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A silly story that is sure to keep you laughing from cover to cover! At Ella Mentry School, all the grownups are quite weird in their own way, especially the new PTA president! What could possibly go wrong? Good news– this is the first book in a large series!

Children would probably find this book entertaining and humorous. As for me, I did not. I didn't like a portion of the book where Arlo talks about assassination attempts on the PTA president.

I would not use this book or recommend it due to inappropriate and negative comments. ( )

Gutman has a sense of humor that I can appreciate! I enjoy Arlo's side comments when taking everything so literally. For example when Ryan states his mom goes overboard and Arlo makes reference to going overboard on a ship. I know my patrons like these books a lot! This series of books with Arlo could be used in different curricular areas, but this book in particular could be used to introduce creative writing. Arlo exaggerates quite a bit and that could be a fun jump off to a writing activity.

This is the first of a series of chapter books that is very popular among fifth graders. The text is perfect for the fifth grade level. It is not too easy but not too difficult. It is a story about what takes place in a second graders mind and explains the way that a lot of young children think. It covers different characters who are different from one another. This book covers A.J and his friends adventures towards graduating second grade and moving on to third grade. However, the transition is not as smooth as many would suspect. This book would be a good choice for humor but hopefully A.J's attitude towards school does not reflect onto the readers. ( )