Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! [Paperback]

Stephen Manes (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 1, 1996 | Age Range: 8 and up

Is it possible? Can an ordinary human being really become a perfect person in three short days?

Milo Crinkley thought so. What gave him the idea was a book that fell on his head one day at the library--a book with the impressive title Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The author, Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, did look kind of weird, but he claimed to be the world's leading authority on perfection.

Milo took the book home and followed its instructions. He liked the idea of being perfect. Perfect people never had their parents nag at them. Perfect people never had to take the blame for rotten tricks their sisters played. Perfect people never needed erasers. Perfect was obviously the perfect thing to be!

Did Milo become a perfect person in just three days? More important, can you?

Do you think we're going to answer all your questions here when we want you to read this hilarious book?

A personal message from Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, world's leading expert on perfection:

● Maybe you think it's all a lot of baloney. Maybe you think nobody can become perfect in three short days. Well, maybe you should think again!

● Here's my no-risk guarantee: Try this book for just three days. If you're not absolutely delighted with the results, you can go soak your head. Now, what could be fairer than that?

● I won't be satisfied until every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth completes my amazing crash course in perfection. So, remember: If you don't read this book, I'm going to tell on you!

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Winner of five kid-voted statewide awards!

California Young Reader Medal
Charlie May Simon Award (Arkansas)
Georgia Children's Book Award
Nene Award (Hawaii)
Sunshine State Award (Florida)

More praise for Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!

"This book catches the reader with its very first sentence . . . crackling with humor . . . nearly perfect."
--Gannett Westchester Newspapers

"The only difficulty with this book us that everyone will want to be the first one to introduce it to children. . . A real gem."
--State Library of Ohio Checklist

"The moral is encased in laughs, with Manes's style reminiscent of Daniel Pinkwater's and topped by a dash of Kurt Vonnegut. Not perfect but awfully funny."
--Booklist

"What happens . . . changes chuckles to belly laughs!"
--Publishers Weekly

"This clever, funny book doesn't waste time being subtle; its mixture of slapstick/wryness will have kids laughing out loud."
--Marriage and Family Living

"Milo's home-study course in perfection makes a hilarious, zany story which readers will find hard to put down."
--Wings

". . . hysterically funny, and not without relevance for grown-ups seemingly addicted to self-development."
--New Age

"Manes' novel satirizes the countless best sellers that promise smaller waists, slimmer hips and enriched bank accounts."
--School Library Journal

". . . amazing and hilarious."
--The Times of Trenton

"This is a laughing-aloud book. It is far from great literature but very close to the funny bone."
--The Read-Aloud Handbook

"This is an original, offbeat, skillfully conceived and executed book."
--Philadelphia Inquirer

"This book was so good it made me laugh out loud."
--Detroit Free Press

"One of the best children's stories of all time!"
--Goodreads

About the Author

STEPHEN MANES is the author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. His Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! won kid-voted awards in five states and is a curriculum staple in American and French schools. The sequel, Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday!, quickly became a Publishers Weekly bestseller. His books have been adapted for stage and television productions.

Manes has had a long career making arcane worlds accessible to the uninitiated. His most recent book is the highly acclaimed Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet. He was one of the creators and co-hosts of the weekly public television series "Digital Duo." He co-wrote the bestselling and much-praised biography Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. He wrote long-running columns on personal technology for The New York Times, Forbes, PC World, PC Magazine, and many other publications.

Manes has a degree in cinema from the University of Southern California. His writing credits for the screen include programs for ABC Television and KCET/Los Angeles, as well as the seventies classic movie Mother, Jugs & Speed. A native of Pittsburgh, he lives in Seattle.

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Yearling; Reprint edition (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440413494
• ISBN-13: 978-0440413493
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.2 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bestselling author Stephen Manes has written more than thirty books and hundreds of articles in a long career of making arcane worlds accessible to the uninitiated. Four years in the making, his new book, "Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet," was born of his desire to discover how ballet really happens. Now the book has arrived--with an unprecedented amount of inside information about the world he calls the Land of Ballet, from intense rehearsals and lighting sessions to closed-door casting conferences and business meetings.

The book has already earned acclaim from around the globe. In the United States, BalletScoop and ExploreDance called it a "must-read," and Ballet-Dance Magazine deemed it "not to be missed." In Great Britain, a former dancer writing for Balletco found it "engrossing" and "unparalleled." In Australia, Dancelines said "'Snowflakes' reveals all. . . . I can't imagine any other company allowing a writer the same access . . . " James Fayette, a former Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet, calls the book "a truly in-depth exploration that should be recommended to anyone who craves insight into the very private world of professional ballet and the dancer subculture."

Manes co-wrote the bestselling and much-acclaimed biography "Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America." He wrote long-running columns on personal technology for The New York Times, Forbes, PC World, PC Magazine, and many other publications. He was a creator and co-host of the weekly public television series "Digital Duo."

Manes is also the author of dozens of books for children and young adults. His "Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!" won kid-voted awards in five states and is a curriculum staple in American and French schools. The sequel, "Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday!", quickly became a Publishers Weekly bestseller. His books have been adapted for stage and television productions.

Manes has a degree in cinema from the University of Southern California. His writing credits for the screen include programs for ABC Television and KCET/Los Angeles, as well as the 'seventies classic movie "Mother, Jugs & Speed." A native of Pittsburgh, he lives in Seattle.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Give 'em 3 days and YOU TOO could be perfect!! February 8, 2001

By Chess Heart VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Who says that nobody's perfect? Certainly not Dr. K Pinkerton Silverfish, the clown-nosed, messy-hotdog-eating author of the book "Be a Perfect Person In Just Three Days!" that mysteriously falls on our hero's head!

Meet Milo. He's your average kid, flawed like the rest of us, and just trying to find a good book on scary monsters at the library when "Be a Perfect Person...!!" flies from the shelf and beans him a good one. The author, Dr. S, is a very strange looking character in his author photo, dressed in a half-tie and Hawaiian shirt with that messy hotdog, but something about his eyes and what may be a smirk on his lips makes Milo want to check the book out. After all, who WOULDN'T want to be perfect?

He takes it home to read and immediately finds out that the road to being perfect is paved with strange tasks. Wearing a stalk of broccoli around your neck for one day and night, and not eating anything, for example. It's enough to make people wonder if you've lost your marbles. Still, if broccoli-wearing brings Milo perfection (kinda' like fasting brings inner awareness), then so be it! Bring on the green stuff!

B.A.P.P.I.J.T.D. is a quick, fast-paced read that will entertain and draw in even the most reluctant readers. It's short, weighing in at under 100 pages, so the length won't intimidate beginning readers. It is funny, ridiculous and clips along at a pace where you can't help but keep reading to find out what could possibly happen next. The language is easy to read but not condescending to young audiences. I teach reading to a group of normally reluctant, low-level readers, and within the first page everyone was hooked! Many of my students even asked if they could read THE WHOLE THING by the next day's class. Lo and behold, most of them *DID*!! This was not my doing; this was the ease and engagement of the book itself. Don't just take MY word for it, take it from the students who normally hate reading: this is a fine, fun book!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Book May 2, 2002

A Kid's Review

Format:Hardcover

Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days was a really funny book. It taught me that nobody's perfect, even the popular girls that are in my class. It was easy to read, and I'm pretty sure that even grown-ups would love it. This book definetly gets an A plus!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fabulous book!! July 10, 2001

By L. Carlson

Format:Hardcover

o my gosh! This was without a doubt one of my favorite books as a child....I literally borrowed it from the library every time we went!! Milo, the main character, borrows the hilarious self-help book from the library ( be a perfect person in JUST 3 DAYS!", he gets more than he bargained for! His book is equally funny and amazing, as the chapters appear to be written according to what he is thinking as he reads along on the road to being perfect....This is definitly one of the better books out there, a quick and entertaining read, that your child (or even you) will want to read again and again and again..... :) May I just reiterate that this is a wonderful book??! ok thankx :) Have a great day!