Carlos Is Gonna Get It [Hardcover]

Kevin Emerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2008 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Your friends on one side. This weird kid on the other. A great plan in the making. A new friendship growing.
What would *you* do?

How strange is Carlos? REALLY strange. He scratches himself all the time, and he talks about aliens in this weird shaky voice, and he breaks up the class and gets everyone else in trouble when it's *his* fault he's such a freak.
So Trina, Donte, Thea, Sara, and Frankie decide to use the upcoming 7th-grade class trip to "get" Carlos and scare him into acting normal. But when Trina has to work with Carlos on a class project, she discovers both his sweetness and the full extent of his troubles. Will she pull out of the plan or go through with it? And what will happen if--when--Carlos gets it?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–6—Trina and her seventh-grade classmates organize a trick against Carlos, their special-needs classmate with big hair, a squeaky voice, and scratching issues. Trina uncovers his fear of aliens after being partnered with him for a school project, and the pranksters plan an extraterrestrial encounter for him during their class's wilderness excursion. As Trina gets to know Carlos, she begins second-guessing herself, especially since Sara, her best friend, has grown distant. Emerson fully explores some characters only to leave others languishing. Trina's anger and embarrassment after her in-class humiliation because of an accident Carlos causes becomes almost visceral, and readers will be shocked at how well they identify with her in that moment. They will commiserate with the students over the perceived favoritism that Carlos receives. The suspenseful forest scene in which the plan goes awry and the children become lost stirs the primeval fears of cold and dark, and generates empathy for both the pranksters and the victim. However, the author allows too much action to occur offstage, and there's not enough information about Carlos's unspecified disorder to understand him or the teachers' treatment of him. Still, this tale can illustrate the consequences of one's actions and provides comfort to those who are waiting for the pranks to end.—Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* The jungle of middle-school peer pressure is the setting of this gripping story about seventh-graders in Boston who gang up on their troubled classmate, Carlos. The story is told from the viewpoint of Trina, a nice, smart African American girl who does not want to hurt Carlos, but she cannot stand up to her friends who bully him. Then she is appointed to be his partner in a science project, and she learns his secrets, especially his fear of “aliens.” The class uses the information to plan a trick even asTrina discovers that she cares for Carlos. The author is a middle-grade teacher, and he perfectly captures the classroom power struggles of friends and enemies, as well as the terror of being an outsider if you don’t go along with the group. The dialogue is right on, as is the hurt of betrayal and the guilt that cannot be resolved. In the exciting climax, the class plays their prank during a lightning storm in the mountains, and the setting is part of the drama as a city kid discovers the sense of space on the mountaintop and the feeling of being a giant and a speck at the same time. Grades 4-7. --Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books; 1 edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439935253
• ISBN-13: 978-0439935258
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

About

Kevin is the author of the OLIVER NOCTURNE series and CARLOS IS GONNA GET IT. His next novel, THE LOST CODE, the first book in the Atlanteans series, comes out in May 2012 with Katherine Tegen Books. His next middle grade novel, THE FELLOWSHIP FOR ALIEN DETECTION, comes out in January 2013 with Walden Pond Press.

Kevin is also a musician. His current project is THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, where he writes imaginative, poppy songs about elementary school and life in the spirit of Schoolhouse Rock.

A former elementary school science teacher, Kevin continues to work with kids and teens at 826 Seattle, Richard Hugo House, and with the Writers in the Schools program of Seattle Arts and Lectures.

Kevin grew up in Cheshire, CT, where he wrote stories all the time, played in the marching and jazz bands, and ran track. One time, he won a spelling bee, prevailing over his ex-girlfriend in the final round. Another time, as a contestant in the Mr. Cheshire pageant (a benefit: not a real pageant), Kevin chose to wear an actual suit of armor as his 'formal wear.' He didn't win.

Kevin went to Colby College in Waterville, ME. As a sophomore, he was excited to begin the creative writing program, but instead was given his alternate class: Painting. He ended up loving painting and kept writing stories on his own. He also played in the jazz ensemble, and sang in the Chorale, and ended up majoring in Biology. He spent a semester in Kenya studying wildlife conservation.

Kevin moved to Boston after college, where he briefly worked as a bank teller, and then as a camp counselor, before getting a job as an elementary school science teacher (and he found that he loved teaching!). He kept writing stories, and kept playing in bands. While he was teaching, he got excited about books for young readers, and set out to write his own. He had two near-misses, and his third manuscript, CARLOS IS GONNA GET IT, landed him his first book deal.

Now living in Seattle, Kevin is still writing stories, playing in bands, and teaching.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, September 25, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carlos Is Gonna Get It (Hardcover)

Have you ever had that voice in the back of your head telling you not to do something...that it wasn't a good idea and only trouble could come of following through with the act?

Well, Trina has that voice -- or guilt demon.

Carlos is a small and annoying boy in class who always acts out to get attention but never gets in trouble. One day, Trina's friends decide that they're going to pull the ultimate prank on Carlos on an upcoming overnight trip. Trina goes along for the ride, but she quickly discovers that the guilt demon and her budding friendship with Carlos could get in the way of the prank.

This entertaining yet serious book follows a young girl as she battles internally between right and wrong. Trina must decide whether to go through with the prank -- to succumb to her friends and peer pressure -- or to back down and help Carlos, a boy who is desperately in need of a friend.

Emerson writes an interesting story that gets readers to feel for this alienated boy (Carlos) and the troubled protagonist and narrator (Trina). He shows the reality of cause and effect -- of the consequences of one's actions. He also shows through this moving story that missed chances are a person's greatest regret.

Reviewed by: Steph

5.0 out of 5 stars Reasons to read this book:, May 16, 2009

By 

A. Goetz "barefoot phoenix" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carlos Is Gonna Get It (Hardcover)

1)This book brilliantly captures the trials of being stuck in junior high.
2)It tackles the internal drama of what you believe is right vs what you think you need to do to fit in.
3)Tricia and her internal conflict as she wanders the grounds between friendship, peer-pressure and "understanding" the weird guy
4)Aliens!
5)Messes in the science room
6)Bathtubs!
7)Overnight Field trip

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Count Carlos In, April 18, 2009

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Carlos Is Gonna Get It (Hardcover)

Trina is a smart, savvy 6th-grader who lives in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She has a few close friends who band together and who have found a regular after school meeting place in some abandoned bathtubs behind an equally abandoned warehouse. It is in these tubs where Trina and her friends brainstorm to solve what they view as the Carlos problems.

Carlos, an extremely small classmate who suffers from mental illness. He believes aliens are talking to him and he is often found scratching himself. (It has been reported that people with more severe forms of schizophrenia experience a "crawling" sensation on their skin). His verbalizations are bizarre and his ideations do not fit reality. Trina and the other kids feel Carlos is looking for attention in addition to being just plain strange. Carlos leaves class to see the school psychologist.

Trina's conscience or "guilt demon" as she calls it, urges her to be more tolerant of her very strange classmate. In fact, her guilt demon kicks her into high gear when her friends talk about finding a way to "get" Carlos.

Matters reach a head when Trina is paired with Carlos as science partners. Trina, too embarrassed to invite Carlos to her home, insists on going to his home. She also tries to be as inconspicuous as possible as she is embarrassed to be seen with Carlos.

Carlos' house is as disorganized as his thinking. Pans of partially cooked food sit untouched on counters; laundry, clean and dirty alike is allowed to pile up on the floor or on the furniture in Carlos' room. His preschool sister, Kasey appears to have serious problems as well. Kasey is nonverbal and chews the heads off of her dolls. Carlos collects the heads and puts them in his aquarium, where he insists they are aliens and that aliens communicate through him.

After a botched presentation and more bizarre behavior from Carlos, Trina ignores her "guilt demon" and joins forces with her classmates in finding a way to get their strange classmate. It is on a class trip to New Hampshire that Trina has to make what she finds are some major decisions and in so doing learns a lot about herself as well as her classmates, including Carlos.

A brilliant work about a psychotic boy and a school that has done well by including him. The characters are richly drawn and realistic; the writing is sharp and cutting edge. The extreme lessons Carlos' classmates learn regarding actions and consequences will stay with readers for a lifetime.

This is a good companion book to Inside Out