Sons of the 613

F/A  Rubens, Michael.  Sons of the 613.  Clarion Books, 2012.  320p.  978-0547612164.  16.99.

Three weeks before his Bar Mitzvah, Isaac witnesses his friend’s disastrous turn on the bema and finds out his parents are going to Italy for two weeks and leaving his older brother, Josh in charge. As if he wasn’t nervous already! Josh decides to take this opportunity to really turn his brother into a man by creating a quest for him that involves camping, excessive exercise, bars, a makeover, motorcycles and a final prank. Rubens is a Daily Show writer and you can tell with all the potty humor, but the humor comes in waves and it takes a heavy turn towards the end. Boys looking for humorous reads might like it, but would probably prefer Calame’s Swim the Fly or Crawford’s Carter Finally Gets It. Loren Spector, LAPL, Felipe de Neve