We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(3) Base Camp
Probably the hardest thing about reading The True Meaning of Smekday for the first time is getting used to all the aliens and sci-fi stuff that's unique to this book's world. Don't know the difference between a Gorg and a Boov? Yeah, we didn't either before we picked up our copy. Pretty quickly, though, you get used to the hovering cars, invisible guns, and eight-legged creatures, and once you do, the story really comes to the fore. And since it's told from an eighth grader's perspective, the language is pretty easy to follow, too.