Synopsis
Meet Henry McThrottle, a fifth-grader at Northeast Southwest Central School. Henry has an extremely active imagination--sometimes it's hard to tell where his imagination stops and the real world begins. His flights of fancy lead to adventures of the sort only Andy Griffiths could dream up: always hilarious, never predictable, sure to keep kids laughing and reading!
Children's Literature
Fifth-grader Henry McThrottle likes to tell stories. This story chronicles shenanigans that occur when class 5C has a substitute teacher. Mr. Brainfright finds the curriculum irrelevant, and he teaches in surprising ways that keep the class enthralled and the administration alarmed. Big excitement comes when Principal Greenbeard reveals to Henry that, as a boy, he and his pirate crew buried a box of treasure "beyond compare" on these very school grounds. Rival pirates stole the treasure and reburied it somewhere nearby. Henry leads a few friends in a treasure hunt. The plan leaks, and soon the whole fifth grade is chewing up the schoolyard with picks, shovels, trowels, rulers, pencils, and bare hands. Everybody wants the treasure! Even Mr. Brainfright joins in; this is an archaeological dig. The treasure is found, but there is a twist! Essentially, this yarn is pure kid-centric slapstick. Character development is minimal. Personal names and a few vignettes indicate the brains of the class, the power girl, the anxious boy, and so on. The reader supplies her own images of the location—any primary school, anywhere. A satisfying plot, embroidered by wacky situations, drives the story and provides humor. Vocabulary is non-challenging. Gender is well-balanced. The best use of this book would be recreational reading. Any 8 to 12 year old, boy or girl, who likes to giggle, would appreciate this book. Perhaps while giggling the reader would take note of Mr. Brainfright's axiom that "Imagination IS real life." Reviewer: Margaret C. F. Pollock