Big Nate Flips Out

Big Nate Novels #5

by Lincoln Peirce

Soon to be an animated series from Nickelodeon! “ Big Nate  is funny, big time.”—Jeff Kinney, author of  Diary of a Wimpy Kid The fifth Big Nate novel in the  New York Times  bestselling series by Lincoln Peirce, all about king of detention and cartooning genius Nate Wright! Everyone knows N-A-T-E does not equal N-E-A-T! And when Nate’s sloppiness gets out of hand, his best friend, Francis, is in serious trouble. Can Nate clean up his act, or will he flip out first? For fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series: Meet Big Nate, world-class boredom buster and definitely NOT the teacher’s pet. 

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade, Childrens, Comics, Realistic Fiction

224 pages, Library Binding

First published February 5, 2013

About the author

Lincoln Peirce is a cartoon artist from Portland, Maine. He lives with his wife and two children, and occasionally gives lectures to students about cartoon creating. Peirce writes the comic strip "Big Nate". Peirce's comic strip, Big Nate, is featured as an island on the famous children's website, Poptropica. Big Nate appears as the first cartoon on The Maine Sunday Telegram in the comics section.

He studied art at Colby College in Maine were he began cartooning. He also studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before teaching art and coaching basketball at a New York highschool for 3 years. He currently plays hockey with "an old men's league" and describes it as his best sport as a child. In an interview with the Washington Post, Peirce stated that his last name is pronounced "purse" and is not a misspelling of "pierce."

Lincoln Peirce was a member of the "Surviving as a Print Cartoonist" Panel at the Maine Comics Art Festival with fellow cartoonists Corey Pandolph (Barkeater Lake, Toby: Robot Satan, The Elderberries), Norm Feuri (Retail, Gill) and with Mike Lynch moderating. On the panel Lincoln revealed he is currently working with some animation and licensing projects including the addition of a Big Nate island to the online game Poptropica.

Reviews

[Eyad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nate Wright an average kid that just hates school, decides that him and his friends should join the P.S. 38 chronicle (basically a yearbook) club. All he wanted was to be the photographer, but Francis (his best friend) would not stop yapping about how unorganized he is. But he becomes the photographer anyway. So, Francis worryingly let Nate use the camera that only he was allowed to get as the school editor. But when the camera goes missing, Francis blames it all on Nate and they get into a huge argument until Nate spills out the dirty secret Francis told him in 3rd grade and the one he said he would never tell all because of his sloppiness. Then, as the days past, Francis lost Nate's trust and you might say that they were no longer friends.Nate had gone too far this time. So with the help of 2 close friends (Dee Dee and Teddy) he had Teddy's uncle hypnotize him to become a neat freak. Now he can't even touch anything that might get him dirty. He realized that being a neat freak had it's ups and downs but he had to think about which one would help him gain Francis's trust. Big Nate Flips Out is about friendship, trust and honesty!

[Thomas Gajeski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the book was awesome. Even the author of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" like it. I like to call Nate "The Detention Kid," because he gets detention almost every single day. Nate has two good friends, Francis, who he knew sense kindergarten and never gets detention, and Teddy who was new at first but they got along quite alright, they even had detention together once. There some people he hates though, especially a girl named Gina, who is a big tattle tale and a total nerd, and his Social Studies teacher, Mrs. Godfery, who I think Nate most of his detentions from.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "Big Nate Flips Out" is a very interesting and funny book, consisting of dramatic parts and arguments between two friends who were arguing over a stolen camera. Nate didn't want Gina taking over co-editor so he told Francis to take charge and ask Mrs. Godffrey for the school camera. Suddenly, someone stole the camera away from Nate's locker and Francis found out and they had a huge argument leading to them yelling stuff at each other that shouldn't have been said. Teddy takes Nate to his uncle Pedro about how to be neat and Nate got hypnotized leading him to be neat. That didn't last long because later Nate got into a fight with Randy (a school bully.) The camera was found in Nate's locker and Nick was the one who took it he was recorded by Dee-dee and he got suspended for 1 week. That led to Nate and Francis being friends again and being champions of the Trivia Slam.

[Joshua Hatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished Big Nate Flips Out by Lincoln Pierce. The character I'm choosing to write about is Nate. He is very funny and is extremely messy. His friends want him to clean up his act so he goes to his friend's uncle's house who is a magician and gets hypnotized. Then, he becomes really clean and all the teachers love him because he doesn't turn in his assignments in bad condition. But Nate doesn't like to be the teacher's pet. Nate always gets sent to detention but he doesn't anymore. The detention monitor can not even recognize Nate anymore because he is not going in detention. But then, he gets in a fight with a bully and turns back into his old, messy self. I recommend this book to you because it is really good.

[Marie Tankersley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread these books countless times as a little kid, cover to cover in one sitting, and they still hold up. :)

[Jett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because I thought it funny because of Chad (one of the characters). My favorite part is the end because I thought the picture of Gina was funny.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had fun reading. Also Nate definitely has ADHD but maybe this book was about medication lol

[Ro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lololol

[Angel Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate gets in trouble a lot in school due to his bad behavior and poor emotional control
In Big Nate Flips Out Nate is bad doing the same things he has done before like skipping class and not doing homework. This is even worse in this book because he does something that would end a friendship with one of his best friends Francis. I liked this book because Lincoln Peirce does a good job with the humor and the relatable middle schoolers' experiences with Nate's enthusiastic narrative voice. Nate throughout this book stands up to his bully multiple times and I like how Lincoln Peirce included this to encourage the younger audience to stand up for themselves. The plot itself isn't very complex making it easily enjoyable for fans anywhere from elementary schoolers to high schoolers. Even some adults would like it and find it funny. The cartoon illustration is also very good at complementing the story and adding more humor for the reader to laugh at. Big Nate fans and new fans will definitely enjoy this book.

[Jnase1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why are all these popular books about disrespectful kids? No wonder disrespect is so prevalent in society today. That is how we are telling kids to act when we sell books like Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid to our kids. I understand it's "supposed" to be funny, but I don't see what's funny about drawing rude pictures of teachers and classmates. And this book in particular aggravated me because the Nate character proved that he could be a good student and the storyline made it seem like a bad thing that he changed his behavior. ????? Why are we giving these types of books to our kids? And why can't children's authors write stories with decent characters that our kids could look up to and emulate? This is just another one of those series that seems out to make money and the quality has suffered because of it. What a missed opportunity.

[Kathy Ellen Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I thought Big Nate was younger than middle school.
Maybe because he looks younger on the cover?
I thought this was a good story though.

His friendship is tested,
he gets hypnotized (LOVE that uncle character!)
and the rest is hilarious.

I like the illustrations inside,
and like Big Nate's comic takes on things.

I don't like that most if not ALL of the teachers are portrayed as being horrible.
(except the librarian who sticks up for Nate, even after he ruins library books...)
but that opinion could be the adult in me.

I remember making fun of teachers in sixth grade;
just not all of them!

I think I'm going to read some more of these books,
if I can get them from the library!
They're flying off the shelves!

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my favorite Big Nate book! Due to an explosive fight with his best and longtime friend, Francis, Nate feels compelled to make some big changes to show Francis he is not a total slob.

Kids will love the secret coded messages throughout the book and all the funny and often silly conversations back and forth between the characters. Big Nate books are a must have for any school library or classroom, a guaranteed hit.

[Tucker]

Gig nate is a good and funny book. The book a rilly quick read but good and funny at the same time. It has meny things the actually happen in school and lot of funny moments. The book seams like it has has sum real life experiences in it.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read one of the Big Nate books just so I could understand why they are so popular. Now I understand! This was so much fun to read. I would definitely recommend these books for older elementary school and middle school kids.

[Frank Angulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was great. I liked this book because it's one of those books that are funny. I want to read more of these books in the future. I just can't find them and it's sad because I want to read more of this book.

[Chris Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the book because it's funny. In this story it talks about this kid called Nate that would always get bad grades in class but then one day he gets his history score test back and it was 100%. I recommend this book to Alejandro because he likes to laugh.

[Luke Konczal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay story, but it is a quick read.

[Preeti Shetty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book

[Malynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t remember it but I remember it’s funny he gets in trouble.

[Aman 4-7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic for the big nate,this type of book really gives the bad but goofy side of the middle school life. If you wimpy kid series,consider giving this series a shot,because these can be (almost)as good.The wild life of nate switching into a neat freak,really shows the change somebody can make if they want to(although he was hypothesized so after that he didn't have a choice).

[Kaleb Ahern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious I enjoy the argument and hypnotism my favorite part was when Nate got Gina's horrific photo.

[Suzanne Dix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really looking forward to Lincoln Peirce visiting our school in April! Big Nate is fun!!

[Ali]

it was gooooooood

[Aarav Chandrawat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, intresting as nate gets into a fight with his bestie

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you've written a daily newspaper comic strip for twenty-two years—the length of time Lincoln Peirce had done Big Nate when this book was released in 2013—you get used to tweaking your paradigm on a regular basis to find new plot possibilities. How else could a cartoonist churn out hundreds of mini stories every year for decades? Fresh characters are added, well-known traits of main characters altered and sometimes even reversed, a ploy Lincoln Peirce uses to amusing effect in Big Nate Flips Out, the fifth novel of this series. P.S. 38's yearbook last year was a disaster of errors and artistic insipidness, so everyone is relieved that Nick Blonsky, the editor, has been replaced. Unfortunately, the replacement is goody-two-shoes Gina Hemphill-Toms, at least until Nate, Francis, and Teddy convince the supervising faculty member to divide the editor's role between more than one kid. That's a win for Nate and friends, who agree to take the yearbook seriously in the interest of creating a product they can be proud of. Who would have guessed the project would lead them into such a mess?

Nate can't start taking candid photos for the yearbook until he has a quality camera, but the school's camera is expensive and breakable, and Mrs. Godfrey is unlikely to loan it to her nemesis. Luckily, Francis's squeaky clean record makes him an acceptable risk to borrow the equipment, so long as he doesn't reveal to Mrs. Godfrey that it's for Nate. But when the prized camera mysteriously disappears from Nate's disorganized locker and Francis has to accept responsibility, tensions rise between the two best friends. It gets so bad that they stop communicating altogether. Nate's willing to try anything to placate Francis, even go to a hypnotist to have his ingrained messy habits changed. As you might guess, the results of that encounter are the basis for much of this book's comedy.

With P.S. 38's faculty demanding repayment for the missing camera, and the Trivia Slam academic bowl competition fast approaching—an event Nate had looked forward to winning with his dynamic team, the Factoids, of which Francis is also a member—Nate makes up his mind to catch the camera thief and prove it wasn't Francis's fault. That means teaming up with Teddy and Dee Dee, who is as quirky as anyone at P.S. 38 but knows how to deliver the goods when it counts. If Nate can clear Francis's name and erase the one black mark on his school record, maybe they can make peace and be friends again in spite of the ugly words spoken between them. Hey, it's Nate Wright on the job, and I wouldn't bet against him for the world. Would you?

It's jarring (in a fun way) to see Nate's transformation after visiting the hypnotist. Who thought we'd ever see Nate act like a fastidious neat freak, obsessive about keeping his locker, bedroom, and himself spotlessly clean? We all have strengths and weaknesses, and the lesson to remember from Big Nate Flips Out is the eventual reinforcement of what Nate knew all along: what matters with Francis is their friendship, not minor details of personal style and preference. As Nate puts it, "Now THAT'S a best friend. We'll always be total opposites, but just because Francis is Mr. Clean, it doesn't mean he expects ME to be. He's happy with me just the way I am." If you learn that truth about relationships from this book, was it not a worthwhile read? The frequent out-loud laughter is a bonus, one that Lincoln Peirce provides as well as almost anyone. I love my Big Nate novels, and while some of Big Nate Flips Out is far-fetched, I don't really mind. I'd rate it at least one and a half stars, possibly the full two, and I recommend it for readers who enjoy good, clean, positive humor.

[Mega · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the third book in the series, On a Roll, did somewhat see a drop in quality when compared to the second one, not being nearly as entertaining or interesting as it by comparison, the fourth entry in the Big Nate series, Goes for Broke, definitely helped bring the series back to that level of quality that we expect from it and turned out to be a great book in general. Sure, it wasn't anything too special, what with it still having a lot of the issues that the series was known for at that point and not being quite up to par with that of the second book, just barely missing the mark if you asked me, but it managed to give us yet another incredibly entertaining and fun story regardless of that, what with its interesting and fun story, great set of old and new characters paired up with some really good writing as usual, the same really solid art as before and all the humor that you would expect from the series that did manage to make me smile, even if it couldn't really get too many laughs out of me. So now that we are back on track when it comes to the quality of these Big Nate books, I feel like it is only appropriate that we now actually get a move on with this series and see what kind of trouble and shenanigans this kid and his friend group can get into next, and we will see just what kind of trouble he can get into with the release of the fifth book in the series, Big Nate: Flips Out.

Honestly, going into this book, I didn't really remember that much about it at all, to the point where I even questioned if I read it at all in the first place. I did recognize it from back when I was a kid, but I didn't remember anything that happened in the book if I had read it at all, making me question if this was the point in the series where I inevitably dropped off of the whole thing in general. However, now that I have read the whole thing again, I can say with certainty that I definitely did read this when I was a kid, and I remembered a lot of what happened in it too, which was good to remember once again, but that in itself is still a little concerning. Since I did end up just completely forgetting about this book when compared to all of the other ones we have covered so far, did that mean that this book was just pretty mediocre and I wouldn't really like much about what I would end up reading from it as a result? Well, thankfully, that didn't turn out to be the case, as this turned out to be yet another great entry in the series, one that still has its own set of problems and isn't quite as good as some of the previous entries, but it still gives us plenty more of what we love about this series while taking things in several different directions that we hadn't seen from the series before, making this a very refreshing and fun next chapter in the life of Nate over here.

The story is really good, with it, again, having some different twists and focusing on other aspects of this world and these characters you wouldn't expect it to, which definitely made it one of the most entertaining and engaging of the books so far, even if there are still some problems with it that I will address soon enough, the characters are pretty good, where Nate and the rest of the crew are all still just as great as always, and it is always fun to see them all interact with each other in various ways, and the new characters that we see from, specifically that of Nick and Uncle Pedro, are pretty enjoyable additions to the big cast of characters that this universe has, even if they aren't quite as strong as some other new additions we have seen previously, the writing is still pretty good, still having a lot of that same style and somewhat-clever banter that the series has always been known for up to this point, even if there are some parts about it that did annoy me that I will get into later, the art is great once again, with there being plenty of great expressions this time around to add right along with all of the other great expressions this series has given us, but that is all to be expected, so moving on, and the humor is...... about on par with most of the other books in the series, to where there are plenty of great jokes and moments here that did make me smile and chuckle, but nothing that I would say made me laugh out loud out of hilarity.

And of course, since this is a Big Nate book, that means that I also have my usual share of complaints about it too. First and foremost, as per usual, the story, while definitely being pretty good in its own way, isn't really anything all too creative or interesting if you have read similar books and seen other similar pieces of media to it in the past, so if you are one who is not necessarily a fan of these types of stories, then you probably wouldn't be able to enjoy this one. Not only that, but this book also has more of that typical "outdated" lingo that this series has often had, with this one probably having the most that I have seen from this series since the original book, which is definitely not a good thing, even if that doesn't really ruin the book all that much. Aside from all that though, the only other real complaint that I do have the book is that, while I do think the story that we are given here is great, it does take a little bit to properly kick in gear so that it can get great. The main two things that this book focuses on above anything else is the friendship between Nate and Francis and how Nate gets hypnotized into being a tidier person, both of which are incredibly strong plotlines that intertwine with each other wonderfully, and are really enjoyable to see play out as well. The stuff between Nate and Francis in particular is probably some of the best content in the entire book, as the previous books in the series didn't focus on their friendship all too much in the grand scheme of things, but they do put more focus on it here, and whenever you get to that part where Nate fucks up big time and Francis ends up storming away furiously, saying that he regretted trusting him....... that shit honestly hit a lot harder then I thought it would, and those same moments keep hitting again and again throughout the rest of the book, it is some great stuff. But again, like I have mentioned already, it does take a bit to get there, with the good stuff not starting until that point, and everything else before that being just sort of whatever for this kind of book, not to the point where it was bad, but I just didn't really care about what was going on up until that point. It also didn't help that this first part of the book focused on Nate and his friends joining the Yearbook Club and deciding to take funny pictures to make the yearbook better, which is such a BORING storyline that I am so glad got abandoned soon afterwards in favor of these two much better ones.

Overall, despite the usual problems one of these books have still being present and with it having a bit of a slow start, Big Nate: Flips Out still managed to pull through as one of the best books in the entire series, giving us yet another round of familiar, Big Nate shenanigans and moments while also bringing it all together with plotlines and story ideas that the series had never explored before, all of which made it so that I had a great time with the book overall, what with its great story, a great set of old and new characters paired with some really good writing yet again, some more of that same charming and solid art as per usual and humor that isn't too funny, but is just humorous enough to where it made me have a good time with the whole thing from start to finish. I would recommend it for those that were huge fans of the previous books, as well as for those that are huge fans of these kinds of books and stories in general, as while I can't guarantee you will like this book more then the others, or even if you will like the book at all, there is still enough here that you can like and enjoy about it to where you can at least find something to appreciate and like about it by the end of the day, which is all that I really care about at the end of the day. But anyways, before we do end off this review, I just want to quickly point out that apparently the copy of the book that I bought off of eBay was previously owned by someone named Brado H., so shout-out to you, Brado, whoever you are, cause I got your book now. And it is also a book that previously belonged to the library of one Mrs. Canfield, so oooooooooh boy, you are in trouble now, Brado Boy! You better hope she doesn't end up seeing this review and finding out you were the one that never returned her book all those years ago.................. no, I'm not gonna return it myself, why would I do that?

Book #19

[Jamar-Jerrell Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is back at with gina. He back to being a class clown. Trying to impress everybody else. Still getting in trouble.

[London · Rating 3 out of 5]

big Nate goes crazy in this book, I did not really like it because it was like big Nate goes broke

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

My students love these books so much I can't keep them on the shelf. However, I can't say that I'm a big fan of them. I think one of the reasons that I don't like them as much as the kids is that I'm not a kid anymore, I don't see things the way they do. But for what it's worth here is my two cents.

Strengths: Comics, comics, and more comics, kids can't get enough of them and some of them are amusing. When the words are broken up by the comics/illustrations it makes the book seem shorter and reluctant readers will pick them up without prompting. There is a little more depth here than I expected involving Nate and a fight he has with his friend, Francis about neatness and responsibility. Both of them learn some things about differences and getting along despite those differences.

Weaknesses: The disrespect here I find rather annoying, not just the kids disrespect for the teachers but for each other. I get rather tired of the teachers always being the bad guys. Although I did appreciate the school librarian being more reasonable than the others. Also, hypnotism isn't exactly the best solution to Nate's problem.

Overall, a kid pleaser for sure, but not a whole lot of literary quality here. I buy these solely for their entertainment value because that's about all that kids will get from these. I do find more value here though than the Wimpy kid books, thus the three hearts.

[Natalya Hotovec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Nate Flips Out is about Nate and his two best friends, Teddy and Francis. Nate wants Francis to become co editor for the yearbook because Nate's enemy, Gina, would just make the year book full of pictures of herself. Francis becomes co editor of the year book and Nate wants Francis to get him a camera from the staff room because he is allowed to use since he is co editor. Nate promises he will not lose the camera but it gets taken from his locker. Francis and Nate get in a big fight. Nate wants to go to Teddy's uncle, Pedro, so he can hypnotized him so he can be neater and find the camera.

I really liked this book and would recommend this book to anyone who likes funny books or books about hypnosis. My favorite part of this book is when Gina gets furious when Francis joins the year book committee. I thought this book had a valuable lesson in it. I thought the valuable lesson in this book was to trust your friends if they say they didn't do something.