My Weird School #1: Miss Daisy Is Crazy! [Paperback]

Dan Gutman (Author), Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: My Weird School

Never before has school been this mixed up—or this much fun!

Miss Daisy, who teaches second grade, doesn't know how to add or subtract. Not only that, she doesn't know how to read or write, either. She is the dumbest teacher in the history of the world!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 1-3. Second-grader A. J. hates school, but he has to admit that Miss Daisy isn't like any teacher he has had before. She enjoys watching TV and eating chocolate just like A. J., and she is always asking her students for help solving problems in math and spelling. She also takes A. J.'s suggestion to turn the school into a video-game arcade seriously. Principal Klutz agrees to "rent out" the school for a night (and wear a gorilla suit) if the children read a million pages. Can they do it? The humorous, simply written story, first in the My Weird School series, gets its zest largely from A. J.'s lively, first-person commentary on school life and legend. Reluctant students will have no trouble relating to A. J., and breezy Miss Daisy illustrates how respecting kids and balancing learning with fun can produce positive results. The occasional cartoon line drawings are a good fit. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Dan Gutman has always been a baseball fanatic. He played in Little League as a kid, and one of the first magazine articles he ever sold explained the science behind the spitball, the scuffball, and corked bats. When he thought about the T206 Honus Wagner—the most valuable baseball card in the world—he began to write honus & me, his first Baseball Card Adventure. That book introduced Joe Stoshack—Stosh—a kid who can use baseball cards to travel through time and meet the game’s greatest players. Stosh has since gone on many amazing, fast-paced adventures, most recently to try to save Roberto Clemente.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (June 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439700426
• ISBN-13: 978-0439700429
• ASIN: 0060507004
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( G ) > Gutman, Dan
  • #72 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Issues > School

More About the Author

This is hard. I'm a pretty regular Jersey guy who spent fifteen years trying to write newspaper articles, magazine articles, screenplays, books for adults, and just about everything else before I discovered the one thing I'm good at--writing fiction for kids. I aim for kids who DON'T like to read, and hopefully the kids who DO like to read will enjoy my stuff too. For all the gory details about me, check out my web site.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings - Read these books WITH your child, September 7, 2010

By 

Lynn (CT, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Weird School #1: Miss Daisy Is Crazy! (Paperback)

My younger son (1st grade) really enjoys the My Weird School series by Dan Gutman. He is just starting to learn to read so the MWS series are books that I read to him at bedtime. We own 4-5 of the books and have checked out several more from our local library.

Pros: There are some very silly and funny parts, which encourage children to read more. My son loved Dr. Brad Has Gone Mad because Dr. Brad speaks with an accent. ("I vant you to look at zeez pictures and tell me vut you see.") Or when the teacher says to take out your reading log, AJ says, "I don't have a reading log. Who wants to read a log?" There are some educational parts (for example, the book about Presidents' Day, Mr. Macky is Wacky, "I'm James Madison. I am the 4th president--and the shortest. I'm about five feet four inches tall.").

Cons: The language in the book is not appropriate. Every book starts with "My name is A.J. and I hate school." My sons (1st and 4th) like school and I want them to continue to like school for as long as possible. I know they will at some point not like school anymore. I'd rather that they didn't get the idea too soon that they're "supposed to" hate school. So I when I read the book, I either just read, "My name is A.J." or if I read the I hate school part, then I'll try to counter that with, "That's too bad! School can be so fun!"

Every book also has several instances of name-calling, mostly "dumbhead." I usually don't read the name calling parts. If I accidently do read it or it's part of the plot, then I stop and remind my son that we don't call people names. Several times the main character will say, "Nah-nah-nah boo-boo on her." AJ and another character Andrea are always bickering. "Maybe you'll finally get kicked out of school," said Andrea. "Your face should get kicked out of school," I told her. Again, as much as I can, I cut these parts out and don't read them.

With bullying in schools and rude behavior from so many people (kids and adults), do we really need children's books that encourage this kind of behavior? If the author could change the mean and rude language to more of the fun and silly parts, I would give this series 5 stars--and probably buy every single MWS book. But instead I give them a cautious 3 stars and wonder if I should stop getting any more of these books. I would never buy one of these books as a gift for another child.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you've ever taught second grade..., June 4, 2006

By 

A. Zlatnik "maestra" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Weird School #1: Miss Daisy Is Crazy! (Library Binding)

I discovered Dan Gutman's Weird School series from tutoring a second grade boy who "hated reading." Not only did he like the books, I loved them!
Second graders are the crazy ones, and these books remind me of when I taught second grade. In fact, I think Dan Gutman must really be a second grader in disguise as a grown-up...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun for the early school set, August 9, 2005

By 

Lianne S. Greve "wishful reader" (Pittsburgh, Pa USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Weird School #1: Miss Daisy Is Crazy! (Paperback)

The first in a wonderfully entertaining series, Miss Daisy is a second grade teacher who needs her students to help her with things she is supposed to be teaching! Imagine the power Miss Daisy's class feels when they get to "help" their nutty teacher.

Fun for new readers and for parents to read aloud to pre-schoolers and kindergarten kids just adapting to school, Dan Gutman has a light touch in showing kids that school can be fun. With so much emphasis on standardized test scores it's great to see that there is someone out there reminding our children that reading can make you smile!