Back to School, Weird Kids Rule!

My Weird School Special #5

by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

With more than 12 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading! Summer is almost over, and you know what that means—time to head back to school! But when a tropical storm ends A.J.'s vacation earlier than expected, he and his family have to stay at Andrea's house. Ugh, disgusting! Soon after, everyone in the house starts getting cabin fever, and even back-to-school shopping won't calm the kids down. So, Andrea and A.J. are sent to Camp Ockatollyquay. The catch? It's a camp to get kids ready for school! But not to worry—Andrea and A.J. rally their Ella Mentry School friends to end their summer on a note they'll never forget. Join A.J. and the gang from My Weird School in this special series of after-school, holiday-themed chapter books featuring hilarious stories and thirty-two pages of games, puzzles, and more. This is one weird back-to-school special you won't want to miss!  

Genres: Childrens, School, Humor, Fiction, Chapter Books, Audiobook, Juvenile

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 2014

About the author

The author of over 80 books in a little over a decade of writing, Dan Gutman has written on topics from computers to baseball. Beginning his freelance career as a nonfiction author dealing mostly with sports for adults and young readers, Gutman has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the time-travel sports book Honus and Me and its sequels, and a clutch of baseball books, including The Green Monster from Left Field. From hopeful and very youthful presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman's fertile imagination. As he noted on his author Web site, since writing his first novel, They Came from Centerfield, in 1994, he has been hooked on fiction. "It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD."

Gutman was born in New York City in 1955, but moved to Newark, New Jersey the following year and spent his youth there.

Reviews

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is told by Andrea. When AJ and his family’s vacation is cut short. They stay with Andrea and family, of course the kids fight so much the moms send them to a back to school camp!!!

[D'Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Completely unaware of the Dan Gutman franchise, I grabbed this book from the library to listen to on a road trip with my son and wife. I thought it might be some kind of school-related story my 5-year-old might dig that would help pass the time. It turned out to be pretty awful. The narrator is very annoying, but that's pretty typical for kids' audio books. What's worse is that there really was no story here -- no narrative tension. The only tension in the book is in the fact that the girl character and the boy character fight and argue a lot and the parents are always telling them to quit. There are sexist stereotypes all over the place here (girls love to shop, boys hate to shop, girls love school, boys hate school, boys are gross, all grown ups drink coffee, girls daydream about marrying boys who hate them, etc.). So unimaginative and uninteresting. Especially for a book claiming to be about "weird" kids. There's nothing "weird" about this book. Looking at some Amazon reviews of other books in this series, the neatly divided gender assumptions are a common theme in these books. What's also a common theme in the Amazon reviews is that these books are a big hit, especially with boys. Which basically means we are doomed as a nation.

[Erik This Kid Reviews Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

AJ is away on vacation, not to come back for another week, right before school starts. Well, would you know? AJ is back early! Apparently, there was a hurricane near where they were vacationing. And now AJ and his family are staying in Andrea’s house. For a week. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Andrea!

This is a great back-to-school book! I love that it is told from Andrea’s point of view (instead of the normal point of view, AJ). It was a very revealing perspective. Mr. Gutman knows how to write stories that gets kids reading! Like before, the illustrations are magnificent!Love the “Weird Extras” in the back of the book (games, trivia and facts).
*NOTE* I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Abbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love weird school books I read a lot of them in mrs bailey's class

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and quick read

[Megsimps · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first experience with the My Weird School series, my 4-year old son picked it off the shelf at the library and I thought it would be great as a special chapter book we'd read. We made it to the 9th chapter and I called it quits. The overtly sexist language is exactly what I hate about how we as an American society are raising our boys. Some examples:
1) There is an entire chapter named "Boys are weird"- this is a chapter where the boy character bemoans the girl's pink room and then
2)When the boy tells the girl that he's not interested in her, she chooses to think he is lying and gives the reason that because her mom is a psychologist and that mom told her "that when a boy really likes a girl he will say he doesn't like her. That's what boys do. And the more they say they don't like you, the more they really like you. So obviously, Arlo is in love with me. Boys are weird." WTF. HOW ABOUT CONSENT. Even at this young age, every gender needs to know, NO MEANS NO. Maybe this is supposed to be funny, but there's no way I'm reading this to my son.
3) "Boys don't play with Barbies" and when she convinces him to play with them all he wants to do is be violent with them. The gender stereotypes are running amuck!
4) The girl LOVES to shop, the boy hates it and takes zero time to pick out his school clothing for the year.
5) The hysterical mother when she believes her son is lost. Sure this could happen, but not all moms will call for a store lockdown if their kid has gone missing for 5 minutes.
6) When the female character tells the male character that he doesn't have feelings.

This book definitely did not give me a good impression of the series overall, I doubt I'll let my son read any of the others without giving a good preview of them myself beforehand.

[Abigail Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed with this book. The main character was pretty annoying and braggy. Also thought there would be some sort of friendship between her and Arlo but nothing progressed with them or included a lesson. I also thought the book had really no plot and wasn't really back to school themed. Finally, the characters in this book were pretty normal for a series that is called "weird school series". Overall, would not recommend.

[Jenn Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my least favorite Weird School book told from the POV of Andrea. The audiobook version is really annoying. If anyone starts their experience with this one of Dan Gutman's Weird School books, they probably won't read any others. The story jumped around from AJ coming home early and Andrea's lists. Don't give up, try the other stories!!

[Randy Tramp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tropical storm ends A.J.'s vacation. He now has to stay at Andrea's house. A cure for cabin fever comes in the kids being sent to Camp Ockatollyquay, a camp to get kids ready for school.

Funny book. Funny kids. Both made them weird. I loved the book. They make school fun. At least for the kids.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moderately funny, with a few laugh out loud moments. It was nice to have Andrea narrate for a change. My boys have both just devoured these books, and I love that Dan Gunman gets kids excited to read.

[Ashlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty cute. I think I would enjoy it more if I were younger, but overall this was good. AJ likes what Andrea doesn’t which causes some tension. And because both families are in the same house due to unforeseen circumstances, this is a tough pill to swallow.

[Travis Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter loved it! It was very entertaining to my daughter because she's heard Arlos narrative so many times before and this was a direct opposite. It was also a breath of fresh air after hearing Arlo make the same comments over numerous books it was nice to see Andrea's voice.

[Karen & Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back to School, Weird Kids Rule! by Dan Gutman is a bit different from other books I read in this series because instead of AJ being the narrator, it's Andrea! I liked this one all right. The interaction between Andrea and AJ was funny. (Karen's review, 3 stars)

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

The boy (7) gave this one 4.5 stars. we had a good time reading this one as it was from Andrea's point of view.

[Cami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how it was telling about Andrea

[Jaden John · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was Hilarious!

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lol

[Nate Balcom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love how this book flipped the story! Gutman's depiction of A.J. shopping for school clothes is spot on!

[Cynthia Kirchner · Rating 3 out of 5]

My students loved it!

[Sarah LeGear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this twist from Andrea's perspective.

[Isabel Kosch]

Whaddya

[Michelle Elser · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are listening to these in the car with my son. They are dumb, but I love listening to his laughter!

[zuzia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrea będąca delulu to moje alter ego

[Natalie Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny story, my fourth grade class enjoyed it as a back to school read aloud. However, there wasn’t a whole lot to the plot development.

[Jemily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with Cam! We both love this series, and this book from Andrea’s perspective was very cute.

[Parker K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose Back to school weird kids rule!
It is by Dan Gutman it is a funny story this book is written by Andrea instead of A.J.. It is about Andrea loving A.J. because she said in the being she wanted him to be proper in their marrige. She also loves school and shopping. The reason I know she loves is because when she writes in her cursive It says"The reason why she love school is because she loves tests. She loves to go shopping she ecspeicily I would recomend this book to anyone who likes comedy and weierdness. This is a rated a 4 because this book is great but it is a little boring at times so that is why it is a 4 stars.So that is the end of the book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A.J. and the gang from My Weird School star in this special series of after-school, holiday-themed chapter books featuring all-new hilarious stories and thirty-two pages of games, puzzles, and more.

Summer is almost over, and you know what that means—time to head back to school! But when a tropical storm ends A.J.'s vacation earlier than expected, he and his family have to stay at Andrea's house. Ugh, disgusting! When everyone in the house starts getting cabin fever, and even back-to-school shopping won't calm the kids down, Andrea and A.J. are sent to Camp Ockatollyquay. The catch? It's a camp to get kids ready for school! But not to worry—Andrea and A.J. rally the Ella Mentry School gang to end their summer on a note they'll never forget.

Bestselling author Dan Gutman brings his kid-friendly sense of humor to this all-new series of holiday adventures. With My Weird School checklists and trivia plus tons of fun facts and puzzles, this is one weird back-to-school special you don't want to miss!

[Mymcbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book children will love to read. Narrated by Andrea, as she tells us about AJ's family summer vacation in Bermuda, her love for school and their rules, learning new things in school, Off to day camp and many more. Read about the 32 pages of bonus content which includes Professor AJ's Back to School facts, puzzles, trivia, games and more.

The illustrations by Jim Paillot helps to makes the story hilarious. I highly recommend this book.



FTC Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book HarperCollins Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion in any way.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade kids would like the humor. I didn't realize it was such a big series and would like to read a regular one, not one of the holiday specials.

Andrea and Arlo are the main characters. Their moms are best friends. Since Arlo's family came back early from vacation, they stay at Andrea's house until their renters are gone. Arlo has to sleep in Andrea's pink room. It has a cute sense of humor throughout the book.

[Maria Cerni · Rating 1 out of 5]

What happened?!!!!

I chose this rating because I don't like this point of view and how Andre thinks that A.J. is her boyfriend. She always thinks she is correct. I like it when Andreas isn't correct and I don't like the point of view. I recommend this book to people who are okay with being different and reading different points of views.