Customer Reviews

No More Dead Dogs

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book is creative, funny, and well-written.
I have read this book several times, and it never got boring. There is never a dull moment with NO MORE DEAD DOGS in your hands.
Wallace Wallace, the star football player that isn't any good, is in detention for writing a bad but truthful book report. He refuses to write one that praises the book ( Old Shep, My Pal), because it isn't truthful. There is a play about the book, but it's being sabatoged. Is Wallace Wallace getting revenge, or is he being framed?
From rollerblading dogcatchers to cherry bombs in stuffed animals, from cover to cover, NO MORE DEAD DOGS is nothing but laughs. Recommended for anyone ages 6-104 that likes a good laugh and a great book.

This is one of the most hilarious books I have EVER read! I laughed so hard I wiped tears of laughter out of my eyes. One thing I caught was that although the story was set in 2000, the date "Saturday, November 21" was given and November 21 was a Saturday in 1998!

Wallace Wallace, the unfortunately one-named 8th-grade protagonist lives by the "honesty is the best policy" credo. Some of his honest observations, while insulting to the recipients are hilariously articulate. For example, he tells a neighbor that her "light fluffy cake" tastes like "vacuum cleaner lint" and the icing reminds him of antifreeze. His cousin's clarinet playing sounds like "somebody strangling a duck." That was just TOO funny!

So are his observations of the maudlin story about Old Shep, a story about the death of a German shepherd. Wallace tells his English teacher (and later play director) that he dislikes the story and that "any book with an award medal on it and a picture of a dog" always has a canine casualty. He and his classmates list several books, including "Sounder" and "Old Yeller." Point made, Wallace is in the dog house with his English teacher. He has to serve detention, which means he cannot participate on the football team.

All right, Wallace grimly accepts that punishment. To cap it off, he has to attend rehearsals of the play "Old Shep" and write a review of the book. His review is scathingly honest and in true Wallace Wallace form, a riot. I laughed so hard at his reviews and observations!

Once committed to the play, Wallace makes many valid suggestions to make it more palatable and plausible. He insists on doing away with the stilted, somewhat implausible lines; he points out details that he feels a modern audience won't buy. His revisions include opening the play with witnessing a toy dog being run over by a motorcycle (a moped for safety's sake), rollerbladers; a punchy garage band and a believable, updated script. Even his nemesis, the redoubtable Mr. F., the English teacher/play director is reluctantly captivated by Wallace's progressive thinking. The clincher was when several boys, members of a garage band called the Dead Mangoes implore Mr. F. to play with them. Mr. F. and the boys, including the Beatle coiffed Myron "The Void" Muckenfusser have a rollicking good time jamming and getting some fun catchy tunes ready for the play. Beatle themes are subtly included, such as the description of Wallace's former best friend's hair as a Moptop and Myron's Beatle inspired locks. I loved that!

Despite the fun, someone is trying to sabatoge the play. Wallace is at the top of everybody's short list, but is he really the one? There are actually other suspects and the list grows until the smash finale prior to the final curtain.

This book is a keeper!

This is a snappy, personable read; the characters are interesting (although some are a bit one-dimensional) and the author moves the plot along briskly by maintaining the humor and casual speech that keeps the book grounded even as he sifts the focus from one character to another. The plot has been summarized elsewhere quite nicely, so I'd like to discuss some of the larger ideas the book explores. Having been a "drama nerd," I liked the way the author portrays their earnestness-- they may be a little out of it, but they are well-intentioned and ultimately likeable. I also liked the unrelenting honesty of Wallace Wallace, and the way he deals with the hero worship that he feels is unearned-- worship that serves only to trip him up at every turn. Finally, I enjoyed the portrayal of friendships, both "fair-weather" and true-- any adolescent can instantly connect with both the injustice of the former and the value of the latter, and the concluding affirmation of honesty leaves the reader feeling good about the story as a whole. Not to detract from the lessons to be learned from dead dogs, but it's nice to see characters learn from positive experiences too!

Wallace Wallace, a football star of Bedford Middle School, was given detention because he wouldn't write a favorable book review for Old Shep, My Pal. He couldn't write a positive book review of Old Shep, My Pal because he couldn't tell a lie, and he absolutely hated the book. His English teacher, Mr. Fogelman, who had given him the detention, also happened to be the director of the upcoming play of Old Shep, My Pal. This detention prevented him from playing football with his school team. Instead, he had to wait around the gym during the practices and rehearsals of the play. Wallace began to supply both the actors and actresses and the backstage crew with suggestions. They happily took his proposals, and eventually made him the other director of the play. He changed the play from a regular, peaceful show, to an exciting and thrilling, sold-out performance!
With all the problems and conflicts along the way, the book turns out to be suspenseful and interesting. In addition, it is very entertaining and humorous, due to the fact that the situations and experiences are realistic and can be related to in many ways. The title of this book comes from one of the lines that Wallace says during the book, "Because the dog always dies." His last suggestion for the play is that the dog shouldn't die. If you want to find out if the drama students used his last suggestion, you should read this book.
Throughout the story, the characters deal with problems that any middle school student could face. If you are in middle school, and you enjoy reading books that that describe situations that are similar to ones that you have experienced, you will appreciate this book.

Here is a great book for those boys who don't want to read fantasy, adventure or sports books. This book is about a boy who writes a bookreport for his class assignment. His report pans the book and he finds out that not only does his teacher love the book ... but... the teacher is producing the play. His punishment for writing this bookreport is to work on the play until he can write what the teacher feels is a proper report. This pulls him off the football team. He is no football player but due to really not knowing what he was doing last year, he accidentally scored a winning touch down and became a football hero. I laughed while reading this book - you will, too.

In "No more Dead Dogs" Wallace Wallace is in detention for writing a bad book review on "old shep my pal". Wallace can not write a good review because Wallace Wallace never lies. He was a Football Hero, scoring the last touchdown in the playoff game, that won the championship for the Giants. Everybody in school thinks he's a Hero except for Cavanaugh (exbest friend) and Rachel Turner (drama club leader). Mr Floggleman (English teacher) is the teacher who put Wallace in Detention and is director of the Play "Old Shep My Pal". Wallace is stuck in the Gym on detention and makes changes to the play to make it more interesting. Because of his detention Wallace can not play on the football team. Many attacks on the play give suspision that Wallace did it. Trudy Davis (co-actress) is interested in Wallace. She sticks up for him everytime. Will Wallace ever get out of Detention? Will the Play ever happen? Will Trudy and Wallace fall in Love? These are good questions to find out read the book.

No More Dead Dogs, by Gordon Korman, is a humorous tale of Wallace Wallace. The plot shows Wallace as a student football star who doesn't really care about his schoolwork. His teacher gives the class an assignment to read and write a report on Old Shep, My Pal, which is the teacher's favorite book. When Wallace turns in a poorly written report, the teacher gives him detetion until he writes a satisfactory report. Wallace now is forced to miss football practice numerous times because he refuses to write another report. In detention, Wallace must sit and watch rehearsals of the school play, which just so happens to be from the book, Old Shep, My Pal, and directed by his teacher. At first, Wallace makes fun of the cast, and their work, but in the end, he helps the cast with the play's props and production. Gordon Korman has a humorous informal style of writing. The novel captures the very mind of typical pre-adolescent children.

This is a hilarious story about Wallace Wallace, a middle school boy who will not tell a lie...even to be polite. He gets detention when he writes a terrible review for his English teacher's favorite book (which ends with a dead dog). As his punishment, he must miss football practice and sit through play practice with his English teacher until he writes a better review. And the play is an adaptation of the very book Wallace hates! As he sits day after day in practice, he begins to influence and change the play, much to the dismay of the English teacher. In addition, the play continually is hit with vandalism, which eventually gets pinned on Wallace. The conclusion is not surprising, but you've grown to love the characters so much it is satisfying.
This book is full of funny dialog and larger than life characters...not exactly realistic, but very enjoyable.

I read this book and it is so funny! It all begins with a boy named Wallace who can't tell a lie... he REALLY can't. So he has to write a review for a book, Old Shep My Pal. He writes a bad review, so the teacher makes him rewrite it. He winds up being temporarily kicked out of the football team and he starts helping the drama club out with their performance of Old Shep My Pal. Wallace winds up changing the whole play around.
You have to read this book! It's hilarious! All of the characters are so funny, from the girl who keeps writing notes to her favorite celebrity, to Wallace's ex-friend!!

Wallace Wallace is an extremely good person and does what many people try to accomplish, he doesn't lie. The last sentence that you just read has no flaws. Nothing wrong, no misspelled words. He is a very good person and he doesn't tell lies. Everyone tries not to, but Wallace Wallace succeeds. But things aren't always right just because you do the right thing. Wallace did just that.
It all started when Mr. Fogelman gave the assignment to write a book review on Old Shep My Pal. Mr. Fogelman thinks that it is a really good book, but Wallace didn't. Because he doesn't lie, he writes a bad report on the book. He didn't like it, so he told the truth. Mr. Fogelman said that what he wrote wasn't the assignment, but he did the assignment exactly how it was supposed to be done. Mr. Fogelman is also the drama teacher and because of the way Wallace wrote the book report, he is now in detention with Mr. Fogelman. Wallace plays on the football team, so everyone is disappointed because they think he is the best player, (but he is probably just the luckiest). Will their "star" player come back to the team?
I thought this book was wonderful. I would recommend this book to anyone. The reason I liked it so much is the way it was written. The way the author made you see what every character was thinking. See if Wallace gets back to the team in No More Dead Dogs.