My Life As A Smashed Burrito With Extra Hot Sauce

I changed t-shirts back at the cabin. For a long moment, I held the one with the burrito and hot sauce smeared all over the front. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but make the comparison. Somehow I figured that burrito goop symbolized my whole life at Camp Whacko. “A smashed burrito,” I mumbled half aloud. “Now doesn’t that just figure… a smashed burrito with extra hot sauce.”

Book: My Life as a Smashed Burrito With Extra Hot Sauce (The Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle #1) by Bill Myers, Word Publishers, 1993

Genre: Adventure, Comedy

Target Audience: Boys 11-15

Subjects: Wisdom, Love for enemies

Summary: “Becoming a real man” is Wally’s dad’s goal for him. As soon as Wally announces his dreams of a writing career – screen writer, mind you, his dad ships him off to Camp Wahkah Wahkah in hopes of turning him into a “real man”. Wally knows this idea is nuts, but that makes no difference. Of course he is proved right as soon as he gets on the bus and sits in the wrong seat – that of the bully. A war begins between the “Dork-oids” – Wally and his friends vs. Gary and his goons. One prank after another after another, escalating until there is trouble. It’s not until there is actual danger, that Wally learns what love means.

Notes: The Wally McDoogle series focuses on a twelve year old boy that is impressively clumsy. He calls himself a “dork-oid”, someone he describes like this: “While everyone else is wearing hot new fashions, we’re sporting frozen-oldie hand-me-downs. While everyone else has these terrific put downs, we usually say something stupid or, worse yet, polite.” Whenever an opportunity for adventure comes up, Wally finds a way to accidentally get himself into trouble. In the process he learns some lesson from the Bible.

In My Life As A Smashed Burrito With Extra Hot Sauce, Wally learns to show love to even his enemy and what wisdom is – not just knowing what God wants, but choosing to obey Him.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Proverbs 3:13-15 – Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.