Read this with my 5th grade learners for a reading program. So. Boring. No plot, no character development, and way too many failed 'teaching' attempts. At least I made a good game out of it, though I'm never letting them choose their own books again.

Gave it an extra star for Chapter 10, which was almost funny. The last two genres were definitely more... parodical (word?) than the beginning, which makes me wonder if that was how Gutman intended it or if he had some consistency problems.

I am not the target audience. However, my learners had a lukewarm reaction to it as well. The main character is a dude who hates books, so I think Gutman tried to appeal to kids with a similar mindset.