Fake Mustache: 08/30/16

Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger is one of the weirdest books I've read recently. It's the story of the transformative affects an expertly made fake mustache has on its wearer. In this case, it's a boy named Casper. His friend, Lenny, has to stop him before he becomes a complete super villain.

The setting of this book is a fictional middle America type place. It reads like a mishmash of Beach City (Steven Universe), Danville (Phineas and Ferb), Pleasantville, and Springfield (Simpsons). Somehow, though, the setting didn't work for me. The town was too old timey, too quaint.

Then there was the narration — that's the method of telling a story, rather than the story itself. It's first from Lenny's point of view. Then at the halfway point it switches the perspective of the television star he ends up impersonating. I get that they end up collaborating to save Casper from the Heidelberg Handlebar #7 but I didn't feel like I needed to be inside her mind to know her part in the rescue.

Regardless, both characters are very chatty. They are all tell not show. The entire book reads like type of run-on sentences you get from an overly excited child.

A better version of this type of story is the Terrible Two and The Terrible Two Get Worse by Mac Barnett and Jory John.

Two stars

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