Middle School – My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar

James Patterson's Middle School book My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar is a funny school story for 11 year olds told by a girl whose big brother got there first.

What happens

Georgia Khatchadorian is clever, organised and a straight-A student. She's also Rafe's little sister. Rafe tried to break every rule at Hills Village Middle School and got kicked out, and on her very first day her homeroom teacher greets her with a horrified "You're Rafe Khatchadorian's SISTER?!" The rest of her teachers aren't much better.

So Georgia bets Rafe that within four weeks she'll have straight A's and be really popular. The loser does the winner's chores for a month. You can probably guess how smoothly that goes.

The fun is all in Georgia's voice. She talks straight to you, then admits she's exaggerating (she didn't think of that witty comeback until three days later). A few scenes turn out to be daydreams before she tells you what really happened, which is very funny.

The brother and sister battles are the best bit. He calls her muesli rabbit poop. She tips a whole bottle of hot sauce on his pasta. He dyes her hair green. Underneath it all, though, she won't let anyone else say a bad word about him.

There's plenty going on at school too. There's a trio of mean girls she calls the Princess Patrol, a nice boy from detention called Sam, and a loud, very keen girl called Rhonda who desperately wants to sing in Georgia's garage band.

It's worth mentioning how Georgia talks about Rhonda at first. She calls her fat and compares her to a sack of jelly, and the mean girls say worse. Georgia does end up helping her (and she calls herself an idiot for it). If your child is sensitive about bodies or weight, it's worth a chat as you go.

If you've got a reader with a sibling who drives them up the wall, they'll recognise a lot of this. Siblings can be the most annoying people in the world, and still the ones you'd stick up for.

What to read next

And if they end up rooting for Rafe after all, Winter Blunderland has him telling the story, this time with a chance to study polar bears in Alaska.