy with personal demons attaches himself to naive virgin.(Fifty Shades of somethin)"  But aside from some eye-rolling cheesy moments, it's entertaining nevertheless. Quick read. I'm looking forward to finishing the series.
2146452
I found that the author really did not present anything new. The information was the same set of tips everyone else likes to put out. It was presented in a way that was entertaining to read, I just did not gain any new insights into garage sales.
2835609
Older style and times. Entertaining but not riveting or especially memorable.  A good book to pass the time.
2740076
I did enjoy reading this, but it's just the same old story told slightly differently. The writing style is decent, but there are some parts which where unnecessary, like the main character constantly reminded us of the same thing (that he is faster). The main character also had to be careful not to give himself away. There are times he almost does, and makes a big deal of it, yet there are times he does, and nothing is noted about it, which seems like the author missed it, or it'll be brought up in the other novels, though there is no hint of that.
Even though the baseline story is not original, how it is told is still entertaining, and enjoyable enough.
2866260
This book took me about three hours to read. It had a pretty basic plot that is fairly generic nowadays, but has some little twists. It is a very good short read and it being free on kindle seems to help. However, the characters do not have min depth and you don't find yourself really connecting to any of them. Also, it builds you up to a very climatic ending, then just falls short. It's not going to win any prizes, but it keep me fairly entertained.
4574189
Entertaining, Clean

Not great dialog and story