The Tale of Angelino Brown by David Almond

My name is Betty Brown, and while driving his school bus, my husband found a tiny angel in his pocket! We're calling him Angelino, and he's brought so much joy to our family. I took him to school with me, and the students and teachers all love him, except for Mrs. Mole. The other day, a school inspector came to our building and had Mrs. Mole in a tizzy. However, I recognized this person as Kevin Hawkins and realized he should still be in school. Kevin was always a master of disguises, but he was easily led by others. Tell him to jump off a rooftop, and he'd do it. I'm not sure why he was in our building. Now, Angelino has been kidnapped, and I don't think the police will be much help. The officers we spoke to don't believe our boy is a real angel... I don't know if anyone else can help us.

The whole plot was about Angelino even though the angel spoke very little. Farting is something he did a lot! He also slowly grew throughout the book, so it was easy to anticipate the plot's final resolution. Betty and Bert missed the son they once had, and they quickly "adopted" Angelino when he appeared. Even though several students were the heroes in the book, I think my favorite characters were actually the kidnappers. Kevin is the misguided boy that Betty remembered, and his Boss wasn't much different. Betty felt they missed out on positive guidance growing up and weren't really bad boys. The plot came to a pleasant conclusion once Betty got a hold of them, and everyone lived happily ever after. The story was told in present tense, which is not something I typically enjoy. It's my personal taste and doesn't mean it's something that will bother you. The book was a quick-read for me, and overall I enjoyed it very much. I've also read Skellig written by David Almond.