Customer Reviews

Jake Drake: Know-It-All

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My 3rd grade son just read this book and LOVED it. It introduced him to how a science fair works and taught him about the scientific method - observation, question, hypothesis, method, result, conclusion. However, this wasn't just a dull science story. The author uses a lot of humor and there were several underlying themes in the story.

Jake Drake really wants to win first prize (a Hyper-Cross-Functional Bluntium Twelve Computer System)at the science fair. To do so, he shuns his best friend who wants to be his partner on the project because Jake doesn't want to share the prize. When his friend decides to drop out of the contest because the class "know-it-alls" have been flaunting their projects and he knows he won't win, Jake realizes that he's not having fun working alone on his project and invites his friend to be his partner. Suddenly, the project becomes fun and winning doesn't seem to matter any more. The result...sorry, you'll have to read the book!

I read the book Jake Drake Know-it all.
I thought that this book was a ok book .I think that the story line is a little bit young of a book for a kid my age it is more for kids from 6 to 8 years old that like science math and and computers and is a pretty good reader and speller. This book is about a kid that love's computer.

I read this one sitting with my 6 1/2 and 9 year old boys. The 4 year old sat through it, too. We homeschool so the whole business about school and school work and projects kept them thinking. There was interesting information about the scientific process, as well as discussion about feelings and issues in school, friendship and being connected rather than isolated. Good stuff. Keep in mind that it is for readers starting with chapter books, so it is meant to be on that level. It is good for what it is. We ordered the other books as well.

Jake, a third-grader, has never been a know-it-all like his classmates Marsha and Kevin. Marsha and Kevin are the kinds of kids who always have to know everything and always have to have their hands up first to answer every question. They act like school is a game show and they have to win. But now there is something to actually win. There is going to be a science fair for kids in third, fourth and fifth grade, with a prize for the winner in each grade. The prize is something Jake has dreamed about--the best new computer system on the market. Jake has never been a know-it-all but he just has to have that computer.

So, for the first time, Jake decides to compete with the kids like Marsha and Kevin. He comes up with a science fair project and decides not to work with his best friend Willie, because then they would have to share the computer if they won. Jake spends most of his Christmas vacation working on his project and finds out in a lot of ways that being a know-it-all is hard work and not very much fun.

Then Jake finds out that Willie and a lot of other kids are dropping out of the science fair because they are intimidated by Kevin and Marsha and they don't think they can possibly win. Jake starts to think about his own behavior and decides he hasn't liked the way he's been acting, but will he risk losing the science fair to be a nicer person?

I liked that there were no real enemies in this book. Kevin and Marsha were annoying and made Jake mad, but they weren't really bad or mean; they were just being kids. I liked that Jake was able to resist the temptation to have his father help him with his project. I don't know if Jake's reactions or Kevin's reactions at the end of the story were realistic.

I thought this would be perfect for our son considering he thinks he knows everything.