Miss Laney Is Zany!

My Weird School Daze #8

by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

With more than 30 million books sold, the My Weird School series really gets kids reading!

In this eighth book in the My Weird School Daze series, A.J. has to go see Miss Laney, the speech teacher, which makes no sense at all because he already knows how to talk. Miss Laney has him say weird tongue twisters and forces him to be the lead in the third-grade play, Romeo & Juliet. And you'll never guess in a million hundred years who's going to play Juliet. Will there be kissing? Ew, disgusting!

Perfect for reluctant readers and word lovers alike, Dan Gutman's hugely popular My Weird School series has something for everyone. Don't miss the hilarious adventures of A.J. and the gang.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Faith, Chapter Books

Kindle Edition

First published January 26, 2010

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

[La Tonya Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Laney is a speech teacher for Ella Mentry School that is scheduled to close because of budget cuts. She makes speech class fun by playing fun games. At the end of the story, Miss Laney goes on the game show Win Money or Eat Bugs. She wins a boat on the show and has to eat a plate full of bugs. But, she does her informercial on the show and sales a million dollars worth of speech kits and saves the school.

Quotes:
"A.J., please report to the girls' bathroom."

"Here's your tongue twister. 'A skunk sat on a stump. The stump thought the skunk stunk. The skunk thought the stump stunk. What stunk? The skunk or the stump? "

"Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say good night till it be morrow."

[Cecelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Laney is the new speech teacher and she has to have her office in the Girl's Bathroom because they had a budget cut for the school. Miss Laney went on a game show so she could a million dollars so they could keep the school and not move to a different one.

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series is so mean-spirited. I’m all for silliness, but you don’t have to be mean with it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrea is acting like a know-it-all because when she answered a question right, she went " YES!" And when A.J got something wrong she told him the right answer in a bragging kind of voice.

[Marya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely love this cover because it highlights the best part of the book. One of the money making schemes involve staging a production of Romeo and Juliet. AJ rightly calls out the fact that he will inevitably be cast as Romeo and Andrea as Juliet. Of course, that happens in short order...and then nothing! The book goes nowhere with this thread. In fact, the whole play plot point is introduced and resolved within one chapter. What a fun way for Gutman to engage with the cynical reader!

Oh, and Miss Laney should check to see if her contract specifically states she owes her employer for anything once she's fired. The plot revolves around it!

[Serenity000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

So A.J has to go see miss Laney the speech teacher which makes no sense beacause he says he already knows how to speak. Miss Laney makes him do tongue twisters and forces him to star in a school play, Romeo & Juliet. Will their be kissing read to find out.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes school plays, Fundraisers, and speech teachers in the girls bathroom.

[Angieleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was about to give up on this series after the two previous books being duds, but I'm glad that I read this with my nephew.

Miss Laney is the new school speech teacher, who just so happens to have to conduct speech lessons with Arlo, Andrew, Ryan, and Emily.

In the girls bathroom.

Why the girls bathroom? Well, unfortunately there had to be budget cuts and Ella Mentry school was picked to be shut down. The kids do their best to keep their beloved school (even though Arlo starts out every book by saying that he hates school; methinks he doth protest too much) open, while there are movers taking things away and teachers being fired left and right.

Arlo's cluelessness when it comes to understanding phrases continues to amuse me.

Though there is quite a bit of name calling (seriously, quit with the "dumbhead" already), and negativity, each book has a moral that is worth reading.

Of all the books so far, I am pretty sure that this is my favorite of them all.

[Caleb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Caleb (age 6): "This book was horrible because the things that happened in the story didn't fit with each other. What didn't fit the most was the part when all the teachers got fired. It didn't fit together with the story."

[Luis Gamero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que te a gustado o que no?

A mi me gustó mucho todo porque era muy divertido y genial pero no más de mi si no de el libro el libro en sí es muy divertido se podría decir perfecto y a mi me encantó espero que esto haga que lo lean más

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outrageously funny. A teacher's office in the girls' bathroom? Wild, but only the first wild thing in this book. Clearly written in the Great Recession, this book has some "Easter Egg" references for adults and a whole lot of laughs for the kids.

[Kt Roth]

2.5 chapter book challenge

[Jules Loz · Rating 1 out of 5]

(2nd grade) J is reading through many of the books in this series by herself (during her IDR time during her virtual school days and also in the evenings at bedtime). It's great to see her get into a series and quickly and eagerly read through these books.

[Natalie Wenzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whole class read-aloud :)

[Angie Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so this one has me chuckling more than once. Miss Laney is an SLP, forces to teach in the girls bathroom because of budget cuts. Will the kids be able to save their school?

[Shankar B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked when A.J. got a sorwd.

[Elina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So the school has to close down because they do not a have that much money. The staff is going low because they can not afford they are not getting good salary. Then they get a new teacher named miss Lahey who has to teach in the bathroom. she teaches theater. th school has said that they needed 100000 dollars to get the school running again. so there is this show called eat bugs or get money. Miss Laney participates in the show she got a question wrong so she had to eat bugs. But at least she got 100000 dollars and got the school running. so i like the book it was wierd like all the other books but i love the wierdness.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this humorous series, Gutman focuses on a staff member from Ella Mentry School. In this book, A.J. finds out that the school is going to close because of budget cuts. Playground equipment is being removed, teachers are being fired, and his speech therapist has an office in the girl's bathroom. Miss Laney, the speech therapist is a wacky game show enthusiast who helps save the school. The students and the staff work together to try and solve the budget problem, with humorous mishaps along the way.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Gutman understands young reader’s humor and has created a fantastic book formula to draw in even the most reluctant of readers. The My Weird School series is perfect for students to practice their reading skills with its repetitive yet hysterical narrative and story lines. But don’t mention that part to your kiddos, they might run away in fear they could learn something. A must have collection for any grade school library or classroom!

[Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was really cool. It made me feel really good. It had a bunch of funny things. Like at the beginning he does this, and at the end they really talk about it. I liked that it had a really funny joke and they wanted to pee in the tree instead of the port-o-potty. So that was very very funny.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third graders I work with love this series and every week I need to have one read before I see them. This one was recommended to me by one of these third graders. It was very fun and I understand again and again why this series is so popular. It makes me laugh with its over the top humor and the fact that AJ can never understand idioms, it hysterical. Always a fun time!

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very strange. It did make me laugh a bit though, and I think as a young reader I would have liked it quite a bit. As a grownup reader, I don't feel the need to ever read any more of these books.

[James Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ms. Laney was on TV. She was going to save the school winning $1,000,000 but she at Win Money OR Eat Bugs. She lost but she made a commercial to win $1,000,000 to save the school

[Luca · Rating 4 out of 5]

raise 1 MILLION DOLLARS?

[Sammantha Bellofatto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this. It was a fun book, it brought in bugs for the boys and a crazy girl teacher for the girls, and it brought the whole group together. I thought it made it very entertaining.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

miss.lanely will even eat bugs for the school

[BibliofiendLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting way to teach kids about the economy and budget cuts.

[Carol Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all the teachers and especially speech teachers, this children's book is hilarious.

[Gideon]

awsome book can't wait for more!

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

aj plays romeo and andrea plays juliet. ms lany tries to get them to kiss but aj refuses.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good