Book Guides: Fourth Grade Rats [Paperback]

Jerry Spinelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2003

Includes a book summary, author information, vocabulary-builders, discussion questions, reproducible graphic organizers and writing activities, and effective management ideas for whole class, small group, and independent instruction! 8-1/2" x 11" Grade 3-5

Product Details

• Paperback: 16 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439572258
• ISBN-13: 978-0439572255
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,878,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Growing up, Jerry Spinelli was really serious about baseball. He played for the Green Sox Little League team in his hometown of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and dreamed of one day playing for the major leagues, preferably as shortstop for the New York Yankees.

One night during high school, Spinelli watched the football team win an exciting game against one of the best teams in the country. While everyone else rode about town tooting horns in celebration, Spinelli went home and wrote "Goal to Go," a poem about the game's defining moment, a goal-line stand. His father submitted the poem to the Norristown Times-Herald and it was featured in the middle of the sports page a few days later. He then traded in his baseball bat for a pencil, because he knew that he wanted to become a writer.

After graduating from Gettysburg College with an English degree, Spinelli worked full time as a magazine editor. Every day on his lunch hour, he would close his office door and craft novels on yellow magazine copy paper. He wrote four adult novels in 12 years of lunchtime writing, but none of these were accepted for publication. When he submitted a fifth novel about a 13-year-old boy, adult publishers once again rejected his work, but children's publishers embraced it. Spinelli feels that he accidentally became an author of children's books.

Spinelli's hilarious books entertain both children and young adults. Readers see his life in his autobiography Knots in My Yo-Yo String, as well as in his fiction. Crash came out of his desire to include the beloved Penn Relays of his home state of Pennsylvania in a book, while Maniac Magee is set in a fictional town based on his own hometown.

When asked if he does research for his writing, Spinelli says: "The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that I seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first 15 years of my life turned out to be one big research project. I thought I was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now I can see that I was also gathering material that would one day find its way into my books."

On inspiration, the author says: "Ideas come from ordinary, everyday life. And from imagination. And from feelings. And from memories. Memories of dust in my sneakers and humming whitewalls down a hill called Monkey."

Spinelli lives with his wife and fellow writer, Eileen, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. While they write in separate rooms of the house, the couple edits and celebrates one another's work. Their six children have given Jerry Spinelli a plethora of clever material for his writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is one of the best!, November 18, 2001

By 

A 10-year old reader (miami Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fourth Grade Rats (Apple Paperbacks) (Paperback)

This is a comedy book.
The setting of the story takes place at the characters house and in the swings at the school playground. That's where the story starts. The main characters names are Suds and Joey. Suds likes taking a bath when he has a problem. Joey likes to act cool! Like a rat. He wants to get Suds to do the same things as him. The other little character is Judy Billings. She is a big show off and will go for any tough guy. (Suds likes her.)

The story begins at the school playground where first graders teased fourth graders by saying they were rats. Every body felt bad to be a rat, except joey, he was proud to be one. He said it was the first step to become a man. That's when the problem starts. Joey wanted suds to be a rat too. Joey was telling him to say no to his mother, eat baloney, push little kids around, and not to be scared to what suds is scared of most, spiders. (suds doesn't like the sound of that.)

The resolution to the problem happened when Joey's mother went to Suds house and told him that Joey shouldn't have pushed him into the rat stuff, and that he was dropping out of the rat race and joining the human race again. finally the story ends when Suds tells his mother a conffession: that the last few days that he was a rat it was all him, without Joey telling him to do so. Or making him do it. At first Joey was the one pushing him to do the things. After it was just him doing them.

I recommend this book because I like comedy books. Dialogues between characters are funny.
I enjoyed this book very much. This book will show you not to follow what you think doesn't sound to good and to be a leader, not a follower just because you think the person who you are following is cool!

This book is one of the best! Only now be a follower and get the book and read it!

Alex

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Major Life Lesson, Beautifully Told, September 24, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Fourth Grade Rats (Apple Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Jerry Spinelli unfolds a basic story and sprinkles humor, love, detail, and a major life lesson. Fourth Grade Rats is a book about a ten-year-old named Suds who is in fourth grade. According to the rhyme, "First grade babies, second grade cats, third grade angels, fourth grade rats", he is now supposed to be a rat. However, it isn't like him that he should steal first and second graders Twinkies, throw them off the swings, say "no" to his mom, and mess up his room, but his best friend, Joey Peterson, thinks otherwise. He tells him to get rid of his flying elephant lunchbox, eat bologna sandwiches instead of peanut butter and jelly, and to steal Twinkies and kick little kids off swings. His love, Judy Billings, goes after Joey when a bee lands on his arm and stings him--and he doesn't even cry. The major life lesson is don't let anybody pressure you into doing anything you don't want to do. I loved this book because of its major life lesson, and its detail. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fourth Grade Rats, January 7, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Fourth Grade Rats (Apple Paperbacks) (Paperback)

I think that Jerry Spinelli is a great writer. I gave him that many stars because he described his characters. The book was about these two boys who were angels in the Third Grade At the beginning of the story the third graders were walking around the playground saying a chant. When they approach Suds and Joey they yelled out loud, fourth grade rats. Suds said to Joey I wish I were a third grade angel, while standing at the monkey bars with Joey. Joey said to Suds I don't wish I were a third grade angle; I've waited my whole third grade year to be a fourth grade rat.

In the middle of the story Suds and Joey stared to change. Joey started by keeping his room messy, also when he was stung by a bee he didn't cry, and started saying no to his mom. Suds started to be mean, he didn't cry any more, and he stared saying no to him mom also.

At the end, suds were stuck in a tree, when his mom called him in to eat dinner she had heard him yelling mom. She came outside and saw that he was stuck in the tree. His father brought a ladder to help him get down. When they went into the house he told his mom how sorry he was for being rude to her. Joey came over later and apologized to Suds for pushing him to be a rat, and telling him to say no to his mom. Joey an Suds stayed good friends

I gave it 5 stars because I thought the book was interesting and it taught me a lesson that you don't have to change to fit in.