Perfect plotting, lively writing, and clever though minimal drawings add up to a surefire winner with kids. May inspire children to explore language creatively. Nick politely stands up for his beliefs in a media onslaught. Raises issues such as the nature of language and effect of media on culture.
What Parents Should Know
Perfect plotting, lively writing, and clever though minimal
drawings add up to a surefire winner with kids. May inspire
children to explore language creatively. Nick politely stands
up for his beliefs in a media onslaught. Raises issues such as
the nature of language and effect of media on culture.
Common Sense Media Review
This cleverly subversive story with solid values will have
kids racing to the perfect finish. Author Andrew Clements never
makes a misstep. Every single event is perfectly plotted and
perfectly timed. The reader is torn between page-turning
excitement--don't be surprised if your children won't go to
sleep until they finish it--and the deep satisfaction
(something akin to the feeling of a good caper novel) of
everything happening just the way it should.
The characters are unusually well drawn: Nick, the creative troublemaker; his bewildered but supportive parents; and, best of all, Mrs. Granger. Tart-tongued, no-nonsense, smarter than she looks, and crafty to boot--and far more caring than the sweet young things kids always think they want--she is the other kind of teacher; the one who will always be remembered as the best teacher you ever had.
Though the ending won't be revealed here; suffice to say it couldn't possibly be any better. But the whole novel is that way: Even though it's never predictable, each moment unfolds just the way it should. This is a book that makes you start over on the first page as soon as you've finished the last just because it makes you feel so good. Read it one evening when you're depressed or worn out or fed up--it's a tonic.
From the Book:
If you asked the kids and the teachers at Lincoln
Elementary School to make three lists--all the really bad kids,
all the really smart kids, and all the really good kids--Nick
Allen would not be on any of them. Nick deserved a list all his
own, and everyone knew it.
Was Nick a troublemaker? Hard to say. One thing's for sure: Nick Allen had plenty of idea, and he knew what to do with them.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
