Ms. Beard Is Weird!

My Weirder School #5

by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

My Weirder School weirder than ever!

A hot new reality show, The Real Teachers of Ella Mentry, is filming at school. Everybody wants to win the TV show's grand prize! The weird director, Ms. Beard, tells the teachers and students to act normal. Yeah, like that's gonna happen!

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Humor, 2nd Grade, Juvenile

117 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

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

[Christine (KizzieReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was hilarious! My son and I both had to stop reading because we were laughing so hard!

[Maria]

I loved it

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastically fun book from Dan Gutman and the My Weird School series. Schools across the nation are in a crisis. Funds are being cut left and right for things students and teachers need, and Ella Mentary School is not exempt from these cuts either. Thank goodness for Mr. Klutz, that shiny headed inventive school principle, who finds a way to help out: reality TV! The teachers of Ella Mentary School need to powder their noses and get ready for some Dancing with the Stars, Fear Factor, and American Idol type action. A super fun read for all ages!

[Abby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Felt that Ms Beard was undeveloped and misrepresented. Not at all like the Ms Beard I know. Unacceptable. Three pity stars for the occasionally- and quite unfortunately- funny jokes. (Like really it’s annoying that I laughed while reading this).

[Lynn Cansler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zany! It definitely keeps children's attention. The characters are endearing. The plot is age appropriate. Loved it!

[Katie Buckingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun early elementary read with a school that does contests that match real life contests like American Idol and So you think you can Dance.

[Sterrett Family]

Matthew: Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Number 8 of my weirder school was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why did ms. beard call everybody baby?????? so many !!!!!! and???????? right?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[Alysha DeShaé · Rating 4 out of 5]

... because you'll never believe who came running into the door at that moment.

Nobody! Why would you want to run into a door? That would hurt. But you'll never believe who came running into the doorway.

I truly laughed. This book was ridiculous, funny, and nonsensically perfect for younger grade-school children. There are plenty of moments where the author slips in a joke like the above that can help teach children precision of language (The Giver, anyone?) and what "a saying" is.

Overall, I quite liked it and would recommend the series as classroom books to a few teachers I know.

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This latest installment of the Weird(er) School Saga created by Dan Gutman picks up after the last episode where political corruption depletes the money needed to run Ella Mentry School. A stranger arrives to help out with the funding, a female TV producer named Ms Beard, who is turning the school's activities into a reality show, and once again noble companions AJ, Michael, Andrea, Neil and exciting newcomer Alexia are on the cutting edge of history in the dismantling.
"Reality show" you see is a contradiction in terms, since what's seen as "reality" is still for "show". And anyone following the books have seen that the campus of Ella Mentry is as realistic as that so called "true story" of seven strangers picked to live in a loft to stop being polite and start being real. Ms Beard is the female Nigel Lythgoe, and plans to use the teachers as contestants in everything from singing to dancing to mud wrestling, all brought to you by the makers of (ready for this) Porkys sausages! And that ain't all, folks! The teachers are set in two teams, one with moose antler hats, one wearing hats with felt-made hot dogs. Yep, they're that desperate for ratings, like when CBS puts people on an island to practice survival techniques until the tribe has spoken, only there's no real tribe, just CBS execs. Will the teachers cave in and accept Ms Beard's offer, the one you can't refuse? (Wink wink!) And will fame and fortune brought on by "reality TV" ruin AJ and his buds....forever! The answer might surprise you.....or not, depending on your point of view.
One thing's for sure: the next episode will be very interesting indeed, and we're just warming up!
Four stars
Ultimately WEIRD is still a factor with US!!!!

[Anna Salvesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Beard is a movie star so she comes to film a movie at Ella Mentary School called The Real Teachers of Ella Mentary School. Mr. Granite doesn't do anything right so a new teacher comes in to help him with what they're doing and Ms. Beard is filming the whole thing. They have teams and have them do challenges between them. The teams are called the Mooseketeers and The Hot Dog Heads. My mom and I wanted the Hot Dog Heads to win, but they didn't.

[C C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that it is a really funny book and I also really like all the pictures in the book. I also really like the humor and the way the story is told. This is a really good book that I request kids to read if they like funny humor and good story telling. The funniest part is when A.J. says, "Wait, oh no there is a helicopter, it's gonna land on me! Heeeeelp."

[Victoria Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is funny for making people mud wrestle.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't find it believable that teachers would speak like first graders, including atrocious grammar, even if they'd been around them all day.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a goofy book with its own spin on reality TV. I think our elementary kids will love it.

[Marya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't watch reality shows myself, and so I could not really enjoy the send up of that genre here. Even the cliff-hanger ending (which was new), seemed old.

[Kt Roth]

2.5 chapter book challenge

[Kathleen Keller]

So good

So so so good!!!! This is so funny I cold hardly read it with out laughing ! ! ! !

[Madison Manternach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really funny I loved it a lot I really liked the joke competition

[Jennifer]

Good book

I liked the book it was really good it makes you want to keep reading the book is very interesting when you start reading you can't stop

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love these books

That they are so funny. My seven-year-old son and I read them all the time each one is just as entertaining as the last.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little guy giggled through this book then asked that my husband and I read it as well. We did and I found much to laugh at, too.

[Peyton Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very cute book that would keep students interested by all the wacky things teachers have to do in each chapter. It was a great read and had language that the students would love, almost as if a student wrote it their self.

[Reiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate it when AJ always says "I'm not going to tell you. Ok, OK, I'll tell you but you have to read the next chapter. So, na-nah-nah boo boo on you." I liked that the teachers had to do challenges to see who would win a prize.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book #5 in the My Weirder School series by Dan Gutman and Jim Paillot, but it's the first one we've read. We finished the My Weird School series and have been skipping around reading the My Weird School Daze books as we come across them at our local library.

This is a bizarre, but entertaining take on the (not-so) reality show phenomenon. The story is humorous and the illustrations are just as comical as ever. We started reading this book together, but then our oldest read the last half of the book aloud and I fell asleep, so I had to finish the rest of it on my own.

I wouldn't say that it's my favorite book of the series, but it was a fun, fast read. We enjoyed reading it together and I'm sure we'll read more of these books soon.

[Jnase1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second and third graders at my school love these books. They like that they are funny and use words like "shut up" and "butt" as well as the exaggerated humor, some of which they don't always get. What I like about these books are the many idioms contained within each. It might be fun to make a class book about all the idioms and their meanings contained within each book...and you can also use this time, if you so choose, to address why using the words "shut up" and "butt" in school are frowned upon.

[Delaney Mchenry · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was really good because it was really funny and it was crazy in a good way. this book only took me about 30 minutes to read because it was easy and only had 106 pages and 12 short chapters. I love these books a lot and I am so glad that I read the whole entire series. I am so glad that I read Ms. Beard is wierd

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book about the kids at Ella Mentry School. Fun and quirky. Filled with kid-appropriate humor. This one was about a Reality TV show being made at their school. The teachers participate in a series of American Idol/Dancing with the Stars/Last Comic Standing competitions. These books are a huge hit at home and at school.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I finally know why the series is so popular with my students - the stories are really pretty hilarious, silly and so exaggerated! Plus, they make fun of teachers - what could be more appealing to young readers ;)

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Beard is weird by Dan Gutman its about a lady that is weird.This lady goes to a school and the kids where looking at her because she was being weird.I did like this book it was funny.Because the lady was really weird.I would recommend this book to people that like funny books.

[Christine Rains · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new TV reality show is being filmed at Ella Mentry school, and the teachers have to compete against one another.

It's silly and funny, and my son and I laughed. Yet there was no character development or interesting plot. It was a TV reality show on the pages! Mindless fun.