Customer Reviews

The Best School Year Ever

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The six Herdmans are back in this hilarious sequel of Best Christmas Pageant ever.

The main characters, Beth Bradley (the narrator) and Imogene Herdman (second oldest Herdman) are both in sixth grade. The class is given an yearlong assignment "compliments for Classmates" and Beth begins to worry immediatedly. How can she possibly compliment the second-meanest girl she knows (Gladys is meaner)?

Each chapter is about a little "crime" the Herdmans do this school year, and those "crimes", oddly enough, help Beth to understand that there is far more in Imogene than meanness and mischieve, she is in fact very intelligent and probably has a very loving heart underneath her tough-girl attitude. Readers learn that there's good in everyone, even in bullies.

Barbara Robinson does a fine job writing this story. Kids see a funny story, the older ones see a funny story with a serious undertone. Everyone has let the Herdmans down: their father abandoning them, their mother neglecting them, social workers not doing their job, teachers letting them pass grades even though they don't learn anything, adults in town who are too uptight to realize the real reason behind the childrens' bad behaviour. They've practically raised each other since their parents seem to be pretty useless, and feel insecure in the company of well-bred, neat children with a stay-at-home mom etc. They bully the other children to protect themselves and each other, and figure negative attention is better than no attention.

You can only hope something og someone will help them put of their misery, but not until after a few more sequels ;)

This book is truly the best book ever. If I could I would rate this book up to 1 million. I like this book because it's about how a family called the Herdmans always gets in trouble or is just up to no good. I also like the book because it's split up into stories about the Herdmans. My favorite one was when a kid got his head stuck in a bike rack and one of the Herdmans named Gladys said they were going to cut his ears off to get him out. Then when the teachers called the fire department they shouted out the window,"They're coming to cut you loose." I thought that was so funny. I would read this book if I were you to get some great laughs. You heard it from me and the whole world.
From,
Joanna

This follows THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER, again told by Beth and focusing on the Herdman clan. Beth is now in the 6th grade at Woodrow Wilson Elementary and of course, once again Imogene Herdman is a classmate. There is a Herdman for each grade, 6 in all, and even though they never do assignments or seem to learn anything they are always promoted to the next grade. Beth's father offers a theory that the faculty at Woodrow Wilson have a clause in their contracts assuring that there will be only one Herdman per class.

There Herdmans hold the school and perhaps even the community in terror with their misdeeds. Beth relates their adventures for the year including kidnapping someone's little brother, 'tattoing' his bald head with magic marker, destroying a school assembly, taking over a school bus, and probably causing an epidemic of chicken pox to name but a few. Hanging over Beth's head is the year long assignment given the first day of school - to find a compliment for each classmate and several for one classmate in particular. Beth's special assignment is Imogene. As Beth struggles to find honest nice things to say about Imogene she begins to see new qualities in her classmate and by the end of the year has begun to develop insights far beyond her years.

This book is hysterically funny. Not funny in the sense that it causes the reader to smile or chuckle but rather funny as in laughing out loud to the point of tears. Beth's matter-of-fact descriptions of the Herdman capers are delivered with a delightfully wry sense of humor.

The reading level for this book is listed as 3-6 but the interest level is much greater. A younger child would be able to follow and enjoy being read this short novel and an adult (like this one) would find this hilarious. Buy this to encourage a reluctant read, buy this to become somebody's favorite aunt or uncle, buy this distract a sick child or - well whatever excuse you can come up with buy this book but remember to get it far enough in advance to allow yourself time to read it first.

This book is about a family that is very bad and very sneaky. Their name is the Herdmans. They lie and steal. No one in town likes them. And no one in town wants to be with them. Because you never now what they will do to you. Their town just opened a new Landry mat. They hoped that the Herdmans don't come. Because is they do the will probably just ruin it. But shire enough, they came. And they came to wash their cat in the mashings. But all they did was ruin the whole store. And now there is a mad cat running all over the town. There school is planning to have a play with a brunch at the end of it, but they are worried about the Herdmans. They might steel all the food and ruin the whole play. What will they do next?

This book was pretty good it is not the best book in the world. I have read better. But, I liked it.

If You want a good laugh then read The Best School Year Ever. This book is about a family called the Herdmans. They alwats do bad things from kiddnapping a babby named Howard to ruining fire prevention week.

By:Nick

Beth said it was her best school year ever, but it was her worst school year ever.She was good, but the Herdman's kids were bad.The Herdman's were a family with 6 kids, and they were always getting into trouble.This was the funniest book I ever read. In one part,the Herdman's stole a baby named Howard and put marker on his head. But my favorite part was when Eugene,a little first grader, was smashing walnuts on his head because Gladys made him do it for the school talent show. I think you should read this book. It is the best book I have ever read.

Our fourth grade class really enjoyed starting our year with the crazy Herdmans! It made us laugh out loud and learn to appreciate differences in others. It simply rocked!

This is a book that I would recommend for everyone to read.It was very exiting from the begining.There's this girl who hates the school she goes to because the HERDMANS go there.The Herdmans are the worst kids in the world.They do everything they can to destroy other people.One time, one of the Herdmans had gotten one of the 6th graders and stuck there head in the bike racket and the poor kid couldn't get his head out.Once you start reading this book you can't STOP!I would really recommend you to read it.

fiction
In the Herdman family there were six children and no one liked them and they were all very distructive. one student named Brenda had to write a class assigment about a Herdman. It took her all year to find the perfect compliment.
What I liked most about the was how funny the Herdmans were.
I didn't like a girl named Alice because she was a brat.
My favorite character was Imogene because I thought the things she did were funny such asputting the cat in the washing to clean it
pg.113 Brenda giving compliments about herself.I had to come up with compliments for my teachers on teachers day
I would say the book is entertaining and funny
My strongest reason for recominding this book is it keeps the reader interested the whole book

I though that this book was a great book. So far this is the best book i've during the school year. I would reccomend this book to anyone from ages 9-12.

by Macy raimo