Customer Reviews

A Year with Butch and Spike

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Butch and Spike are truly lovable characters. They also teach us (and hopefully our teachers) that intelligence is more complicated than we might have thought. Gauthier's book, one of the few books that has made me laugh out loud, is great for illustrating the way students learn in a variety of ways using multiple intelligences. While Jasper teaches Butch and Spike that some discipline is required to achieve one's goals, the moral of the story is that creativity is a remarkable gift--a gift that Gauthier possesses, too.

This book caught my eye when I glanced through it and saw the chapter about the field trip. First the docent cheerfully obliges the boys' desire for "something gross" ("That's not gross enough? How about this, then?"). Then Spike and Butch go skinny dipping, "innocently" putting into practice what the docent has just explained. Gauthier's got me laughing, and I think she'll have kids (especially boys) laughing too. But there's more here. The boys' teacher is excessive in her admiration of Jasper, and she treats other students, especially Butch and Spike, in a very degrading fashion. She ignores every sign that the "Cootches" are intelligent boys, though they have no use for school rules and expectations. When she goes far overboard in her treatment, even Jasper realizes that something has to be done. Much to his own surprise, he joins with Butch and Spike to give her the comeuppance she deserves (though they get more than they bargained for). Told with humor, the book also makes a point or two that kids will appreciate. I think this book is a winner.

I thought this book was okay. It was way better compared to My Side of the Mountain, one of my required and very boring summer reading books. The book is about the two Couture cousins, Butch and Spike, who are the two "main enemies" of Jasper Gordan, a straight A student in Theodore Elvin Elementary School. Jasper sits in between them, acting as a "role model" for them and his class. During the story, a couple of crazy things occured, like when the two cousins went skinny dipping on a field trip when Mrs. McNulty(AKA Mrs. McNutt)lost her patience with them.
I thought the book was sort of funny because you can tell that Butch is the one who gets hurt a lot and Donny is the great baseball player. I think some people should read this book.

I thought this book was excellent because Butch and Spike are around the ages that I am and feel the same way about school that I feel sometimes. They dont like new assignments or text books, they hate almost every part of school. Though they dreamed about their sixth grade year! The cootches, right center of attention, spike and butch question the others of where the popularity has revealed itself and they go on from there