Strikes Again

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.)

January 1, 2011
Nate (Big Nate) is partnered with grade-grubbing archnemesis Gina Hemphill-Toms for a research paper. Peirce gets the details of a sixth-grade boy just right: the humiliation of first love, monotony of school, relentlessness of bullies, etc. The angst is tempered by Nate's talent for making hilarious lists and drawing comics. Even the most jaded middle-grader will find much to laugh about here.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2010
Fans of Big Nate (rev. 7/10) will not be disappointed in the second book about Nate's continuing trials. Peirce gets all the details of a sixth-grade boy just right: the humiliation of first love and first hate, the monotony of school, the importance of sports, the relentlessness of bullies, and the goofiness of best friends. Nate is still smitten with the unattainable Jenny, but he also has a new woman in his life, grade-grubbing archnemesis Gina Hemphill-Toms. They are brought together by the fates and Mrs. Godfrey, who assigns them to be partners for a research paper about Ben Franklin. Gina worries that her A+ average is in jeopardy, and Nate worries that his fleeceball team might lose the Spoffy tournament or that he might die of embarrassment because Gina named the team the Kuddle Kittens. All this angst is tempered by Nate's talent for making hilarious lists and drawing comics. Though the final Ben Franklin presentation and fleeceball tournament come to a predictable end, readers learn that Gina is more than just a grade grubber and that Nate has some academic chops himself. Even the most jaded middle-schooler will find much to laugh about here. robin l. smith

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)