Eight-year-old David Bernstein discovers life is much more exciting when he calls himself Ali Baba Bernstein. Only Ali Baba would have dared to grab the class snail and escape to the boys' room for his own magic experiment. David would never have invited every David Bernstein in the phone book to his birthday party -- or find himself hailed as a great detective -- or discover adventures and misadventures everywhere he went. But Ali Baba Bernstein does!

David Bernstein reads the book called the Arabian Nights. He decides to change his name to Ali Baba, because there are too many David's. He believes his life is going to be more exciting and adventurous. In the end he learns that everyone is different, not matter what your name is. USE: to teach everyone is different and special. GENRE: realistic fiction. MEDIA: pencil

David Bernstein was eight years, five months, and seventeen days old when he decided to change his name… to Ali Baba.
You see, it all started when David was assigned to do a book report in class and the teacher gave extra credit for fat books. David decided he wanted to read the longest book out of anyone in his school, so he started reading the phone book. And he discovered that NOT ONLY were there three other Davids in his class, there were 17 David Bernsteins in his city!

David was sick of being just another David. Being just another David was boring. He figured that he’d have more adventures as Ali Baba… and between finding lost jewels, outsmarting kidnappers, and arranging a party for all the other David Bernsteins in New York City, Ali Baba was right!

This is a solid transitional chapter book and I'd recommend it to 2nd-3rd graders (or younger kids who are reading up). Johanna Hurwitz was one of my favorite authors when I was a kid and I'm glad to say that this book stands the test of time pretty well. There are occasional mentions of technology, but nothing more specific than "computer" or "word processor", so nothing that dates it too badly.

Readalikes: Others of Johanna Hurwitz's books, of course, for their solid contemporary stories and funny situations.

Roscoe Riley Rules series by Applegate, which is written on a similar level and also features humorous stories about an elementary school boy. ( )