Mistakes Were Made by

Resolving to earn so much money that his mother will no longer stress out over the bills, 11-year-old Timmy Failure launches a detective business with a lazy polar bear partner named Total but finds their enterprise—Total Failure, Inc.—challenged by a college-bound spy and a four-foot-tall girl whom Timmy refuses to acknowledge.

Definitely ten-year-old humor. Timmy Failure is a disaster at school, at friendship, at his job as a detective, but he doesn't even know it. His sidekick is a polar bear, and his mom is trying her best to guide her clueless son through life. Lots of speeding vehicles and Nate-the-Great-ish detective work and silly humor that kids will probably just love.

I read this last week in my attempt to hurry up and read a whole bunch of chapter books before the summer so that I can spiffy up my RA. I feel I must begin with a disclaimer: I really, really dislike the Wimpy Kid books. Timmy Failure is written in a similar style (heavy on illustrations). The difference? Timmy Failure is laugh out loud hysterical. I read it in my living room and everyone kept telling me to shush because I was laughing so hard they couldn't hear the TV.
Timmy and his business partner a polar bear, Total run Total Failure Detective Agency. Timmy happens to be one of the worst detectives I have ever read. The support characters are also funny. What I loved was the side story of Timmy's mom, who is single, and her new love interest.
Great read, highly recommended and now I am armed with a title for kids who have already finished the Wimpy Kid and Big Nate series.

Mistakes Were Made is not the sort of book I'd normally pay much attention to. I'm not a huge fan of children's lit and this one looked a bit too juvenile for me (not that I'm not very childish at heart). I picked up this novel for one reason: Tom McCarthy, genius behind such movie gems as The Station Agent, Win Win, and Up, is adapting the novel to film. McCarthy isn't a filmmaker who deals in adaptations, so I was intrigued with what this book was all about.

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that McCarthy has taken on this project. It's quirky, which is right up McCarthy's alley, but it has a different tone than McCarthy's usual “quirky with heavy underlying dramatic weight.” But enough about a film that doesn't even exist yet.

This is a hilarious book. The humor is fresh and often unexpected—even though Timmy's lack of common sense is established early, the disconnect is so absurd and finely drawn that I laughed out loud every time he reached a conclusion. This is the kind of humor that can be understood by children and adults alike, but may at times be lost on some children.

The narrative was great and the plot worked fine for the style. I was very much engaged for the bulk of the story. At the point where the story begins to wrap, however, the plot sort of fizzled. The conclusion was very rushed and not all that entertaining. For a novel which spent so much time setting up the dynamics of the narrative and the setting, as well as introducing us to a myriad of wonderful characters, I guess there just wasn't enough room to build a satisfactory ending. Hopefully, now that the stage is set, the following books in the series provide a stronger story arc. (And, yes, I do plan on continuing this series.)

The Timmy Failure movie is schedule for release in 2020. I'm sure given McCarthy's handling, it'll be a fabulous movie—though one cannot forget (and maybe not forgive) The Cobbler.