SOLVED. Adventure: About a young boy who is smart and also introverted. He purchases expensive camping gear for class camping trip. The camping trip is ruined when PE teachers catches some boys with a corkscrew knife. Runs into forest. Read in 2012. [s]

[Bryan]

I am looking for this middle school level book that I read some years back. I know most of the plotline and it starts out by talking about this introverted kid who stares out of a window in the back corner seat of the room. Once the teacher asked him about something that related to history, and I think something about airships blimps? He responded saying the textbook was wrong and clearly explained why. The teacher left him alone after that. The main story takes place at the camping trip that his class was going on, and this excites him.

SPOILERS
Everything happens at the camp site that this introverted child is finally excited to attend. He purchases a ton of expensive camping gear and is excited for once about something school related. The main problem begins when the PE teacher finds a corkscrew or knife of some kind that is against the rules. Some classmates blame it on this main character and the PE teacher (or some teacher) has to drive him home because he broke rules.

Upset by this, the child goes and runs into the forest with all his equipment he purchased and stays there for hours until the teacher has to go looking for him. The teacher also realizes that it wasn't his knife because another kid's name was carved into it. The teacher being in only shorts and a t-shirt is in the forest until night fall and breaks his leg or something like that. The kid finds him, close to frozen, and starts making a fire plus putting him in his expensive sleeping bag that he bought.

This is all I remember. Hopefully it is enough! I have been trying to find this book for a long time.

[Ann]

Possibly A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements? The summary is as follows:

The fifth grade's annual camping trip in the woods tests Mark's survival skills and his ability to relate to a teacher who seems out to get him. The fifth-grade Week in the Woods is a beloved tradition of Hardy Elementary, where Mark Chelmsley (the Fourth) is pretty much killing time before his parents send him off to an exclusive prep school. But then Mark realizes the Week might be a chance to prove to Mr. Maxwell that he's not just another of the slacker rich kids the teacher can't stand. But it may be too late for Mark to change Mr. Maxwell's opinion of him. On the first day of the Week, the tension between teacher and student explodes, and in a reckless moment, Mark puts not only himself, but also Mr. Maxwell, in grave danger. Can two such strong adversaries work together to save their lives?

[Kris]

Ann's suggestion of A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements sounds like your book.

Google Books preview:

https://books.google.com/books?id=HUt... There are different cover images.

Kirkus Review:

"... pairs a smart, unhappy, rich kid and a small-town teacher too quick to judge on appearances. Knowing that he’ll only be finishing up the term at the local public school near his new country home before hieing off to an exclusive academy, Mark makes no special effort to fit in, just sitting in class and staring moodily out the window. This rubs veteran science teacher Bill Maxwell the wrong way, big time, so that even after Mark realizes that he’s being a snot and tries to make amends, all he gets from Mr. Maxwell is the cold shoulder. Matters come to a head during a long-anticipated class camping trip; after Maxwell catches Mark with a forbidden knife (a camp mate’s, as it turns out) and lowers the boom, Mark storms off into the woods. Unaware that Mark is a well-prepared, enthusiastic (if inexperienced) hiker, Maxwell follows carelessly, sure that the “slacker” will be waiting for rescue around the next bend—and breaks his ankle running down a slope...

[Bryan]

Yes! Thats the one. Thank you.