Robert West presents The Starfighters of Murphy Street

From the publisher's website:
Beamer, age 13, who speaks only Californian, is an alien in the world of Middle America, exiled to a bizarre, ancient house on a mysterious street that may or may not exist on any map. With the help of a nerdy African-American kid named Ghoulie, a gangly tomboy named Scilla, and a miraculous, broken-down tree house shaped like a spaceship, he battles the indigenous life forms in his new home, from bullying creatures to the strange inhabitants of dark castles, subterranean caverns, and a spider web the size of a house, to discover how God gives a distinctive purpose to each uniquely designed human being.

Know Your Star-Fighters Beamer: California transplant to a weird Midwestern town. Feels like he’s living on another planet. Scilla: the gangly tomboy next door. Ghoulie: the class nerd.

Add one spaceship-shaped tree house capable of taking them most anywhere in the universe. Hop in and blast off for fantastic outer space adventures in Star-Fighters of Murphy Street—the quirky, funny, fast-paced new trilogy by Robert West.

Newly arrived from California, thirteen-year-old Beamer MacIntyre feels like an alien in this bizarre Midwestern town. Strangest of all is the spaceship-shaped tree house in his yard. Surprises await Beamer and his two new friends, Ghoulie and Scilla, when they climb inside and blast off to a universe full of adventure—including a surefire way to make the school bully stop harassing Ghoulie (provided it doesn’t backfire!).

My Review and a view from my youngest son:
Both my son and I have read Robert's West's first book in the Star-Fighters of Murphy Street trilogy, and we really liked it! There is a lot of action, and the kids in the book face realistic challenges of bullying and teasing that many kids face today. The thing that draws the three main characters together is that they are sort of mis-fits. That makes them an easy target for the school bully. However, they discover that the school bully has a few hidden talents of his own - talent he wants to remain hidden, because he doesn't want to be laughed at or teased by his schoolmates!

The tree-house is a fantastical place, and the house that Beamer's family lives in is the craziest place on earth! But there is an elderly neighbor lady that turns out to have quite a bit of common sense. She encourages the kids to think about one thing in particular...that "God can make some people different - special - for a reason." Beamer, Scilla and Ghoulie have a wild adventure on their way to learning what their neighbor's words of wisdom mean for them as individuals.

This is really a great little book! If you have kids ages 7-12 in your life, pick up a copy today! It's never to early to start putting a Summer reading list together!