In response to popular demand, Alex Frankovitch is back, fighting the same old classmates with a new weapon: He's going to be a Star. When his satirical letter for the National Kitty Fritters Cat Food Contest earns him a role in a commercial, Alex begins signing autographs, even though no one wants them. But the commercial is disappointing: He plays an embarrassingiy small, inept boy running away with a very large cat; and the fan club he starts consists only of his grandparents, his dog, and a neighborhood 3-year-old. His classmates remain unimpressed-even derisive. Undaunted, Alex tries out for Scrooge in a school play, but he's cast as Tiny Tim. Now slightly daunted, he plans to steal the show-until he's made painfully aware that he may have gone too far. His reactions surprise even himself. Much of the humor here lies in narrator Alex's total self-involvement and lack of awareness of his effect on other people: Paradoxically, this gives the book's closing pages a somber edge. Park risks undercutting her own protagonist, but her gamble pays off with a wiser story; middle graders will continue to ask for more. - from Amzon