You're a Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman

West Creek Middle School

by Claudia Mills

Twelve-year-old Julius has his hands full over the summer when his mother attempts to improve his grades and teach him responsibility by signing him up for a French class and getting him a job babysitting.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Realistic Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 1999

About the author

Claudia Mills is the author of Nixie Ness, Cooking Star, 7 x 9 = Trouble!, Zero Tolerance, Write This Down, and many other books for children. She was born in New York City in 1954. She received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, her master's degree from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She also received an M.L.S. degree from the University of Maryland, with a concentration in children's literature. She had a second career as a professor of philosophy at the Colorado at Boulder, until leaving that career in 2014 to write full time. She now teaches in the graduate program in children's literature at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. All of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning while drinking Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/claudi...

Reviews

[ukuklele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saya pernah menulis beberapa draf yang semacam seri West Creek Middle School (selanjutnya WCMS): tiap buku mengambil sudut pandang tokoh remaja yang berbeda-beda tapi mereka berhubungan karena satu sekolah, dan menceritakan masalah keseharian. Kebosanan saat membaca satu buku WCMS ini semakin memaklumkan saya sebabnya draf-draf saya tidak menarik kebanyakan orang untuk membacanya ("--) ....

Menyamakan draf karangan saya dengan WCMS sebetulnya overrating. Soalnya, jelas WCMS dikerjakan secara profesional. Narasi dan plotnya rapi disisipi humor sesekali, pesan moralnya terang lagi tidak menyesatkan.

Yang membuatnya membosankan mungkin karena konfliknya yang berupa masalah keseharian, terasa lambat, biasa-biasa saja, dan enggak compelling. Mungkin juga karena pembawaan tokoh utamanya yang lempeng kalau bukan loyo. Julius ini yang di buku pertama mencetuskan untuk membikin kelompok Losers, Inc., karena dia begitu sadar diri. Di buku ini tidak disebut-sebut kata "loser", tapi kentara dia orang yang enggak ambisius, pesimistis, dan tampak nyaman-nyaman saja dengan keadaannya itu saking sudah terbiasa. Di buku ini pula dia masih orang yang setia kawan dan suportif, tapi bukan hanya kepada sobatnya--Ethan--melainkan juga kepada beberapa orang lain di sekitarnya. Walaupun memiliki berbagai kekurangan/kelemahan, dia masih bisa menjadi orang yang bermanfaat. Kayaknya dia INFP deh.

Hubungan Ethan-Lizzie masih cute. Ibunya Julius sebagai antagonis berkesan begitu soft (bandingkan dengan stereotip Asian/African parent). Olivia tampak wishful thinking, klise tapi di sisi lain menarik karena sifatnya yang berkebalikan dengan Julius yaitu tidak bisa menerima kekalahan.

Salah satu amanat yang bisa ditarik dari cerita ini adalah agar menetapkan beberapa tujuan dan me-review-nya setiap pekan, boleh mengubahnya menyesuaikan dengan keadaan.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a funny, chuckle out loud, Middle grade story about Julius. His adventures in this book are babysitting and potty training little boy name Edison, taking French class, and impressing a girl named Octavia. Julius brings in his friend Ethan for help. Julius is definitely brave. 3 Stars

[Brooklyn F · Rating 3 out of 5]

You're a Brave Man,Julius Zimmerman is a book about a twelve year old who is in charge of a club. The club is named Losers Inc. He is also a babysitter for a little boy Ethan and Julius as all these goals to get during the summer and one of them is to get Ethan to go to the bathroom in a "big boy potty" but Ethan jus wont do ii. When he tries Ethan will get off the potty and go on the floor. I gave this book a tree rating because I like babysitting little kids like Ethan but not when they try to go on the floor. Also I like being in clubs if im with my friends.

[Sadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awwww, this book was so cute! Found myself growing to like Julius maybe even more then Ethan. Read at a very perfect time, when Julius's clumsiness was relatable to my own at placement, and his overall awkwardness was endearing. This book had a few less events happening compared to Losers Inc. so it was a bit more slow and less interesting. But I still found myself feeling for Julius when his mom criticized him for everything, even when the reader knew he was such a nice guy. The ending was really cute also! Nice read!

[Melissa]

Julian’s an underachiever. He hates to read. He’s bad at sports. And he’s a klutz. His mother, trying to get him ready for 7th grade, has set him up for the worst summer of his life: in the mornings, he has to do French camp and in the afternoon he has to babysit 3 year old Edison Blue… who, get this, isn’t even potty trained! Will this really be the worst summer of his life?

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a parent, this book in the series is probably the most emotional, from hilarious child care/toilet training stories to learning to love your child as he or she is and not how you think they should be.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julius takes french and babysits in summer, gets appreciation from new girl.

[Nick Ungefug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in 3rd grade and I'll never forget it! The story is a little cliche but still fun to read.

[Koqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a good book.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!