Big Nate Strikes Again

felicisowl - "Oh, how I hate her." Nate Wright is a cartoonist and self-proclaimed genius (definitely not the teacher's pet though) who has a particular place of HATE in his heart for his nemesis, Gina Hemphill-Toms. While his best friends, Francis and Teddy, might think of their relationship as love, Nate completely and utterly despises Gina from the whole of his heart. So when Mrs. Godfrey (the Godzilla), Nate's social studies teacher, randomly picks GINA to be his partner for a research paper about a Great American, Nate is.. to put it lightly, extremely upset. But things are looking up for Nate when his Coach picks Nate to be the captain of his fleeceball team! Winning the SPOFFY (a trophy you get for being the overall winner of the fleeceball tournament) is EXTREMELY important, and he knows it won't be easy. Especially with the worst bully in the school, Randy "Butt"ancourt, as Nate calls him, being the captain of one of the opposing teams. But when Nate receives a detention from his science teacher, he's late to the Captains' meeting where the Captains choose teammates, he's frantic - but he turns out he got an amazing team after all, with Francis and Teddy included.. Wait a second. There are supposed to be ten players, not nine on a fleeceball team.. "GINA?!" To make things short, Gina is first of all, his worst enemy, and he has to work with her TWO, UNBEARABLE TIMES, and second of all, she's absolutely horrible, no, HOPELESS, at sports. But Nate isn't giving up yet. Even with Gina on his team, if he can get her out of the way, it's fine, right? He concentrates on making an amazing team name (and gets inspiration from his neighbor's dog, Spitsy, going CRAZY in the yard) and calls his team, PSYCHO DOGS! But Nate has a nasty habit of forgetting important things, like TELLING HIS COACH HIS TEAM NAME THIS MORNING! Oh no, oh no, oh no.. but it appears that Gina has already told Coach his team name. Wait, Gina couldn't know that the team name was Psycho Dogs.. "KUDDLE KITTENS? YOU NAMED OUR TEAM KUDDLE KITTENS AFTER YOUR STUFFED CAT?" Suddenly everything is going WRONG for Nate.. But what happens when Little Miss Perfect (Gina) who insisted on doing the project by herself, didn't read one crucial instruction that said you had to create your own visual aids? Could Little Miss Perfect finally get an F? The only thing that can save her perfect academic record (and also can save Nate from getting yet another F since he is her partner) is.. Nate's cartoons about Ben Franklin he does in his spare time? Will Nate and Gina finally not become enemies? Or will Gina forever hate Nate? Or will Nate's cartoons (one of the only things he excels at) save the day? Read this brilliant, HILARIOUS book to find out! This book is fresh, funny, and perfect for reluctant readers with its witty jokes, its flawed characters, and its middle school setting! It's HILARIOUS! I fell out of my chair laughing so hard, and I couldn't wait to flip the page and find out what hilarious shenanigans happens next! This is perfect for fans of Diary of the Wimpy Kid... but I want to address an issue in this book - bullying. I always thought of Nate as kind of an annoying main character, but he always sees the bright side of things and tries to make a joke out of it when he's bullied. I can understand why he hates Gina, because even though there's nothing wrong with getting good grades because you study, Gina's behavior to Nate is inexcusable! The villains of this story are despicable, and it's more fun to see them fail (like getting egg salad dumped on their head or even getting a detention) than...

December 1, 2010

Gr 3-6-Peirce's second book about Big Nate is clever and funny. For Mrs. Godfrey's newest special project, a research assignment on a great American, the sixth grader gets paired with the perfect A-plus student, Gina. Horrible as this seems, something great also occurs-Nate is picked as a Fleeceball team captain and has a chance to win the coveted Spoffy (Sports Played Only for Fun) trophy. Unfortunately, he is late to the gym when players are chosen, and Gina is on his team. The pacing of the text and the black-and-white comic-book illustrations give the story a fun and carefree rhythm. Readers will be delighted to pick this up and find great characters who will stay with them.-Patty Saidenberg, George Jackson Academy, New York City

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2010

Fresh from his daily comic strip, sixth grader Nate Wright returns for another novel-length adventure (Big Nate: In a Class By Himself, 2010). He must endure both being partnered with overly perfect Gina on a social-studies project AND her playing on the intramural fleeceball team he captains. To make matters worse, Nate missed the deadline to submit the name of his team to Coach, and Gina submitted "Kuddle Kittens" for him. Total embarrassment! Gina messes up the team's first game, and she fears Nate will mess up her A+ average. The two strike a deal: He'll let her do the report on Ben Franklin alone, and she'll bow out of future fleeceball games. Nate may think he's got the bases covered...but he can't seem to learn that his plans never quite work out. Peirce's second Big Nate tale is even more stuffed with Nate's own comics than his first, including a couple "Poor Nate's Almanacks" and his goofy imaginings in "true" life comix. A latter-day Peanuts and a kinder, gentler Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Fans will be in heaven; thank goodness number three is already on the way. (Graphic hybrid/fiction. 7-11)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2011
Grades 3-6 Peirces mischievous grade-school hero returns for more misadventures in another blend of easy-reading narrative and comic-strip snippets modeled after the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. In an unbelievable double stroke of bad luck, Nate gets paired with the insufferable brainiac Gina on a class project and stuck with her on his otherwise championship-worthy fleeceball (indoor baseball) team. Lessons are learned and comeuppances are delivered on both sides. This is a hearty dose of low-fiber fun for boys, and Peirces cartoon tidbits make the pages fly past with punch lines galore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)