He May Not Be Wimpy, But He’s Funny

Diary of a Wimpy Kid? You’ve heard of this? Your kid prattles on about it all the time? Here’s the next read:

Big Nate: In a Class By Himself
by Lincoln Pierce
Harper
ISBN: 978 0 06 194434 5
Audience: grades 3-6

I’ve mentioned Nate a couple of times in the Scholastic Decoder posts, but reading his newer book this week, I thought he deserved his own post. He is, after all, really quite a funny kid – sometimes when he doesn’t mean to be. Things kind of tend to go wrong for Nate, you see. Like in this book, for example.

Nate’s day seems like it might just be something special when he gets a fortune cookie that says he will surpass all others – he thinks he’s pretty awesome, after all. But he keeps trying to make something great happen, and instead, finds himself involved in one mishap after another, and racking up detentions just as fast.

It’s a wild ride, but what I really appreciate about Nate is that while he is being a goof and yes, getting in trouble, he’s actually not a bad kid. He decides against some actions, and while his others are often ill-advised, they aren’t hurtful. it is all very funny, but the kind of gross-out humour that defined Captain Underpants, say, is kept pretty minimal. The cartoons and drawings, meanwhile, are terrific, and the mix of graphic and text elements make this feel more accessible even to reluctant readers.

Want to see for yourself, or run this by your picky reader? Take a look at this Browse Inside feature, which displays the first couple of chapters!

Big Nate Strikes Again
by Lincoln Pierce
Harper
ISBN: 978 0 06 194436 9
Audience: grades 3-6

Big Nate returns for another round in this second book. This time, he finds himself on two teams: a fleeceball team, which he loves (he’s even captain!), and a class project team, which he hates intensely – mostly because he got stuck with his archnemesis, Gina, who also just happens to be on his fleeceball team.

Gina a Nate each threaten to derail the other’s plans for greatness, and so they strike a deal to stick to what they do best, and let the other person off the hook. It’s working fine, until the last day, when disaster nearly strikes twice, but the lame duck partners both turn out to have something to contribute after all.

Yes, there is a bit of a lesson there, but not one that kids will feel is being rammed down their throat, and with everything turning out well but no cheesy new-found friendship to ruin it, it hits a good note. that, and there are still plenty of laughs to be had along the way.

As with the first book, Harper has put a good chunk of this online for browsing, here.

Loving Big Nate? Look for his further adventures in Big Nate: From the Top and keep your eyes open for more Nate coming later this year.