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Boy/Girl Battle #1
The Boys Start the War
The first book in the hilarious trilogy featuring the feuding Hatford and Malloy families. When a new family--with three daughters--moves into the neighborhood, the Hatford brothers decide to make Caroline and her sisters so miserable that they'll want to go back to Ohio.
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
103 people are currently reading
841 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
246 books1,037 followersPhyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, US on January 4, 1933.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."
By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.
Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.
Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."
By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.
Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.
Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 146 reviews
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April 9, 2012I really enjoyed this book! I originally read this series in the 4th grade and still enjoyed it more than ten years later. Naylor's series are all so very different, so it was fun to try to make connections between this series and the Shiloh trilogy and Alice series. This book, which focuses on a neighbor, boy vs. girl rivalry in which sibling alliances take turns playing pranks one another, is not only extremely funny and entertaining, but it has undertones of consequentialism. This book, like Shiloh, stresses that one often "gets what they deserve," in a much more light-hearted way. Personally, I would love to read this book to a third or fourth grade class as a "reward book." This book is more for entertainment than literary analysis, but there could still be some discussion through this book that leads to the possibility of moral growth. Furthermore, I feel as if boys and girls would both enjoy this book equally!
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June 25, 2022distinctly remember being like oh my god why isn’t there any ROMANCE at 8 years old. five stars even though it's kind of bad.
August 14, 2012
recommended for E410
Maybe I have a juvenile sense of humor, but I found this book really funny. As the title indicates, it's basically about boys vs girls. It doesn't get much deeper than that, but the antics between the Malloy girls and the Hartford boys are a hoot. I know that's such an old-lady way of saying things, but I can't think of a more apt expression.
To quote a letter written by one of the Hartford boys:
"So far here is what these girls have done:
1. Outpitched the boys at recess (even Jake).
2. Pretended one of their sisters (the Crazie) was dead and dumped her in the river.
3. Threw a cake in the river.
4. Stole a flashlight.
5. Stole Dad's underwear.
6. Crawled up on our roof in a rainstorm and hollered through the trapdoor."
At the risk of inciting some girl/boy rivalry in the class, I'd like to assign this book. Though the vocab and sentence complexity may be a bit challenging for E410 at times, students should still be able to understand and appreciate the battle between the girls and boys. The characterization, though not all that intricate, allows for discussion about motivation and contrasting perspectives.
Maybe I have a juvenile sense of humor, but I found this book really funny. As the title indicates, it's basically about boys vs girls. It doesn't get much deeper than that, but the antics between the Malloy girls and the Hartford boys are a hoot. I know that's such an old-lady way of saying things, but I can't think of a more apt expression.
To quote a letter written by one of the Hartford boys:
"So far here is what these girls have done:
1. Outpitched the boys at recess (even Jake).
2. Pretended one of their sisters (the Crazie) was dead and dumped her in the river.
3. Threw a cake in the river.
4. Stole a flashlight.
5. Stole Dad's underwear.
6. Crawled up on our roof in a rainstorm and hollered through the trapdoor."
At the risk of inciting some girl/boy rivalry in the class, I'd like to assign this book. Though the vocab and sentence complexity may be a bit challenging for E410 at times, students should still be able to understand and appreciate the battle between the girls and boys. The characterization, though not all that intricate, allows for discussion about motivation and contrasting perspectives.
May 12, 2011
I really liked the book. It was funny it had rivalry and the setting was perfect for the idea of the book. The part i like most was when the boys' dad caught caroline taking his boxer briefs. It was hilarious! the book was about when the boys' friends move out and girls move in. When the boys find out they try to chase them off to get their friends to come back.The parents of the two rival families think each of the other families kids are nice and try to get them to be friends. The boys' mom makes them go wash the other family's windows. The girls started laughing at them but, then had to help the boys do the work and quit laughing. In the book they pretend that caroline is dead (but is not) to get the boys to freak. Later in the book the guys give the girls a cake but, the girls didn't trust them and threw it in a river. Turns out that they found out it actually was a cake and freaked out and swam to save the plate it was on to return it. I read the book because its a war of gender who wouldn't.
February 24, 2019
Feb 22 10:30am--Feb 23 5:24 pm
I had read A Traitor Among the Boys first, started with the 5th in the series, so I knew all of the characters and their story. This takes place in the last week of summer break, on the very day that the Malloy girls are moving in. The Hatford boys think that the three kids will be boys who they can play with, so they're upset to see that all three kids are girls. I was shocked to see that the ages of the kids are the exact same as in book 5. Jake and Josh are 11. Wally is 9 and Peter is 7. And then I remembered the book took place like over the course of a few days or something so they all probably cover short amounts of time.
Jake wanted to set fire to the bridge connecting the girl's island to the other side so they couldn't come over. His brothers talked him out of that, but he tasked Wally with thinking of the most terrible thing they could do to drive the new family away and bring the old family of boys back. His idea was to use dead fish and Jake improved on the idea to take any dead thing they found and put it at their house to make them think the river was polluted. I was shocked that Josh was going along with it and excited about starting a war with the girls.
Eddie is 11, Beth is 10, and Caroline is 8. Caroline was all excited about the river, wanted to act out scenes in it. So it set up future upset when she would discover the dead things and have the river ruined.
It was so funny how the girls were choosing rooms and Eddie noticed something up on the roof across the river. The girls had access to binoculars just like the boys did and once they confirmed they were boys, Beth took a look and smiled as she said they were spying on them.
It was hilarious when Eddie announced they'd give them something to look at, and determined Caroline had to die. The next time the boys watched them, the two of them would carry Caroline out. It went from there. There they were planning out this fake funeral and then dumping Caroline in the water. It was gold and so funny that both groups were concocting these crazy schemes.
I was shocked that Beth was asking Eddie what they were going to do, and asked if they were going to dance naked around the yard.
Beth was outside as the boys came over with the bag of dead animals and overheard their plot to make them think the river was polluted. It was on!
The girls always kept an eye on their house no matter what they were doing, and when the time was right, they went ahead with the funeral and tried not to laugh during it. There was such a sense of anticipation for how the boys would react to thinking they'd buried their sister in a watery grave. Idk how she thought of all this, but it was hilarious.
It was so funny the timing of it all. Eddie had the idea to bury Caroline before they'd ever brought the dead animals, but it worked out that the boys dumped the carcasses and then the girls didn't grit prank. So it made the boys think they'd killed Caroline from the pollution. The girls' prank couldn't have worked out any better--it worked out better than they even knew!
Caroline was in Wally's fourth grade class, because she had skipped grades. She sat right behind him, expected him to do something embarrassing to her about their prank, and knew she'd have to do something embarrassing to him right back. He didn't, so she took matters into her own hands and blew on his neck. I was surprised! That's a pretty mature thing to do, like leaning towards romantic, so I don't think a kid would/should do that. She saw goosebumps rise on his skin and then she started saying his name in his ear, and his ears turned red. I was eating it up.
She told him a spider was coming down from the ceiling and he asked where and moved his head and bashed into her nose because she'd been so close, which caused the teacher to notice and get onto both of them. They had to stay after and it turned into an argument with each accusation against the other.
I was so mad when Josh said Beth is weird because she sits on the steps and reads during recess. Jerk! I thought he was the nice one.
Mrs. Hatford baked a cake especially for the Malloys and tasked the boys with bringing it over to the girls. Caroline was sure as anything that it wasn't really a cake in the box so she threw it into the river. I was so upset that she'd ruined the cake the mom spent 2 hours on.
The girls waited for Mrs. Hatford to be home when they returned the cake plate, so the boys couldn't break it and claim they did it. She told the girls to let her know if they needed any help from the boys, and Caroline pounced on it and said her dad needed lots of help from boys since he didn't have any. A setup for some payback!
The boys were making fun of Beth's taste in books, because she was reading a book about vampires. As a reader, I took offense to them putting her down because she read. And I was so mad when Josh told them Beth had been reading her "stupid book" on the stairs, and he came out behind her and raised his arms and walked up behind her and scared her. Beth told him that kind of stuff gave her nightmares and Josh was like why did she read those books if it gives her nightmares and said stupid thing!
Their mom called and said Mrs. Malloy needed help with the windows, and they knew they had Caroline to thank for that. When they arrived at the Malloys, the girls were sitting out on a blanket with snacks, smirking.
Washing the Malloys' windows turned into one incident after another. Their mom made them help the boys, and an accident with the hose caused one catastrophe after the next. It was so funny when their mom came out and caught them turning on each other, asked how they could be enemies when they don't even know each other.
When the boys started home, the girls threw sponges and rags at their necks, causing the boys to hatch a plan to retaliate. Once again, it was up to Wally to decide. They did their floating head thing, Josh climbing a ladder with a mask on and lighting it up outside her window with a flashlight. I was surprised that Caroline remarked that it would have been worse if Beth had been naked. Wow!
Beth wanted revenge, and Eddie had already taken their flashlight when she caught the boys going home. Their idea was to write a ransom note demanding that the boys apologize if they wanted their flashlight back. Caroline dropped the note on Wally's desk and his ears turned red as he read it.
Wally refused and then he took her evil drawing of her teacher and demanded that she crawl on her hands and knees if she wanted it back. On the way gone Caroline saw clothes hanging on their line and she stole a pair of boxers, thinking they were the boys' but they turned out to be their dad's! I just knew it!
She is so creative in her plans for revenge. She had the girls come over and stand on their widow's walk and sing this siren song, while the boys were in the dark house playing hide and seek.
They eventually caught on, and came out and took the ladder down before the girls could leave. But Beth figured out the trap door wasn't locked and just waited while the boys left them outside. They heard the hail hitting the floor and they had no choice but to let the girls in.
I didn't care for the snippets from other works that Caroline was reading out in the auditorium. Charlotte's Web. Alice in Wonderland. The Wind in the Willows. It felt like it got sidetracked and it always feels weird to read other books in another book. But it set up Wally and his friends overhearing her and getting a good laugh out of her performance.
Caroline hid in their shed in hopes of catching Wally doing something embarrassing that she could she against him. Instead, she was can't and they locked her up. But when she wouldn't answer, they finally had to open the door to check on her, and she was foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal, our Caroline using her capture to her advantage!
Eddie made Jake say pretty please from your faithful and obedient servant in order for them to come and get Caroline.
Beth and Eddie came to get her, and they had a good laugh that the marshmallows fooled the guys. Josh and Jake's faces were pink as they watched from the porch.
But it was ruined as Mrs. Hatford thanked them for coming over to help peel apples. Ugh!
It seemed like the girl's pranks were constantly getting ruined, more often than the boys. It felt like every time they did something it was immediately ruined. They didn't even have a chance to bask in it before the boys got them back.
Her endings are so sudden. They happen right after the boys do something and we don't even get the girls' reactions. I want more of a wrap-up, some kind of conclusion, not to be kicked out of the middle of a scene. Also, they’re mostly from Wally’s and Caroline’s POV. We’re in their heads and in their classroom at school, no one else’s. And I can’t understand that. Why she would single out only two of the kids when there are 7 total.
Just like the other one, I was sad to be done. I wished it had kept going. I wanted to run out and read the next. They’re so delightful. I found it so sweet how all of the siblings got along despite their gaps in age. The feuding brought them together and they were as close as could be, united in their war against the opposite sex. And it was amusing that the guys were planning out all these tricks to do over Halloween, when it snowed, etc. and they realized they didn’t want their old neighbors to move back before they could carry out all their tricks against the girls, so you realized they didn’t really want the girls to leave because they were having so much fun with the war.
I had read A Traitor Among the Boys first, started with the 5th in the series, so I knew all of the characters and their story. This takes place in the last week of summer break, on the very day that the Malloy girls are moving in. The Hatford boys think that the three kids will be boys who they can play with, so they're upset to see that all three kids are girls. I was shocked to see that the ages of the kids are the exact same as in book 5. Jake and Josh are 11. Wally is 9 and Peter is 7. And then I remembered the book took place like over the course of a few days or something so they all probably cover short amounts of time.
Jake wanted to set fire to the bridge connecting the girl's island to the other side so they couldn't come over. His brothers talked him out of that, but he tasked Wally with thinking of the most terrible thing they could do to drive the new family away and bring the old family of boys back. His idea was to use dead fish and Jake improved on the idea to take any dead thing they found and put it at their house to make them think the river was polluted. I was shocked that Josh was going along with it and excited about starting a war with the girls.
Eddie is 11, Beth is 10, and Caroline is 8. Caroline was all excited about the river, wanted to act out scenes in it. So it set up future upset when she would discover the dead things and have the river ruined.
It was so funny how the girls were choosing rooms and Eddie noticed something up on the roof across the river. The girls had access to binoculars just like the boys did and once they confirmed they were boys, Beth took a look and smiled as she said they were spying on them.
It was hilarious when Eddie announced they'd give them something to look at, and determined Caroline had to die. The next time the boys watched them, the two of them would carry Caroline out. It went from there. There they were planning out this fake funeral and then dumping Caroline in the water. It was gold and so funny that both groups were concocting these crazy schemes.
I was shocked that Beth was asking Eddie what they were going to do, and asked if they were going to dance naked around the yard.
Beth was outside as the boys came over with the bag of dead animals and overheard their plot to make them think the river was polluted. It was on!
The girls always kept an eye on their house no matter what they were doing, and when the time was right, they went ahead with the funeral and tried not to laugh during it. There was such a sense of anticipation for how the boys would react to thinking they'd buried their sister in a watery grave. Idk how she thought of all this, but it was hilarious.
It was so funny the timing of it all. Eddie had the idea to bury Caroline before they'd ever brought the dead animals, but it worked out that the boys dumped the carcasses and then the girls didn't grit prank. So it made the boys think they'd killed Caroline from the pollution. The girls' prank couldn't have worked out any better--it worked out better than they even knew!
Caroline was in Wally's fourth grade class, because she had skipped grades. She sat right behind him, expected him to do something embarrassing to her about their prank, and knew she'd have to do something embarrassing to him right back. He didn't, so she took matters into her own hands and blew on his neck. I was surprised! That's a pretty mature thing to do, like leaning towards romantic, so I don't think a kid would/should do that. She saw goosebumps rise on his skin and then she started saying his name in his ear, and his ears turned red. I was eating it up.
She told him a spider was coming down from the ceiling and he asked where and moved his head and bashed into her nose because she'd been so close, which caused the teacher to notice and get onto both of them. They had to stay after and it turned into an argument with each accusation against the other.
I was so mad when Josh said Beth is weird because she sits on the steps and reads during recess. Jerk! I thought he was the nice one.
Mrs. Hatford baked a cake especially for the Malloys and tasked the boys with bringing it over to the girls. Caroline was sure as anything that it wasn't really a cake in the box so she threw it into the river. I was so upset that she'd ruined the cake the mom spent 2 hours on.
The girls waited for Mrs. Hatford to be home when they returned the cake plate, so the boys couldn't break it and claim they did it. She told the girls to let her know if they needed any help from the boys, and Caroline pounced on it and said her dad needed lots of help from boys since he didn't have any. A setup for some payback!
The boys were making fun of Beth's taste in books, because she was reading a book about vampires. As a reader, I took offense to them putting her down because she read. And I was so mad when Josh told them Beth had been reading her "stupid book" on the stairs, and he came out behind her and raised his arms and walked up behind her and scared her. Beth told him that kind of stuff gave her nightmares and Josh was like why did she read those books if it gives her nightmares and said stupid thing!
Their mom called and said Mrs. Malloy needed help with the windows, and they knew they had Caroline to thank for that. When they arrived at the Malloys, the girls were sitting out on a blanket with snacks, smirking.
Washing the Malloys' windows turned into one incident after another. Their mom made them help the boys, and an accident with the hose caused one catastrophe after the next. It was so funny when their mom came out and caught them turning on each other, asked how they could be enemies when they don't even know each other.
When the boys started home, the girls threw sponges and rags at their necks, causing the boys to hatch a plan to retaliate. Once again, it was up to Wally to decide. They did their floating head thing, Josh climbing a ladder with a mask on and lighting it up outside her window with a flashlight. I was surprised that Caroline remarked that it would have been worse if Beth had been naked. Wow!
Beth wanted revenge, and Eddie had already taken their flashlight when she caught the boys going home. Their idea was to write a ransom note demanding that the boys apologize if they wanted their flashlight back. Caroline dropped the note on Wally's desk and his ears turned red as he read it.
Wally refused and then he took her evil drawing of her teacher and demanded that she crawl on her hands and knees if she wanted it back. On the way gone Caroline saw clothes hanging on their line and she stole a pair of boxers, thinking they were the boys' but they turned out to be their dad's! I just knew it!
She is so creative in her plans for revenge. She had the girls come over and stand on their widow's walk and sing this siren song, while the boys were in the dark house playing hide and seek.
They eventually caught on, and came out and took the ladder down before the girls could leave. But Beth figured out the trap door wasn't locked and just waited while the boys left them outside. They heard the hail hitting the floor and they had no choice but to let the girls in.
I didn't care for the snippets from other works that Caroline was reading out in the auditorium. Charlotte's Web. Alice in Wonderland. The Wind in the Willows. It felt like it got sidetracked and it always feels weird to read other books in another book. But it set up Wally and his friends overhearing her and getting a good laugh out of her performance.
Caroline hid in their shed in hopes of catching Wally doing something embarrassing that she could she against him. Instead, she was can't and they locked her up. But when she wouldn't answer, they finally had to open the door to check on her, and she was foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal, our Caroline using her capture to her advantage!
Eddie made Jake say pretty please from your faithful and obedient servant in order for them to come and get Caroline.
Beth and Eddie came to get her, and they had a good laugh that the marshmallows fooled the guys. Josh and Jake's faces were pink as they watched from the porch.
But it was ruined as Mrs. Hatford thanked them for coming over to help peel apples. Ugh!
It seemed like the girl's pranks were constantly getting ruined, more often than the boys. It felt like every time they did something it was immediately ruined. They didn't even have a chance to bask in it before the boys got them back.
Her endings are so sudden. They happen right after the boys do something and we don't even get the girls' reactions. I want more of a wrap-up, some kind of conclusion, not to be kicked out of the middle of a scene. Also, they’re mostly from Wally’s and Caroline’s POV. We’re in their heads and in their classroom at school, no one else’s. And I can’t understand that. Why she would single out only two of the kids when there are 7 total.
Just like the other one, I was sad to be done. I wished it had kept going. I wanted to run out and read the next. They’re so delightful. I found it so sweet how all of the siblings got along despite their gaps in age. The feuding brought them together and they were as close as could be, united in their war against the opposite sex. And it was amusing that the guys were planning out all these tricks to do over Halloween, when it snowed, etc. and they realized they didn’t want their old neighbors to move back before they could carry out all their tricks against the girls, so you realized they didn’t really want the girls to leave because they were having so much fun with the war.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2024
This was my favorite series back when I was in fourth grade. I’m feeling nostalgic and wanted to reread for the fun of it. Still find that the book makes me happy :).
December 4, 2010
It was one of my favorite books as a kid.
January 5, 2011
A fun read aloud for my 3rd grade classes.
February 11, 2015
Loved these as a kid!
August 23, 2012
My teacher read this to me in 5th or 6th grade and it's always been a favorite! Such a fun kids book with exciting things happening all the time! Can't wait to read it to my kids!!!!
October 17, 2014
I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 9, 2019
Funny. Ending was very abrupt.
July 12, 2018
I discovered this series back in third grade. You know, when reading for fun was required. I loved it! I thought it was so amusing and funny. I used to read as many books in this series that I could get my hands on. Reading it again as an adult, it provided just as much fun and giggles as ever.
The pranks they pull on each other are hilarious. The Malloy girls and the Hatford boys are just the right age to both conceive of these pranks as well as be fooled by them. Reading about the moment of horror and shock as each planned prank reaches its peak is absolutely the best part!
Actually, the best part about this series is that it doesn’t talk down to its readers. So many middle grade books have a tendency to feel dumbed-down or fake in an effort to relate to their audience. Even in the third grade I could tell when a book was doing this, and I would immediately stop reading it. But the Boy/Girl Battle series doesn’t feel like that at all. They are just kids pulling pranks. And it’s hilarious no matter what age you are!
Looking at the star ratings on Goodreads, no one hates this book. It’s a solid children's series, especially for kids who maybe don’t like to read. Honestly, I think this was the series that first got me into reading and made me a regular reader, because I was always looking for the next installment.
I would definitely recommend it! While its setting is a little removed from the current times, it's still a great series! Should be in all libraries!
IvyCirca | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram
P.S. Can I just say that nobody explained to me that the Hatford and Malloy families of this series were based on the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families of the 1800s. How could I not know this!?! And then my mom acted surprised, when to be fair, she was the one who should have told me when I first read them in the third grade! Such a betrayal.
The pranks they pull on each other are hilarious. The Malloy girls and the Hatford boys are just the right age to both conceive of these pranks as well as be fooled by them. Reading about the moment of horror and shock as each planned prank reaches its peak is absolutely the best part!
Actually, the best part about this series is that it doesn’t talk down to its readers. So many middle grade books have a tendency to feel dumbed-down or fake in an effort to relate to their audience. Even in the third grade I could tell when a book was doing this, and I would immediately stop reading it. But the Boy/Girl Battle series doesn’t feel like that at all. They are just kids pulling pranks. And it’s hilarious no matter what age you are!
Looking at the star ratings on Goodreads, no one hates this book. It’s a solid children's series, especially for kids who maybe don’t like to read. Honestly, I think this was the series that first got me into reading and made me a regular reader, because I was always looking for the next installment.
I would definitely recommend it! While its setting is a little removed from the current times, it's still a great series! Should be in all libraries!
IvyCirca | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram
P.S. Can I just say that nobody explained to me that the Hatford and Malloy families of this series were based on the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families of the 1800s. How could I not know this!?! And then my mom acted surprised, when to be fair, she was the one who should have told me when I first read them in the third grade! Such a betrayal.
October 7, 2010
The Boys Start the War is the first of many books in this series, which is about the Hatford boys and the Malloy girls, who do everything from faking a death to stealing Mr. Hatford's underwear to make each other miserable. I really liked it because it is funny, and it is easy enough for a 2nd or 3rd grader to read. Great book!
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October 17, 2010Lame
March 8, 2015
I love this book! Laugh out loud funny, it would make a great read-aloud. It reminds me of "This Island isn't Big Enough for the Four of Us" which is another favorite of mine.
May 15, 2017
This book was hilarious. I can't wait to read the next one .
March 2, 2018
This was a good, funny book that any kid would like!
September 25, 2018
I read this as a kid and enjoyed reading it to my nine-year-old. She loved it so much, she wants to continue with the series.
March 15, 2019
I was so confused, I thought this was the second book, and the one I read was the first. My sister reminded me we actually started with the fifth one. Also the synopsis mentioned a kidnapping, and I remembered a kidnapping from the 5th book. Once I got the confusion cleared up, it made sense.
The boys dump dead animals on their riverbank, so they pretend Caroline died and dumped her body in the river. It was so funny when Wally said all they did was dump animals and the neighbors are dumping people!
Caroline blows on Wally's neck, and the teacher has them stay after school to talk it out. I thought that was a little mature, something usually done in a sexual way, so I was surprised that was here. She notices goosebumps on his skin and when says his voice like Wall-yy, I realized she was trying to sound like a ghost, because they thought she was dead. And then his ears turn red.
They talk about dead things and her dying and the teacher is like "is this a normal conversation?"
Beth was also kept after because she tripped over Jake's foot in the cafeteria and thinking he tripped her, she brought her tray down on his head!
I didn't know at first that Wally deliberately brought his head back to hit Caroline. I love when their mom asked what happened to Caroline's nose they say she bumped into something that needs a little fixing, a lot of straightening out, meaning Wally.
It was kind of weird of the father to say it might be nice having a gang of girls around. And "idk, that young one's kind of cute." That was a little uncomfortable having it worded like that. He should have said that the boys might grow to like them, or find them cute when they're older or something. It was funny he commented something was wrong with her nose!
I hated that Caroline's plan of stealing the boys underwear was ruined when it turned out to be their dad's! He called and asked them to return his briefs.
When the boys discussed being even with them and not starting anything until the girls did, they said what would they do otherwise, that their mom would find something for them to do like violin lessons, so they had to stay busy.
Caroline didn't know what the point was anymore with the war with the boys but that they'd never had so much excitement before.
I couldn't believe the boys' mother said the girls are going to drive her wild and if the Malloys think about how they're raising their children. She has no idea how her boys are!
She's upset the Malloys didn't thank her for the cake, and brought the dish back cracked.
And Mrs. Malloy thinks Mrs. Hatford is odd because when she reached for a cookie she said she was glad her family enjoyed desserts so much, and made it sound like their family could eat a whole cake in one meal! And Eddie agreed it was strange.
I wish the kids would tell what happened about the cake so the parents don't think ill of each other!
You can see them start to want each other around. The boys have all these plans of stuff to do to them. But it'll be ruined if they move back to Ohio, so they want them to stay long enough for them to do everything they have planned, then the Bensons can move back.
The boys were so worried thinking Caroline was rabid, they were calling to call the war off for good if her sister brought her home.
They boys said they would strike any kind of deal the girls wanted if they came and get Caroline. And Eddie actually got Jake to say "your faithful and obedient servant." And after Jake told Wally he felt like throwing up.
It was funny when Eddie and Beth came to get Caroline the boys were pink with embarrassment knowing they'd been tricked.
Then Wally had been inside telling his parents the girls were helping peel apples. That was quick thinking from him. The girls had only been there a couple minutes.
I had no idea that was the end of the book. It didn't feel like an ending. It should have left off with the girls going home and planning war, with them saying the war wasn't over. It was very sudden and just a weird way to end a book off. Even though this is a series, books still need to end conclusively.
I frequently got the kids mixed up, saying who's the youngest boy? who's the youngest girl? who are the oldest siblings? and trying to keep up with their personalities. There's just too many kids to keep track of. I couldn't remember who did what in the 5th book. I remember a play scene in that book, and I was dying to know which siblings they were, to see them start out here and know where they end up, but I couldn't remember.
I also don't remember who the POVs were in in book 5, but this was solely in Caroline and Wally's. At times, I was so confused I thought it was changing perspectives, because there were so many characters and names I couldn't keep up. But it didn't. I wanted to be in everyone's POV.
This was so enjoyable. I found myself smiling through the scenes, laughing out loud. The antics are just hilarious. I bet this author laughs through the scenes and stunts she writes.
The author is so creative, so funny and witty. It's just genius what she comes up with. I'm glad I got to see how the series started and how they started not liking each other. I wanna read the whole series!
The boys dump dead animals on their riverbank, so they pretend Caroline died and dumped her body in the river. It was so funny when Wally said all they did was dump animals and the neighbors are dumping people!
Caroline blows on Wally's neck, and the teacher has them stay after school to talk it out. I thought that was a little mature, something usually done in a sexual way, so I was surprised that was here. She notices goosebumps on his skin and when says his voice like Wall-yy, I realized she was trying to sound like a ghost, because they thought she was dead. And then his ears turn red.
They talk about dead things and her dying and the teacher is like "is this a normal conversation?"
Beth was also kept after because she tripped over Jake's foot in the cafeteria and thinking he tripped her, she brought her tray down on his head!
I didn't know at first that Wally deliberately brought his head back to hit Caroline. I love when their mom asked what happened to Caroline's nose they say she bumped into something that needs a little fixing, a lot of straightening out, meaning Wally.
It was kind of weird of the father to say it might be nice having a gang of girls around. And "idk, that young one's kind of cute." That was a little uncomfortable having it worded like that. He should have said that the boys might grow to like them, or find them cute when they're older or something. It was funny he commented something was wrong with her nose!
I hated that Caroline's plan of stealing the boys underwear was ruined when it turned out to be their dad's! He called and asked them to return his briefs.
When the boys discussed being even with them and not starting anything until the girls did, they said what would they do otherwise, that their mom would find something for them to do like violin lessons, so they had to stay busy.
Caroline didn't know what the point was anymore with the war with the boys but that they'd never had so much excitement before.
I couldn't believe the boys' mother said the girls are going to drive her wild and if the Malloys think about how they're raising their children. She has no idea how her boys are!
She's upset the Malloys didn't thank her for the cake, and brought the dish back cracked.
And Mrs. Malloy thinks Mrs. Hatford is odd because when she reached for a cookie she said she was glad her family enjoyed desserts so much, and made it sound like their family could eat a whole cake in one meal! And Eddie agreed it was strange.
I wish the kids would tell what happened about the cake so the parents don't think ill of each other!
You can see them start to want each other around. The boys have all these plans of stuff to do to them. But it'll be ruined if they move back to Ohio, so they want them to stay long enough for them to do everything they have planned, then the Bensons can move back.
The boys were so worried thinking Caroline was rabid, they were calling to call the war off for good if her sister brought her home.
They boys said they would strike any kind of deal the girls wanted if they came and get Caroline. And Eddie actually got Jake to say "your faithful and obedient servant." And after Jake told Wally he felt like throwing up.
It was funny when Eddie and Beth came to get Caroline the boys were pink with embarrassment knowing they'd been tricked.
Then Wally had been inside telling his parents the girls were helping peel apples. That was quick thinking from him. The girls had only been there a couple minutes.
I had no idea that was the end of the book. It didn't feel like an ending. It should have left off with the girls going home and planning war, with them saying the war wasn't over. It was very sudden and just a weird way to end a book off. Even though this is a series, books still need to end conclusively.
I frequently got the kids mixed up, saying who's the youngest boy? who's the youngest girl? who are the oldest siblings? and trying to keep up with their personalities. There's just too many kids to keep track of. I couldn't remember who did what in the 5th book. I remember a play scene in that book, and I was dying to know which siblings they were, to see them start out here and know where they end up, but I couldn't remember.
I also don't remember who the POVs were in in book 5, but this was solely in Caroline and Wally's. At times, I was so confused I thought it was changing perspectives, because there were so many characters and names I couldn't keep up. But it didn't. I wanted to be in everyone's POV.
This was so enjoyable. I found myself smiling through the scenes, laughing out loud. The antics are just hilarious. I bet this author laughs through the scenes and stunts she writes.
The author is so creative, so funny and witty. It's just genius what she comes up with. I'm glad I got to see how the series started and how they started not liking each other. I wanna read the whole series!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2021
The boys start the by Phyillis Reynolds Naylor is a great book and is a very easy read. It is set in west Virginia and goes from their school to their houses and the bridge between their houses. The main characters are named Jake, Josh, wally, Caroline, Beth and Eddie. Eddie likes baseball and always wears a baseball cap. Caroline loves acting and theater she makes different scenes in her head to help her. Beth loves to read and almost never is seen without a book in her hand. She also seem shy and a bit of a loner. Some minor characters are their parents who are clueless most of the book and Wally and Caroline's teacher who only is mentioned twice or so in the book. The main problem in the book is the boys not wanting to have the girls next door and them sabotaging each other. In the end Caroline finally got the boys back and tricked them and they finally got along. I really liked this book the end was not my favorite i feel it could have ended better but it was great and i got into it right away.
February 9, 2022
Good story and a play on words with the Hatfields v the McCoy’s feud. When the Malloy girls move into the home of the Hatford brothers best friends (The Benson Brothers), the fun begins. Each tries to out do the other in a series of pranks and practical jokes that keep them all busy. A bit far fetched in the dangerous pranks not being discovered and called off by their parents. But I do know parents in that generation paid very little attention to the goings on of their children and were happy to leave them play and entertain themselves as long as nothing majorly morally wrong or dangerous behavior was discovered. The only reason I gave it 3-stars was I think the pranks were a bit outlandish to be realistic but a fun read by the author of Shiloh.
June 10, 2025
I got this book as a kid and never read it, then recently wanted something super easy to read so I picked it up. I loved this and wish I had read it when I first got it, I probably would have wanted the whole series. It was so nostalgic, I felt transported back to my childhood reading it. Something I love about children’s books is that even when they’re older and “out dated” they’re still just as enjoyable, which isn’t always the case for me with fiction for older audiences. I think any kid would have a blast with this. There are chapters in the perspectives of both a boy character and a girl character which can help make it enjoyable to all. My copy contains the second book as well and I’ll probably read it at another point when I need a brain break.
April 28, 2021
The Hatford boys are anxious to meet the new boys moving into their best friend’s house across the river. They are surprised and angry to find that instead of the family with boys they were expecting, the Malloys are girls. The Hatford’s plan is to make them so miserable they will move out, but the girls are not so easily threatened and the war begins. Burials at sea, dead fish, spoiled cake, floating heads, and unwanted chores keep the boys and girls trying to get even. This is the first in a series of classic boy vs. girl stories that will appeal to all readers. Even if it is already in your collection it is worth purchasing a new copy for the updated cover.
Read
September 30, 2021The characters in this book are The Hartfords and The Malloys. The Hartford's best friends, The Benson's left, and they are getting new neighbors. They are hoping that they are boy's so they can do things that they did with the Benson's. When they are looking at the new neighbors they see that it is girls, The Malloys. They decide to play tons of pranks on the girls. When they do the first prank the girls get mad and decide to play tons of pranks on them. Prank wars are on. Who will win the war? Read The Boys Start the War series to find out.
January 4, 2022
Oh man, I'm about 90% sure that this was the very first chapter book that I ever read on my own. It kind of just popped into my brain one day so I went to the library and picked it up. It's as fun as I remembered it and I binged it while waiting for two hours for a covid test. It was kind of a comfort to read a childhood favorite. These kids are so delightfully petty and everything in it is something I could totally see younger me and my sister doing. The Boys Start The War was fun to read as a kid and was hilarious to read as an adult. Something, something, you young hooligans.
July 3, 2017
When their best friends, the Bensens, move to Georgia for a year, the Hatford boys anxiously await news of who is moving into the Bensen house. When they find out they are girls, the Hatford boys are appalled. And war is declared. If they can get the Malloy girls to move away, the Bensens can return. This first book includes a chocolate cake floating down the river, the Malloys howling on the roof and Caroline trapped in a shed and acting like a rabid dog (with the help of marshmallow foam.)
June 12, 2019
I originally read this book when I was in grade 5 and loved it. Returning to it years later as an adult, I was excited to see if this charming little book still holds up. It does.
The Boy/Girl Battle Series is a fantastic read for children ages 9-12. It has a timeless quality to it, making it relatable to children today, even though it was originally published in 1993. The characters are clever, witty and will make both children and adult readers laugh out loud.
The Boy/Girl Battle Series is a fantastic read for children ages 9-12. It has a timeless quality to it, making it relatable to children today, even though it was originally published in 1993. The characters are clever, witty and will make both children and adult readers laugh out loud.
November 24, 2024
This book definitely perpetuates some stereotypical gender roles in places, but I admit that it had me laughing out loud multiple times picturing shenanigans my friends and I got up to as kids. The parents are depicted as clueless, but middle grade kids want to read about themselves as the stars, not all-knowing parents so it's perfect for the intended audience. If you're looking for a quick, hilarious read, this it it!
August 22, 2022
As a veteran of boys against the girls battles myself, I can attest that they are super fun. And, if you don’t have a gang of girls to match wits with, reading this series is the next best thing. Don’t worry. It’s not trying to trick you into liking girls or anything mushy. But you’ll come away respecting them and with some great ideas for mischief too!
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