Synopsis
Mary Amato's hilarious chapter book about an epic classroom battle waged entirely through journal entries, which The Bulletin called a "comic and clever read . . . perfect for novice readers," is now available in paperback.
When a teacher leaves a blank book in the Writer's Corner with the instructions "Please Write in This Book," she hopes it will encourage her students to talk to one another in its pages. Lizzy is the first to find it, and decides that only girls should write in it. But some of the boys have other ideas-like Luke, who writes that his name rhymes with puke, and Milton, who is convinced they should stick to facts and facts alone. Before long a great clash ensues, and it will take drastic measures to bring this uproarious cast of characters back together again. Written in the entries of each student, this book reminiscent of Harriet the Spy is sure to have kids laughing out loud.
Children's Literature
Dream teacher Ms. Wurtz leaves a blank book for students to find in the Writer's Corner of the classroom. Find it they do, and a lively correspondence begins within its pages. Factions emerge soon enough, with Lizzy and Yoshiko striving for literature, and Luke ("rhymes with puke") and his buddies writing for the sole purpose of howling with laughter. The personalities come through sharp and etched in multiple alternating entries in the blank book. The many voices allow us to sense the peacemakers and the provocateurs, the self-absorbed and the anxious, and Milton the fact-hound who keeps trying to make serious sense out of all the verbal posturing. Amato has nicely captured the high-tension social hi-jinks of elementary school and crafted an amusing story in the context of a classroom focused on student inquiry. Eric Brace's funny spot drawings could induce the kind of laughter that makes teeth go flying out. This one is for the real teachers like Ms. Wurtz in whose classrooms, tests notwithstanding, students trade notebook entries, are permitted to generate conflict on the page, and get to resolve it in real life. This book is not only fun to read, it could spark weeks of interactive reading and writing in an elementary classroom.