Cardboard

Jobless and hopeless, Mike wants nothing more than to buy his young son, Cam, an awesome birthday present. But when there's no money, an awesome present is kind of hard to come by. But then a google-eyed street vender gives Mike an ordinary cardboard box. Or at least it appears to be an ordinary cardboard box. The vendor tells Mike there are two rules if he accepts this gift: 1. He must return all unused cardboard & 2. He can't ask for any more. Thinking the old man is maybe more than a little crazy, Mike takes the box and gives it to Cam. Being an imaginative kid, Cam instantly comes up with something cool to make with his cardboard. Then the unexpected happens: At the stroke of midnight, the creation comes to life. This sets Mike, Cam, Bill (the cardboard creation), and the neighborhood bully off on the adventure of their lives!

Cardboard is something I picked up by chance and started paging through while I waited for my computer to reboot. And, quite unexpectedly, I became caught up in the story. Sure, there's enough action here to grab just about anyone's attention and keep them invested, but there's a lot of heart too.  Cardboard is one of those books I'm very glad I took a chance on. I'd recommend this to anyone. --AJB