Fergus and Zeke and the 100th Day of School

Fergus and Zeke #4

by Kate Messner, Heather Ross (Illustrator)

In their fourth adventure, classroom mice Fergus and Zeke—after a few false starts—jump into a creative project to help the kids mark the one hundredth day of school.

Fergus and Zeke love being the class pets in Miss Maxwell’s classroom, and they do everything the students do. But when the kids start collecting items and doing gym challenges and making projects to celebrate the one hundredth day of school, the mice can’t seem to find a way to join in. One hundred miles is a very long distance when you’re running on your spinny wheel. One hundred seconds is a very short time when you’re trying to take a nap. Stacking one hundred wood chips makes a tower that tips and falls before you’re even halfway done. And writing a story with exactly one hundred words means abandoning your characters in the middle of the action! Will these two classroom mice ever come up with the perfect project to celebrate the one hundredth day?

Genres: School, Animals, Chapter Books, Mathematics, Fiction, Childrens, Juvenile

56 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 12, 2024

About the author

Kate Messner is an award-winning author, TED 2012 speaker, and former middle school English teacher. Her books for kids include THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.,SUGAR AND ICE, and EYE OF THE STORM (Walker/Bloomsbury Dec. 2010) the MARTY MCGUIRE series (Scholastic), SEA MONSTER'S FIRST DAY, and OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle, Books). Kate also wrote SPITFIRE and CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE, both Lake Champlain historical novels published by North Country Books.

Kate lives with her family on Lake Champlain, where she loves to read, write, hike, swing on birch trees, and eat chocolate. She also hangs out in various places online.
Visit Kate's website: http://www.katemessner.com

Find Kate on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/KateMessner

...or follow her on Twitter - @katemessner

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fergus and Zeke are the class pets in Miss Maxwell's classroom, and they feel a responsibility to participate in all the activities the children do. As they see the children beginning projects for the 100th Day of School, they, too, try to come up with a project that will work, but project after project idea fails.

This book takes on, in a very light and casual way, the ideas of resilience, of finding work that is suitable for you, on trying things and moving on when an idea doesn't work. Fergus and Zeke are completely likable characters, and both the text and the illustrations are delightful.

[Karen Arendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for 100th day celebrations at school.

[Jennifer Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fergus and Zeke are two inquisitive pets in Miss Maxwell's class. As the students plan for 100th Day activities, the class pets want to be part of the festivities, too. There are some humorous antics like Zeke eating one of the 100 cheese puffs a student collected. Both characters have similar personalities in that they are eager to participate but bumble some of their attempts. Students will come away with a variety of ways to celebrate the 100th school day. Teachers/Parents can certainly find math concepts to incorporate in a book study. The pencil-like drawings by Heather Ross colorfully depict the actions on each page. This would make an excellent read aloud for 1st-2nd classes around the 100th day.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big thank you to Candlewick Press and Kate Messner (www.katemessner.com) for the ARC received through a Library Thing Giveaway.

Fergus and Zeke are the class pets in Miss Maxwell's class. The class is preparing for the upcoming 100th day celebrations at the school and Fergus and Zeke are wondering how they might join the students in studying and learning about 100.

Messner succeeds at leading the reader through the many ways the number 100 can be understood. The brief story would serve as a great accompaniment to in-class 100th day activities. Heather Ross's drawings are filled with whimsy and fun. This is another great addition to Messner's educationally supportive corpus of books.

https://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?br...

[Wade Huggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fergus and Zeke is your good early reader with anthropomorphic mice. One of the good things about this book is the appeal to the teachers and classrooms that celebrate the 100th day of school. The 100th day of school is always a high interest activity in school and teachers and classes will enjoy reading the book and the classroom activities that go with the story. The reading level of Fergus and Zeke is good because it meets that hard to find early chapter book level. The illustrations are average and what would be expected in a book of this genre.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about to be the 100th day of school and all of the kids are bringing 100 of something to school for the big day. Fergus and Zeke want to join in as the class pets. But what can they find 100 of that they can carry and resist eating?

We have several elementary classes that do activities for the 100th day of school, and this will be a great read aloud for that day. It has full color illustrations scattered throughout, making this an eye-catching beginning chapter book. And Fergus and Zeke are vastly entertaining with their antics.

No content issues.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of talk about a 100 related to the 100th day of school.

Fergus and Zeke discover that 100 seconds is a short nap, but 100 jumps in a row of a jump rope is a lot (especially for a mouse). 100 wood chips in a stack would be a lot.

They're searching for 100 and find lots of things less than 100 (70 paper clips, 64 crayons, 41 pencils, 52 bandages). We do see that 100 is 99+1 (cheese puffs) and 2*50 (paw prints).

[Aura Keaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an adorable and friendly story about two classroom pets -- mice -- who are very much a part of the class and want to participate in the activities for the 100th day of school. Fergus and Zeke try really hard to come up with their own 100-collection project by trying all the children's projects first. They fail repeatedly, but never give up. They are the most persistent little mice ever. I recommend this story as a quick, witty, and clever read.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a perfect book to celebrate the 100th day of school. It has ideas the kids could run with to make their own 100th day projects, examples of how things work, simple math lessons built in to the story, and over all of it is the wonderful Kate Messner writing she puts in all her books. I’ve been looking for a good 100th day book, and this one isn’t just good — it’s great!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fergus and Zeke join the class in finding 100 items to celebrate the 100th day of school. They struggle to find 100 of anything but solve it by the end. Plenty of humor and easy to follow text for low to mid elementary level readers.

[Ann Haefele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fergus and Zeke are the classroom mice/pets and they are trying to think of an idea for a collection of 100 somethings for the class celebration of 100th day of school. Love this series of beginning chapter books.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is going to be the one hundredth day of school soon, and each student is supposed to bring a collection of one hundred things. Fergus and Zeke spend the week trying to think of what they can get one hundred of. I enjoyed the cheese puff bit.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, cute, cute!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

School, 100 days, almost a transitional reader / easy reader

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for this entry in the series. Poor Fergus and Zeke don't really have a chance of collecting 100 things for the 100th day of school

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was alright. Just your typical beginner chapter book but perhaps I’m jaded.

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM