The Best School Year Ever
Author & Illustrator: Barbara Robinson
Publisher: Scholastic
Year of Publication: 1994
Genre: Comedy & Humor, Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Review rating: Hornbook Rating of a 2 & a Kirkus Starred Review.
Summary: The Best School Year Ever is a chapter book about the worst kids in the world. The Herdmans are six kids that are nothing but trouble. They attend Woodrow Wilson Elementary School where they are the most famous kids. Whenever anything goes wrong at the Elementary School the Herdmans are likely to be behind it. From the curse of bus six to the disappearance of the gerbil in the Kindergarten classroom. The six kids smoke cigars, they lie constantly, set things on fire. They only come to school when they know they can cause trouble, if they can’t they don’t bother attending school. Even though the Herdman kids cause a lot of trouble their classmates are forced to come up with a compliment about them for a class project in the book.
Summary of Professional Reviews: According to Horn Book Reviews, The Best School Year Ever received a rating of a 2. The review informs the audience of yet another humorous adventure of the Herdman kids. Beth a main character in the book is highly worried about an assignment “ Compliments for Classmates” because it links her to Imogene Herdman, who steals, and lies. The author of the book is Barbara Robinson. She has created another book involving these six kids called ‘ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’. The review emphasizes on the class assignment that makes Beth utterly worried about what her classmates think of her.
Review by Sasha Ishak: The Best School Year Ever is a wonderful book full of caous and adventure that involve the worst kids at Woodrow Elementary School. The Six siblings from another story “ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” caused trouble once again. The six children are the most popular students but also the most troublesome. Throughout the book the six kids do anything to cause problems at their elementary school. The Best School Year Ever is a hilarious book that children are bound to enjoy. The children in the book know that if there is trouble in the school the Herdman kids are indeed behind it. This funny book informs the reader of the mischief the kids are creating with their pranks, and their crazy animals that are destructive. Even though they create these pranks, they do not create one that is not worse than the other. The word choice in this text is very inviting and most importantly very funny. It keeps the reader engaged, and it keeps them laughing throughout the school year in this wonderful book. The photograph that is included on the front cover definitely is what the book is really about. The author has the title as “ The Best School Year Ever” but the author has crossed of “best” word with “worst”. This informs the reader that this book is indeed about trouble at Woodrow Elementary School. The size of the text in the book is very legible for young readers, it is not too small, or too large. The overall text in this chapter book is very inviting to the reader because it keeps them entertained.
This book would be useful when teaching... The Best School Year Ever can be used in grade four to teach children about the importance of behavior in school, and what their classmates might think of them when they misbehave. A Language Arts teacher can read a chapter out of this book every class period, explaining the importance of behavior and why school is so important. In addition to using this book as a read aloud at the beginning of a school day, he/she can also extend this into a daily lesson when the book is complete. The teacher can have the students reread the chapter when the teacher assigns the project involving the students creating a compliment about each of their classmates. After rereading this chapter, the teacher can have the students create a replica project just as in the book. This allows students to practice on their writing skills while formally creating a text representing their classmates.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ( The first book involving the adventures of the Herdman kids)
Publisher: Scholastic
Year of Publication: 1994
Genre: Comedy & Humor, Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Review rating: Hornbook Rating of a 2 & a Kirkus Starred Review.
Summary: The Best School Year Ever is a chapter book about the worst kids in the world. The Herdmans are six kids that are nothing but trouble. They attend Woodrow Wilson Elementary School where they are the most famous kids. Whenever anything goes wrong at the Elementary School the Herdmans are likely to be behind it. From the curse of bus six to the disappearance of the gerbil in the Kindergarten classroom. The six kids smoke cigars, they lie constantly, set things on fire. They only come to school when they know they can cause trouble, if they can’t they don’t bother attending school. Even though the Herdman kids cause a lot of trouble their classmates are forced to come up with a compliment about them for a class project in the book.
Summary of Professional Reviews: According to Horn Book Reviews, The Best School Year Ever received a rating of a 2. The review informs the audience of yet another humorous adventure of the Herdman kids. Beth a main character in the book is highly worried about an assignment “ Compliments for Classmates” because it links her to Imogene Herdman, who steals, and lies. The author of the book is Barbara Robinson. She has created another book involving these six kids called ‘ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’. The review emphasizes on the class assignment that makes Beth utterly worried about what her classmates think of her.
Review by Sasha Ishak: The Best School Year Ever is a wonderful book full of caous and adventure that involve the worst kids at Woodrow Elementary School. The Six siblings from another story “ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” caused trouble once again. The six children are the most popular students but also the most troublesome. Throughout the book the six kids do anything to cause problems at their elementary school. The Best School Year Ever is a hilarious book that children are bound to enjoy. The children in the book know that if there is trouble in the school the Herdman kids are indeed behind it. This funny book informs the reader of the mischief the kids are creating with their pranks, and their crazy animals that are destructive. Even though they create these pranks, they do not create one that is not worse than the other. The word choice in this text is very inviting and most importantly very funny. It keeps the reader engaged, and it keeps them laughing throughout the school year in this wonderful book. The photograph that is included on the front cover definitely is what the book is really about. The author has the title as “ The Best School Year Ever” but the author has crossed of “best” word with “worst”. This informs the reader that this book is indeed about trouble at Woodrow Elementary School. The size of the text in the book is very legible for young readers, it is not too small, or too large. The overall text in this chapter book is very inviting to the reader because it keeps them entertained.
This book would be useful when teaching... The Best School Year Ever can be used in grade four to teach children about the importance of behavior in school, and what their classmates might think of them when they misbehave. A Language Arts teacher can read a chapter out of this book every class period, explaining the importance of behavior and why school is so important. In addition to using this book as a read aloud at the beginning of a school day, he/she can also extend this into a daily lesson when the book is complete. The teacher can have the students reread the chapter when the teacher assigns the project involving the students creating a compliment about each of their classmates. After rereading this chapter, the teacher can have the students create a replica project just as in the book. This allows students to practice on their writing skills while formally creating a text representing their classmates.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ( The first book involving the adventures of the Herdman kids)