Punished!

School Skills

by David Lubar

Logan and his friend Benedict run into the wrong guy at the library―literally. When Logan slams into the reference guy in the basement and gives him a little lip, Logan gets punished, really and truly punished. He has three days to complete three tasks before Professor Wordsworth will lift the magical punishment that keeps getting Logan in even more trouble.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, Humor, Juvenile, Young Adult

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

David Lubar created a sensation with his debut novel, Hidden Talents, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Thousands of kids and educators across the country have voted Hidden Talents onto over twenty state lists. David is also the author of True Talents, the sequel to Hidden Talents; Flip, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror selection; several short story collections: In the Land of the Lawn Weenies, Invasion of the Road Weenies, The Curse of the Campfire Weenies, The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies, and Attack of the Vampire Weenies; and the Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series. Lubar grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, and he has also lived in New Brunswick, Edison and Piscataway, NJ, and Sacramento, CA. Besides writing, he has also worked as a video game programmer and designer. He now lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidl...

Reviews

[Josie McClain · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are planning to teach figures of speech, you might want to pull this book out and read a little to your class each day. The main character, Logan, is cursed to speak in puns by Professor Wordsworth because he is too rowdy and a little disrespectful in the library. In order to lift the curse he must bring the Professor 7 oxymorons, 7 anagrams and 7 palindromes. Punished is a book that will let you and your students have a good time working with words. From this you could go on to metaphors or whatever because the students would have background and connections. The book only has 96 pages so it won't be time consuming. Enjoy!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it's no The Phantom Tollbooth but it's pretty darn fun. Can you collect 7 oxymorons, 7 palindromes, and 7 anagrams in 3 days? I like the math-focused companion to this, too, and wish there were more.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't do much for me, but Podling 3 adored it. As stories go, it's not that complicated, and the characters are flatter than flat. However, as a means to teach literary devices, it's quite handy.

[Aseel · Rating 2 out of 5]

my copy is 42 pages
so how you can punish a little kid for running in the library
well..cast a word play curse upon then
so whenever he meant to saya word ,he says another one with the same sound like when he says behave ..he finds himself saying beehive

[Adam N]

I recently started reading this book and I was really surprised when Logan, the main character, got punished for running and crashing into this old guy at the school library. Logan was running to catch up with his friend Benedict when this old guy appeared from nowhere. He was tall, wearing glasses and with a spooky weird grin he said to Logan, "You will be punished for this." Logan was quite scared, he had never been punished before, he was always polite and respectful to everyone. After that Logan got punished two more times by his teachers even though he didn't do anything wrong intentionally.
I hope Logan can solve his problem before he starts getting bad grades and being punished for no reason. This reminds me of the time in third grade when I got in trouble even though I tried my best not to do anything wrong. I'm looking forward to reading more about Logan and what happens to him next on how he solves his problem.


I just finished this book and I was surprised to find out that Logan got rid of his punishment. Logan had got in trouble at the library and the librarian, the old guy, gave him three tasks to complete in three days as punishment. These tasks were to find oxymorons, anagrams, and palindromes along with a spell that got him in trouble constantly. The librarian said he would reverse the magical spell if he completed these tasks.
I was excited when the spell was lifed and Logan didn't get into trouble anymore. I can relate to this because in third grade I got in trouble and my teacher said she wouldn't give me a pink slip if I stayed in during recess and helped her with school stuff. This was a really exciting book and I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.

[Sherrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This summer, I'm reading the 15 Florida Teens Read books, the 15 Sunshine State Young Reader Award (SSYRA) books for grades 3-5 and the 15 SSYRA books for grades 6-8. This thin book is the first of the grade 3-5 SSYRA books that I have finished. It is a relatively low reading level book (540 lexile), the SSYRA committee tries to have books for all levels of readers so there are always a couple book that are on the lower reading levels. This is the story of a boy who is caught playing tag in the public library. A mysterious man puts a curse on him as a result, and it forces the boy to speak in increasingly horrible puns. To lift the curse, he must find a selections of oxymorons, palindromes and anagrams for the man. This is a very quick read, at only 95 pages with a HUGE font. New or struggling readers will find this book engaging, but more able readers will speed through it.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my 5th grade students. I just love it when my students recommend books for me to read.

This is great book to teach students about word plays. It is an excellent read-a-loud that can be followed up with activities allowing the students to create their own puns, anagrams, oxymorons, and palindromes. WOW! What a fun lesson.

Teachers will enjoy the teachable moments and students will enjoy the humor.

Recommended for Grades 3 and up (though it might work well as a read-aloud to 2nd graders. They will find the word play funny, even if they don't quite understand it all.)

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review from my old blog...

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book after a disappointing initial exposure to Lubar through Hidden Talents. I'm actually quite thankful for the disappointing exposure because it lowered my expectations and made it much easier for Punished! to easily surpass them.

Lubar creates a witty little tale full of fun literary devices. The main character, Logan, after running in the library and getting a face full of magical dust, must complete three missions, all of them missions to "capture" in various methods things such as anagrams and palindromes, a fun way to teach children about those literary devices.

I definitely recommend this book.

[ruelas l. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was boring at the beginning however my opinion quickly changed once i got like a little into the book
over all i thought this book was good; it allso had some humoris parts to it.
I agree with School Library Journal, starred's review (it's on the back) i agree were they say it would be an excellent class-room read aloud
I also think i learned some new words like :oxymoron,anagram,palindrome.


Btw i read this book like in an hour and 15min once it got intresting i did't put it down. + +
U

[C.J. Milbrandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logan probably shouldn't have been messing around in the library. Regret sets in when he learns he's been punished. Every time he opens his mouth, he speaks in puns. The cure proves to be a threefold challenge that will warm the hearts of word nerds everywhere.

Smiled and groaned my way through the entire story, which introduces young readers to oxymorons, anagrams, redundancies, and palindromes.

[Nader Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is great book to teach students about word plays and puns (LOL)
VERDICT: (6/10)

[Amberdenise Puckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do 7 oxymorons, 7 anagrams and 7 palindromes have in common? The cure to a crazy punishment.

What do you get when a child runs through the refrence section? A "pun"-ishmnet filled with horrifying bad jokes and a crazy quest. Logan Quester ends up being punished after his best friend decides to play tag. Chasing his friend causes Logan to run into Professor Robert Wordsworth and his "pun"-ishment begins.

I love this book. Kids will learn these crazy types of words in a way that a teacher might not imagine.

[Lisa the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so clever! Full of puns and other parts of speech such as palindromes and oxymorons, this book helps the understanding of some of the fun words in the English language in a way that the reader does not feel "taught". The concepts flow within the confines of the story.

I did read this aloud to my fifth grade classes, but decided that some of the puns are subtle enough that this is probably better appreciated by individual readers. Having said that I will add that the classes did enjoy the book.

[Norberto Leyva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logan and his friend, Bendict, know they shouldn’t have been playing tag in the library and they are sorry they crashed into Professor Wordsworth! Logan gets punished. He has three days to complete three tasks (if I tell about the tasks, it will ruin the book) before Professor Wordsworth will lift the magical punishment that keeps getting Logan into trouble.
I would recommend this book to middle school students. It doesn’t matter if a boy or girl reads the book because they will be entertained.

[Belinda D · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my very own opinion I thought that this wasn't a good book because a little boy was running around trying to tag his friend when suddenly he bumps into a man in the library and the little boy gets punished by the man when he blows some dust into the boys face and when that happens the boy starts to say puns and while I was reading the book and while the boy was saying the puns it was kinda hard to try and figure out what some of the puns were. So that's why I didn't like this book at all.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a cheesy story--contrived for geeky English teachers like me who love wordplay. I can see possibilities for 7th grade assignments!

I read this aloud to my family (kids range from 15 to 6), and they enjoyed it, but I think it works better if you actually see the words as you read them so you can catch the puns and other word play more easily.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a super cute book! This story is about a boy who has to complete several word games in order to get out of his punishment. The things he comes up with are clever and funny. Several times I was laughing out loud. Great book!

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be good to use in an elementary lesson on puns.

[Boni · Rating 3 out of 5]

From an adult point of view, this felt a bit contrived to me. But I did like that it introduces these concepts to kids and it's a very accessible early chapter book.

[Jamie (jamies_shelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute, easy read that I did with my 4th graders while student teaching. And during remote learning because, it's 2020.

It was a good book to do for remote learning because all of my students were able to read it on their own. It also taught good literary devices that we probably wouldn't have covered this year otherwise.

My students enjoyed it, but they definitely weren't as into it as they have been with other books we've read. It was a little hard to get discussion going and took a lot of prompting.

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Logan has a run-in with an old man in the library, he is doomed to speak only in puns. To remove the curse, Logan must race against the clock to find seven oxymorons, seven anagrams, and seven palindromes. The story incorporates a definition for each of these language arts concepts, as well as multiple examples of each.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoy this book and have shared it with my class who love exploring all the puns, oxymorons, palindromes, anagrams. A fun way to learn, Thank you Mr Lubar!

[Melissa Kowalczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exceptionally cute. My 8 yr old and I really enjoyed reading this together, and he got to learn some of the reasons that langauges are so fun! I highly recommend it!!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because my granddaughter was reading it in school. It was a really cute book about words - puns, oxymorons, anagrams and palindromes. What a clever way to teach language!

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just remembered I read this book back in the 2nd grade and I loved it!! I did a whole project on it.

[Stephanie | Books_and_Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

{Rated G} I can totally see a teacher pulling out this book and using it as a great way to teach children about certain figures of speech. Between puns, oxymorons, and more, it was a delight to read with my 11 year old son.

[M.J.Swan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a re-Read from my childhood. I still love this book as much as I remembered from second grade. It is a very simple story that is so fun and also teaches three literary devices in a fantastic way. I still remember learning what an oxymoron is because of this book. This book was so fun and, for a second grader, kept me on the edge of my seat. It’s short enough that you won’t be booked for the whole day reading it! HA! See what I did there?

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book tries too hard. It isn't funny. It is full of things adults think children should find funny. There is too much teaching about word play and not enough character development or plot. This book may appeal to the adults on GoodReads, but I am willing to bet it is going to be a flop with the children of my community.

I feel terrible for the students who have to read this for the Alaska Battle of the Books contest, because they will be tasked with remembering useless trivia from it. (I'm not a fan of the Battle of the Books, and it is due to the fact that the books selected tend to be lame. Then, the students have to answer questions that are based off of memory recall; they do not require any real thought about the material. That's my two cents worth at least.)

It also makes me a bit grumpy to have a children's book reinforce the grumpy, child-hating reference librarian stereotype. This is old and over done. When the librarian blew the dust from the cover of the old, thick book right into the child's face, I cringed internally. Really, this is the best children's authors can do?

This is not a book that I will recommend any time soon. The Battle of the Book kids can read it, but then it is going to sink back into the shelves, forgotten.

[Johnny Rico]

What i personallly think about this book is that its a pretty decent book . One thing that i found amussing and got my attention was the way they had with there character's words . The kid was in a library misbehaveing then some professor got mad at the kid and PUNished him , so whenever the boy talks nothing but puns come out and for some reason people laughed at them the first time then groaned and get mad . Mostly everyone that heard him talk either hated him or didnt take him serouisly . After that he had to find seven oxymorons , anagrams , then finally seven palindromes . Each mission the professor gave him differnt materials to get each figure of speach . i recommend this book to all language arts teachers , beacuse they give some early readers some knowledge about special words .

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, easy to read, short chapter book that will appeal to strong 3rd-5th grade readers as well as those struggle and/or are reluctant to read. Logan’s horse play in the library leads to an unusual punishment doled out by the mysterious man who is bowled over by the main character—Logan now speaks in near constant puns, some subtle enough to appeal to a thoughtful reader, but most so blatant that all but the most literal-minded will laugh at the absurdity. My plan is to use this book in a library lesson on an author’s use of puns for humorous affect. I feel certain after hearing one chapter and working with a second one, many of my fifth grade patrons will be clamoring to read the whole thing.