What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Nine-year-old boy punished by being sent to first grade class. [s]
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EDITED because:Now I'm really sure it's The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates
Check this out:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYs...
That was fast. Awesome work, Paige. Thanks mucho!I had the grades wrong, apparently. Turns out it was a third grade not first grade class, but the rest is matching up with what I remember.
My Google skills are failing me on this one. Having vague memories of a children's novel, most likely a paperback, about a nine-year-old boy. He turns ten during the story, as I remember a chapter about his birthday.
He has a mean older sister who wears glasses and a baby brother or sister. There is a scene and illustration of them in the backseat of the family station wagon. Time frame and illustrations were definitely '80s style. I don't think it could have been '70s, and definitely no later than about '91.
The boy is punished by being sent to a first grade class. He is very upset because one of the children is a little girl who wears a dress with hippos all over it, and he can't get over how babyish it is. His friends abandon him because he's in the first grade class. His best friend refuses to be seen with him in public. The school bully beats him up.
On his birthday, he skips school and spends the afternoon at the video arcade (how '80s!). He may skip school other times as well. I forget how the story ended up, but I believe he was finally allowed back into his regular class with the other children. At one point, the bully is also made to come and sit in the first grade class, and he sits in the back and cries.
Thanks mucho for any help!