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The Adventures of Ron Faster at the Harvey N. Trouble School

by George Booth
160p. 978-0-31237-592-8.
COPY ISBN
Gr 1—4—Ron Faster runs downstairs and eats breakfast with his parents every morning and then dashes off to catch the school bus. It inevitably gets stuck in a ditch by its driver, Mr. Ivan Stuckinaditch. Eventually, the children will all arrive at the Harvey N. Trouble Elementary School where every day is "not normal," as little Izzy Normal always says. The story takes readers into Ron's week, from Hotsy-Totsy Monday to Hunky-Dory Thursday, at his outlandish school, where, through extreme silliness, little life lessons are learned. Every day when Ron arrives home, he and his parents talk about what he learned. The characters all have giggle-worthy names that relate to their personalities or attributes; the music teacher is Mrs. Doremi Fasollatido, and the custodians are named Janitor Iquit and Janitor Quitoo. Booth's great cartoon illustrations add whimsy and pure fun to every page, a quality that, when paired with McMullan's simple, quirky story, may well draw in reluctant readers. This is a good chapter book for children who enjoy the visual stimulation of well-done graphics.—Alison Donnelly, Collinsville Memorial Public Library, IL
Nonstop puns and other wordplay (sometimes funny) reinforced by comical pen-and-ink drawings depict a week in the life of young Ron Faster. His schoolmates include Viola Fuss and Izzy Normal, all supervised by school personnel such as Ms. Celia Seeyalater and Mr. Hugh da Mann. Ron's adventures play second fiddle to a tangle of hit-or-miss witticisms.
Kids will be in stitches over the wordplay. Brisk dialogue makes the book a great read aloud. The story is filled with silly, reoccurring episodes. The repetition is helpful for emergent readers, and anticipating the events becomes part of the fun. George Booth’s appealing artwork adds to the humor. Each character is pictured and labeled on the endpapers, and there are many spot illustrations integrated with the text throughout the book. The characters’ funny names may inspire readers to come up with moniker puns of their own.

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