It's Halloween, I'm Turning Green!

My Weird School Special #1

by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

My Weird School Special: It's Halloween, I'm Turning Green by Dan Gutman has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

Genres: Halloween, Childrens, Fiction, Audiobook, Holiday, Juvenile, Humor

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

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

[Janie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fun story for kiddos! I bought this for my grandson and I am hoping he reads it for Halloween! Although it may give him some not so great ideas. LOL

[Elaina McClendon 📚🌸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this!!!

[Erth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give five stars based on 10 yr old grandsons opinion. He loves these books and looks forward to each new one that coms out.
I guess any book a child will sit down and read immediately read is a five star.

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

AJ and his Weird School friends are all ready to go trick-or-treating. Things don't turn out quite as expected when a monster steals all their candy and the kids find out the monster is after Mrs. Yonkers's (their technology teacher) machine that makes everything giant (the kids want to use the machine to make their candy giant). Can the kids keep their candy safe or will Halloween be ruined?

I am a fan of Dan Gutman books. His Weird School series is always guaranteed to be a fun read. I love Mr. Gutman's humor and I think he writes this series really well for younger kids. This is a perfect book if you are looking for a fun Halloween story that isn't super scary but has a lot of mystery and fun in it. Actually it would be a fun read any time of the year! I like that there are Halloween-themed games and puzzles included in the book. It is a nice addition.
*NOTE I bought my own copy of this book.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up
We didn't get to read this for Halloween. Read with the kiddies and we all took turns, reading in silly voices, acting out the scene and just enjoying the story together. Laughing out Loud fun.

[Jenn Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just the comic relief I needed. Dan Gutman is genius with his My Weird School series. The audiobook versions are fun to listen to! I love the repetitiveness in all of the stories. This one was a Halloween special and it didn't disappoint. Go on an adventure with A.J. and the gang!

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Weird School Special; It’s Halloween. I’m Turning Green!

This is such a cute series. The gang is going trick or treating and mashing together their costumes. They have planned for the optimum candy collection until they hit a surprise!

[Camie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halloween book for semi-reluctant readers age 6-8.

[Sarah Beth Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my 5, 6, 9, and 10 year olds and asked them to rate it out of 5 stars. 4 ⭐️ was their average rating. 😄

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Loni · Rating 1 out of 5]

My first grader and I read this and it wasn’t my favorite book. I bought it because reviews said it was so funny. But I didn’t find it funny at all. I actually found it to be very rude at times—with name calling and making fun of other kids. There’s enough cruelty and bullying in the world. And I don’t find being rude to others to be funny at all.
The storyline wasn’t the greatest either. The author would go off on random tangents about nothing to do with what was happening in the book.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daniel (my 9-year old) was VERY happy to see It’s Halloween, I’m Turning Green by Dan Gutman in our collection. Daniel is a huge Dan Gutman fan. He loves Gutman’s humor, especially in The Genius Files series. He read the first one as part of our local library’s youth book club and we listened to the second book in The Genius Files this summer on our family trips and were very entertained.

It’s Halloween, I’m Turning Green involves the shenanigans of AJ and his friends as they go trick-o-treating. Tragedy strikes when there candy is stolen by a Halloween monster. Who is the Halloween monster and how can they stop him? This book is part of the My Weird School series and is a special book in the series – but it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Daniel enjoyed the humor of the story, the pictures by Jim Paillot, and that it was an easy read for him. He also loved the Halloween facts at the end of the book as well as the activities. He really liked looking at the two pictures to find the differences between them.

Overall, It’s Halloween, I’m Turning Green is a fun Halloween book for grade school readers who are looking for something humorous and not overtly scary.

Book Source: This was purchased in the past from a Scholastic Book Order

This review was first posted on my blog at: https://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2017...

[M.M. Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

f you know me at all, you know that I like Halloween a lot! The irony of that is, I never had a lot of candy though, not even on Halloween. So, it is with greatness to see a book where kids are loving both...maybe they are loving too much. This book is for emerging readers, and few photos were included but enough to make this reader giggle.

This author humored me. He wrote in first person dialog about the greatest night ever but more importantly, candy, candy, and more CANDY! The author's characters speak like many kids would. For example, one of the children says, "Pigment of imagination." I love that and kids would too. This book allows kids to not only enjoy a fun holiday but to see themselves.

The fun twist in the book comes in the form of the title itself, a little hint but not at all what the reader might think as they read. I loved it when it did come up and it certainly made me giggle even more.

This is a must Halloween book for all the candy loving, Halloween joke loving, costume loving kid in all of us. 5 chocolate candy bars for sure.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle, Reading Authors Network

[Deirdre · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a veteran 7th-12th grade teacher and now parent of a young reader. My partner teaches middle school. We love promoting reading and are always happy when we learn a series has had positive feedback from kids and adults alike. Sadly, this was disappointing. The tone and attitude of the protagonist is very unlikeable. Our first grader said often, "this boy is not very kind or grateful." When she stopped reading, having lost interest in the negativity of the protagonist, I read ahead. I looked for some redeeming points, but none to be found. I had read the reviews and learned this was maybe the dud in the series. We had taken another from the series out from the library, so I previewed and found it equally as disappointing.

[Bono · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very funny, and it is very good to read before going to bed or to kill time. I would recommend this book for someone aged 6-11. The overall story is extremely easy to understand and the story is very interesting. The story is about AJ and his friends going trick or treating at Halloween. When they came to Mrs Yonker’s house, Mrs Yonkers said that she had invented a machine that could male things larger. However, Mayor Hubble, dressed as a monster, tries to steal it. At
last, Mayor Hubble got arrested.

[Pooja Banga · Rating 3 out of 5]

n this Weird School Special, It’s Halloween, I’m Turning Green!,  A.J. and the gang from the My Weird School series are ready for one of their favorite holidays!
 
It’s Halloween, and you know what that means! Candy! Costumes! More candy! What would happen if a kid ate a million hundred pounds of chocolate in one night? One thing’s for sure—when A.J. and his friends from Ella Mentry School go trick-or-treating, it will be a Halloween to remember.
 

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really bad. The kids are rotten and the title of the book had very little to do with the plot. It’s like they came up with the title first and then remembered they had to make it work somewhere in the story. 2 stars for the fun Halloween facts and other activities in the back. There were a couple of funny lines but I hesitate to pick up any other of these books. Thankfully my kids weren’t too impressed either.

[Jacquie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting Weird School book. The kids enjoy these so they take turns picking out what will be read next. This one also had a bonus section at the end with fun facts and activities. We read the facts, but didn't do the activities as it was a library book. Now to see what they pick next.........

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot! My favorite part was in the end when the bear tried to steal Mrs. Yonkers awesome new microwave that makes food bigger. But the bear was caught and unmasked and it was there old Mayor Hubble (my weirder school number 6) Mrs Yonkers phoned the police and the cops were there in a few minutes. Mayor Hubble was arrested for the 2nd time.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of Gutman's Weird School books, which I usually listen to with my kids. We enjoyed this one, which is very much according to form of the series, with narrator Arlo/AJ voicing the everykid sort of role and chronicling an appropriately bizarre Halloween adventure. Fun books, even if they aren't exactly Moby Dick.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 9 year old loved this one. He laughed at a lot of the story. He cannot wait to read the other books in this series.

I thought the story was ok, but I didn’t care for the way the kids talked to each other. I might just be being curmudgeonly but it was a bit more than just trying to be realistic.

[Karen & Gerard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a My Weird School series special because it includes games and puzzles in the back. AJ and his friends go trick or treating, but run into the Halloween monster who takes their candy! I think kids would enjoy this book simply because it is a Halloween story. For me, it was okay. (Karen's review)

[Iconic Greatness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fun read. It has good Halloween vibes.

What do all kids want?
Candy!
When do we want it?
Now!

Like always the adults are weird and A.J being A.J as usual.

Chapter one opens up with

My Name is A.J and I hate October 30.
If you ask me, October 30 is the worst day of the year. You know why?

Is there more to be said. Go get the book and find out for yourself.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative voice of AJ is very convincing. Lots of “a million hundred” and “you should have been there!” AJ and his friends go trick or treating and end up at their teacher’s house, where she unveils an awesome invention. Will the Halloween Monster steal it? My daughter liked this more than Junie B. Jones.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5.
This book kept me entertained and it was really funny. It also put me in a Halloween mood. I also learned some cool facts I didn't know about Halloween in the Fun Facts section at the back of the book. A really fun and cute read!

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was good but so redundant with words and sayings. Some of the phrases for used over and over, and it kind of got annoying having to read them again and again. Overall, the story was cute though.

[Kimber Cutler]

A 1 hour listen on hoopla with the kids. My boys 7,9,9,11 listened but their conclusion in the end is they didn’t love it. We haven’t read the other weird school books though to understand the vibe of the series

[Kathymarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook with the kids. Fun book!

[Tarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a quick Halloween audio book -- and I found a fun little volume in this one. Perfect for young readers who are eager to read a wacky ol' story about Halloween.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Gutman has a cute writing style in this series, very like Lemony Snicket in The Series of Unfortunate Events. My students will get a kick out of this book.