Can Adults Become Human?

Dear Dumb Diary #5

by Jim Benton

Read the hilarious, candid (and sometimes not-so-nice), diaries of Jamie Kelly, who promises that everything in her diary is true...or at least as true as it needs to be. Dear Dumb Diary,My social studies teacher, Mr. VanDoy, never smiles. I know that's hard to believe, because everybody smiles about something, right?Isabella smiles when her brothers get in trouble. Angeline smiles when she thinks about how much prettier she is than, like, a waterfall or a unicorn. I smile when I think about a unicorn kicking Angeline over a waterfall. But Mr. VanDoy doesn't smile at all. I wonder if when you become an adult, you can lose your sense of humor the way you lose your teeth or hair or fashion sense.

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Realistic Fiction, Diary

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

About the author

Benton began his career in a custom design t-shirt shop where he started designing his own characters. At the same time, Jim did illustrations and artwork for magazines and newspapers. People magazine named him "the most visible cartoonist in America" .

Benton also created greeting cards and worked in the magazine and publishing industry. In 1998, his SpyDogs characters became an animated series, The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs, that aired on Fox Kids. Licensing his own creations brought them widespread attention on products, such as It's Happy Bunny, The Misters, Just Jimmy and more.

Benton currently lives in Michigan, where he operates out of his own studio.

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! As a former Office Lady, I found this one to be especially enjoyable. Jamie's Aunt Carol comes to live with them and fills an opening at the school office. Her presence brings welcome changes like small chocolate bars in a bowl instead of hard butterscotch candies. Could it be Aunt Carol is like a goat or other smaller animal that is used to calm a nervous horse? Will Mr. VanDoy ever smile? Will Stinker ever release all that gas building up inside? Read Jamie's diary and find out the answers to these questions and the meaning of new terms like GIGGLECIDE and NICEGUSTING. Oh, and don't forget that Jamie loves her new shoes that make her look 20. It's a ton of fun in less than 120 pages.

[izzy of the hollow †]

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ idk why i love this pin sm: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/9499781...

ok now im just binging this series 😂😭

[Teri Gorleski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am quiet fond of the Dear Dumb Diary series.Jamie is a funny,little,curious girl.She sticks by her best friend Isabella.Who is more vicious than the other girls.Of course she's not to blame.she grew up btween her older brothers.Then ther is Angeline who is this gorgeous,perfect girl in Jamie's class.Jamie seems to be suspicious of her teacher Mr.van Doy.He never smiles,but is as smart as Isabella none of the teachers understand Isabella's smartness ,but him.At least, art is going great al though Angeline is there.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Open Letter to Jamie Kelly

Hi Jamie!

First off, just want to say that I'm a big fan. Big fan. Also, I'm sorry for reading your diary. I know you probably wouldn't like that. Seriously though, you should be a writer. You would fit in on the Internet like non-haunted jeans.

I just want to thank you for asking the hard hitting questions and being hilarious while doing it. Can adults become human? Has anyone confirmed if this can happen? Please let me know. If adults are human, it could be argued that teachers aren't. *BURN* Not bitter or anything.

Don't let the Angelines of the world get you down. Chances are that if you read her diary it would be weireder and more twisted than yours. Keep Isabella close to you. Real friends who hate the same person as you are hard to find.

Well, I hope that your next diary is as funny as this one. I promise to keep finding your drama hilarious.

Best wishes!

Lola

[Zubaidah]

Book review # 3
Dear dumb diary book # 5

This book is a great book. The author of this book is Jim Benton. I think he is a great author this is my first book read by this author and I am impressed.
This book is about if adults can become humans. It's about a girl named Jamie her friends name is Isabella the mean girl in this story is Angelina.
This book has 118 pages. It's not a long book but it is really funny. Sometimes it can be a little disturbing to me. But it is a great book.
This book talks about teachers and adults. She said she has never seen a teacher fart or fall. She also talks about what makes people smile. She says that her social studies teacher never smiled. But everyone smiles about something. I read that at the back of the book. It took me about two and half weeks to read the whole book. But it is a great and really funny book.

By: Zubaidah Khudair

[Kenken10 · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book i loved it the whole series is awsome

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing read it and it's so good that it is now a movie !!!!!!!!!!!?

[max theodore]

miss bruntford is kind of a hero to me. jamie gay tracker: seeing angeline's eyes magnified by glasses and falling backward so bad that she hits her head on a table and almost passes out

[Jessie Doster · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Dear Dumb Diary, Can Adults Become Human? is the fifth book in the Dear Dumb Diary series written by Jim Benton. This is a story about a fun, little, curious girl named Jamie who has a wild imagination and wonders about very strange things. This is a humorous, imaginative, and playful story that talks about questions that have popped into everyone’s head, even if they are ridiculous. The author chooses to use Jamie’s school as the setting and incorporates her teachers and classmates as important characters. The author does a good job of reaching out to young readers by writing the story as if he was a middle school girl. The story is written as a diary, with each chapter being a small diary entry. The text of the story is larger than the typical font size and is surrounded by black and white illustrations that work together with the text. The illustrations are almost on every page and play a vital role in telling the story. The story ends with a good moral twist, and something the reader will never expect! This is a great book that should be recommended to anyone who enjoys a fast and easy read and enjoys laughing!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty funny, but I think that this was the worse out of all the Dear Dumb Diary books. It's probably because even though they added a lot of jokes, the story doesn't really have a good plot and the only exciting part is when it all comes together in the last few pages. This is a good book to read when you are bored and have nothing better to do.

SPOILERS: Isabella and Jamie wonder if adults are really human - the more they think about it, the more it makes sense (they sing like hogs dragged along by their tails and are capaple of doing mindless activites for hours on end.) Also, Jamie's Aunt Carol has just gotten a job at her school and many strange things keep happening, such as 'the office ladies smiling' and 'Ms. Anderson giving Assistant Principal Devon a valentine'...

EVEN MORE SPOILERS (read at your own risk): In the end, Aunt Carol and Principal Devon annouce that they are getting married.

(by the way, I recommend reading the books in order. It makes a lot more sense)

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jamie Kelly's dairy is open to the public(don't tell her) and she has a lot to say. Her Aunt Carol comes to live with them, and then gets a job at JAMIE'S SCHOOL! What could go wrong? Jamie's friend Isabella keeps getting in trouble, popular girl Angeline acts all funny, so does the lunch monitor, Miss Anderson(the art teacher) gives a strange assessment, and Aunt Carol goes on a BIG DATE.
"Dear Dumb Dairy," is a hilarious book about a young girls life written in a dairy. It funny and weird the way Jamie writes, all her thoughts, dreams, hopes, and life is in there, and her parents or anyone else better not read it(don't worry she doesn't know what Jim Benton did). The age range is 10 and up.
I like this book because its humours and goofy. My favourite part is on page 76, when Jamie says this, VanDoy: I'm not quite sure. I've been busy at home and I got a little behind, Jamie: It doesn't look so little to me, HA HA HA. There is nothing I don't like about this book. Enjoy "Dear Dumb Dairy, Can Adults Become Humans?"

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really funny. Jamie has a good personality and is really smart but she really struggles in math. She has a friend name Angeline and she is really jealous of her and always talks bad about he because she is jealous. Jamie´s aunt is aunt Carol and she is a helper in the office and changed a lot of things in there and now the office ladies are nice and not grumpy and the candy is chocolate instead of butterscotch that no one likes. Aunt Carol and Jamie´s Assistant Principle Devon start going on dates and then they get engaged and Ms. Anderson is trying to flirt with Devon and Aunt Carol is mad and does not invite her to her engagement party. Now Devon is Jamie´s uncle and Angeline is related to Devon so Jamie and Angeline are now related.“Homework strongly indicates that the teachers are not doing their jobs well enough during the school day. It's not like they'll let you bring your home stuff to school and work on it there. You can't say, 'I didn't finish sleeping at home, so I have to work on finishing my sleep here.”

[Laura Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun and wholesome!

[Mitchell Bowser · Rating 5 out of 5]

fire

[Dannikka Frazzini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I great next series for those who loved Junie B Jones

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's nothing like diving into a tween book when you have a little spare time. I was in New Orleans and found this book on my nieces bed and decided to try it out. It was good- very humorous- but not as good as the Lois Lowry Anastasia series. But you can't top perfection, so I'm totally okay with H enjoying this series. After finishing this one, she presented me with another, which was also good. An interesting twist is that the main character also draws pictures to go with her diary entries, which is something I once tried to do when I was keeping a diary.

[Smartypants]

I learned that adults cant always be human ,and kids are like the zoo trainers.Also animals(adults)can love each other to you know.I never excepted that aunt Carol would mary assistant principal Devon!!! Adults are like animals because they are large and growsly hairy ,when they sing along to their favorite songs many sound like a hog being dragged by its tail etc etc etc(author said all that).This is a really good book that kids who have a sense of humor should really read this book. yours trouly HarrisonFalcone class 3-414

[Edward Creter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jamie Kelly still rocks middle school with that mouth and her amazing humorous outlook and, yes fans...STINKER IS BAAAACK! He's replaced Snoopy as the most "pup-ular" beagle of all time! In this adventure, Jamie's Aunt has arrived for one nefarious purpose--o CHANGE JAMIE'S MIDDLE SCHOOL by being assistant to the vice principal! AAAAAHHH!!! How can things get worse for our luckless heroine? Dude, they juuuuust might! Please read this series because Stinker the Dog Rules over everything! He's the cute sweet tonic for our troubled times! MORE STINKER PLEASE!!!!

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can Adults Become Human is a book of Jamie's struggles through adults cramping her style, smothering her Mojo. It's to the point where she wonders if adults even have smile muscles. And on top of that, Angeline, her totally arch enemy, is just sickening with her beautiful personality, beautiful hair, and beautiful breath, its just infuriating! See how Jamie gets through it all in Can Adults Become Human.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one made me laugh out loud and sets up some interesting dilemmas for our heroine in terms of home and school crashing into each other on a more regular basis. It will make kids giggle even more.

My one objection, I can do without all the flatulence references but understand that appeals to the target audience.

[Valeria Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked this book especially the title of it! this is a laugh out loud book! i like these books because what i barley noticed(because of my English teacher!)is that these books have a moral to it. like this one is that there are no adults just humans! its really funny and i like how that teacher laughs at dog farts! haha everyone should read this book.

[Cindy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Dumb Dairy #5 Can Adults Become Human?

I would recommend this book to who like to laugh a lot. and I think it's funny. I love the part when Jamie was talking about her teacher,Miss Anderson never ever smiles witch is impossible because who doesn't like to laugh.I can't tell you the rest of the book but I can tell you this you will love it.HAPPY READING!

[Colca · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the Dear Dumb Diary books are really good for people from non-English-speaking countries learning the language. On the other hand I would say about it the same thing I said about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid - it's inappropriate for children under the age of eight because it teaches them that school is something really wrong and boring and some people are just bad - it's never like that!

[Remy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I love all the spying and hyperboles of these books, but the whole main point of this particular one came off as petty office drama. Literally. I keep feeling that Jamie's actually gone a bit overboard with making fun of the adults, no matter how hilarious they may be.

Isabella and Angeline, however, are frickin on game here. Their little reveals at the end were the best.

[Ashley Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just bought this book not to long ago I think it is very entertaining and funny to read on you own time I really like the part where Jamie finds out who her aunt Carol is dteing and when she sees them kiss and she finds out that it isher vice Princible!

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel with all of these series the same. They are stupid. They are strange. They are crude, and yet they hold my attention. I feel theses books are fairly good. I read them in the 5th grade and i read each of them in a day!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book i thuoght was really funny. I would reccomend it to other people who like reading about love stories comedies and a little bi of a autobiography. After all the book is basocly taking place in some one diary.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny series to read. I can read a higher level of books than this but this was one of my favorite series before I started reading more challenging books. Hope you like this book as much as I do and did.

[Bristol Langley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The family is falling apart and crumbling. Jamie is again having a bunch of problems to solve and she thinks,"Can adults become human?" She has to deal with school, friends, family, life ,and her dog, Stinker. Plus, her aunt is coming to town to work at Jamie's school.

[Alyssa R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book a 5 because it really caught my attention by the title and the cover because the tile is Can Adults Become Human? and I just think that is funny and interesting. The cover looks funny and kinda weird in a good way. I think this book is good for 3th,4th,5th graders.