Customer Reviews

My Teacher Fried My Brains

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The pesky bully from, My Teacher is an Alien, returns as the main character in the 2nd book of this well written science fiction series for kids. More mystery, more adventure and another alien.

When Duncan starts the new school year at a new school, his bad reputation gets the better of him with the school authorities. When Duncan is made to participate in a science experiment, he unexpectedly becomes smarter. He also comes to realize that there is another alien around...but who is it? The Alien ends up being somebody that Duncan confides his troubles in and he is taken prisoner because of it. Susan from the previous book is also present in this story.

I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who read and loved My Teacher is an Alien, or anybody who likes a good science fiction story (child or adult).

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a childrens book. The Mischievous Hare

This sequel to Bruce Coville's popular My Teacher is an Alien reunites us with Susan Simmons, the protagonist and narrator of the first book, Peter Thompson, her brainy science fiction-loving friend, and Duncan Dougal, class bully and somewhat questionable ally in the previous adventure involving the kids' sixth grade teacher being replaced by a big green alien in disguise. Duncan was an important yet secondary character in the first book, but he takes center stage in My Teacher Fried My Brain. The story itself isn't as exciting as that of its predecessor, but I love the angle that Coville took in returning to this world of adventure. There is a definite psychological component to this story, one providing insight into why Duncan behaves in such a disruptive matter - there is a real, pretty nice person in there just dying to get out. Duncan now becomes a sympathetic character from the very first page, as we get a good look at his home life and see how this translates into his own behavior around other kids. It bothers Duncan to no end to be unable to control his mouth and (sometimes) fists; even when he is doing something stupid that will just get him into trouble, he is inwardly berating himself as he is doing it. The one thing that Duncan hates more than anything in the world is to be laughed at; this is a feeling all children as well as adults know a little something about, making Duncan a character that anyone can connect to in some way.

The kids are now in seventh grade, and Duncan's first day in a new school building is a rough one; as always, he finds trouble, and this time trouble reaches back and finds him as well. He makes a startling discovery - a discarded human hand which, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a fake human hand. That can only mean one thing: there is another alien at the school. Like Susan in the first book, Duncan does not know what to do. He knows no one will believe him, not even his classmates; you would think the adults in town might be of some help, but they have all started pretending that the alien business of last spring didn't actually happen. Duncan soon thinks he has found the answer to his problems. After taking part in a demonstration of static electricity, one in which a machine zapped his brain, he began to feel smarter all of a sudden; he soon decides to sneak in to the lab and give himself additional brain-frying treatments. Despite all of his new-found intelligence, though, he has little success in figuring out who the other alien in school is. The ensuing action is not bad, plus we meet a memorable and mysterious alien pet called a poot, but a few aspects of this story resemble pretty closely the strange events chronicled in Coville's previous book, My Teacher is an Alien. The manner of Peter's "return" is especially weak, in my opinion.

If you want to read this book, I definitely encourage you to buy all four books in the series. My Teacher Fried My Brain has a cliffhanger kind of ending that leaves a great deal unresolved. It's a fun ride with great friends, though, so most young people who read this book will surely want to dive right in to My Teacher Glows in the Dark to see what happens next.

This book is about a young boy named Duncun who finds out that his Home Ec. teacher is an alien. First of all she fried his brains. Then he found out it made him smarter so he stayed after school and fried it 2 more times. Now he was practacly a genuis.

One day he found out one of his teachers was definatly an alien and he wanted to tell somebody. He told her (not knowing she was the alien) that he thought one of the teachers was an alien.

She took off her mask and took him home with her. There he found out he wanted her brain. When she had left the room, his friend Susan came and tried to rescue him, but his teacher caught them and took them both out to space with her to join their friend, Peter, who had already been taken out their.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes a little adventure and a little Sci-Fi. This is a great book.

As a 6th grade teacher, I liked this book and the first book, "My Teacher is an Alien", because it got my students interested in my favorite genre of books, science fiction. The ending also is perfect for "what happens next?" essays, speeches and other projects
-Mr. C. Dutiel 6th grade teacher,
Kayenta Middle School

Some brief comments from some of my students:
"It's a good book"-Miranda Lincoln
"It was interesting, like "My Teacher is an Alien"-Vance Greyeyes
"It was funny and exciting!" Karen Bradley
"It was funny and great when Peter and Susan were talking through Duncan's head"-Darren Long
"I would like to read another book by this author"-Shannon Holiday
"Very interesting. I liked the part where Duncan was getting zapped by the brain fryer."-Roman Quiver
" I think it is a nice book."- Cody Crank
"It was so funny when he got his brain fried."- Shawn Madison
"it was funnier than "My Teacher is an Alien"-Loren Cly

In the first sequel to his bestselling MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN, Bruce Coville takes us back to the town of Kennituck Falls, home of Susan Simmons, Duncon Dougal, and the recently abducted (!!)) Peter Thompson. This time, however, there's a new alien in town who is even more heinous in appearance than Broxholm and with a strange new pet named Poot.

In the first novel, an alien named Broxholm takes over one of the local middle-school classrooms as a substitute teacher, with the expressed intention of capturing five children (the smartest kid, the dumbest kid, and the three most average kids) to take back to his alien space ship for further study. In the first novel Broxholm is painted as quite the enemy, and it is with cheering we root for Susan to defeat this evil, kidnapping alien.

As the first novel is a standalone book first and foremost (kind of like THE HOBBIT in that Coville had no real sequel in mind when he wrote it), it is very self-contained and can be read on its own without reading the other three. Starting with this sequel, Coville begins building a storyline that will not be fully resolved until the fourth installment in the series, MY TEACHER FLUNKED THE PLANET.

For this installment, a new alien has come to town, but the name of Kreeblim. Unlike Broxholm, who is harsh and rather strict, Kreeblim has a much sweeter disposition, and in personality much the opposite to Broxholm. Her mission is similar to Broxholm; conduct teaching experiments on the human race, to study how we learn. Her mission was supposed to end when Broxholm's did, but due to his sudden departure with Peter Thompson at the end of the first book, she is left to her own devices for a while, and decides to conduct some further field research by unleashing one of her student's unrealised brain potential.

Enter Duncan Dougal. The common dime-a-dozen school bully from the first novel, this installment is told totally from his POV. Coville gets into his head a lot, and helps young readers understand what made him the way he is through his home environment, and how his family life shapes his social interactions with the other characters. Duncan, the traditionally stupid bully, has a change of heart when Kreeblim uses a device in class that enables him to begin unlocking the full potential of his brain. Ultimately, this has unforeseen consequences which Kreeblim uses to contact her colleagues to send a ship to pick her up.

There's quite a few more details along the way, including the introduction of Kreeblim's bet Poot, a gelatin like animal who can be split into several new pieces (asexual reproduction) and figures prominently in both this and the last book. There is also a skin glove that Duncan finds that helps him realise a new alien is in town. (Of course, you can't help but wonder why Duncan, who becomes a genius by the end of the book, couldn't put two and two together and realise who the identity of the alien is when it's pretty obvious to the reader for most of the book. Even Kreeblim comments on this oversight of Duncan). Coville's main focus throughout the book is the awesome unrealised potential of the human brain, which comes into prominent display in the last book as well.

At the end of the novel, Peter Thompson arrives, telling Susan and Duncan there is the Earth is in serious intergalactic trouble, and is the cause of much turmoil. The three children are whisked off into outer space to be briefed by what is the rough equivalent of the United Nations for the Galaxy (though the more appropriate term would be United Planets or United Solar Systems or United Star Systems, something along those lines), and so the stage is set for the events in MY TEACHER FLUNKED THE PLANET.

One of the biggest changes from the previous novel is the readers' and characters' perceptions of the aliens. In the previous book, Coville painted Broxholm as the villain and leaves it at that. It is only in the three sequels do we learn that Broxholm and Kreeblim (who is actually Broxholm's superior), are actually on an anthropological mission on earth to investigate what the Intergalactic League has labeled "The Earth Question." And what is that question? Why are people so full of pain and rage and destroy themselves. Also, why do they have the most amazing brain in the entire known galaxy and use so little of it.

Throughout the book, Coville is clearly addressing learning issues, and helps his target audience of children relate to learning as a positive experience, as well as address the "human condition" that is everybody's problem. He also helps children relate too and further understand what makes Duncan a bully, and with this character he allows the children to build sympathy with a previously unsympathetic character.

Overall, this is a good novel for middle-schoolers, and an enjoyable story for adults as well. I read [(and reread)] the books when I was growing up numerous times, and have returned to them periodically in adulthood. The series is well-written enough that adults reading will find the books rather enjoyable, quick reads. But be warned. You can read the first one as a stand alone work. However, starting with this one, Coville leaves you hanging at the end, and you need to read the next two installments to get finish the full story arc. And the story arc is good enough that I encourage you to keep reading.

My girls loved it! PLUS, they get credit for it as an AR book at school! FANTASTIC!!!

My review for my teacher fried my brains was a good book. In fact I would recommend it to anyone who has an awkward imagination. The main character Duncan was a curious boy just like me so I can get a feel of what he's going through. Except I've never had an encounter with real live aliens, unfortunately he has. My favorite part of the book was when Duncan got his brains fried. Another good part of the book was when he found the green glob of gloop known as "Poot". Another creepy part of the book was when Duncan was in the dumpster and he found the human hand.
If you like Science fiction then this is a good book for you. This was a funny book and I enjoyed reading it.

My book review for My Teacher fried my brains was good. In fact I would recommend it to anyone who has an awkward imagination. The main character Duncan was a curious boy just like me so I can get a feel of what he's going through. Except I've never had an encounter with real live aliens, unfortunately he has. This was a fun book to read for anyone who likes Science Fiction. It was a creepy and interesting point of view from the author.

I think My Teacher Fried My Brains is a good book because it described the aliens, it was exicting, and it was hard to tell what is going to happen next.
It is about when a person gets abducted and is try to stop the aliens from pressing a button that will explode and destroy Earth.He has to teach the people o earth how to use thier brains to stop the aliens from destroying Earth.

I enjoyed this story's offbeat sense of humor and extremly cool plot. A wild imaginary reality in which the bullish, overbearing character Duncan Dougal is given a quick brain-fry treatment from his teacher... seems she has something else up her sleeve... Or under her skin! All this leads to a kidnapping, Duncan's body being used as an interstellar answering machine, and Duncan's re-evaluation of his life as a bully. A strong additon (and quite possibly my fave)in the "My teacher is an Alien" series. I reccomend it to everyone!! -Alex M.