Gail GauthierReseñas

Can you write an entire book about a girl giving an oral report in school on Ethan Allen? Well, yes and no.
This was quite an uneven book. The best parts were laugh out loud funny, clever, and built around an interesting cast of characters. I'd give 2/3 of the book five stars.
Tessie LeClerc is a 6th grade student in Vermont in 1966. She's always been a C student, but she ends up being assigned the coveted report on Ethan Allen for her oral report on Vermont history. She ends up reporting on everything about the hero of the state that teachers don't want impressionable young minds to hear about. And that's funny. Her farmer father, who has an odd manner of speaking, him, and only third grade education is quite the character, livening up any episode he is in.
But as the book goes along, Tessie has to report more and more on Ethan Allen, and especially in the last third of the book, we have long, unfunny stretches that seem to be mostly direct quotes from Ethan Allen's autobiography. And by long, I mean pages and pages in a row. It becomes rather boring towards the end.
And one little episode seemed wildly inappropriate for a middle readers book to me. The LeClerc family is regularly harassed by a neighbor's vicious dog. Seriously vicious. Dangerous. Tessie's father rants occasionally about how he should kill that dog. Well, when the dog in about to attack his daughter's friend, he does kill it. With a shovel. Brutally. And yes, if a dog was about to maul a child and I had a shovel, I'd do the same thing, but I'd have been more comfortable if the whole dog part of the story had been omitted entirely. It wasn't essential to the plot.
Halfway through reading this, I thought I'd be highly recommending it, but by the end, I can only give it a lukewarm review.

Ever since the incident with the screwdriver at the end of sixth grade, Kyle has been living in his own pessimistic cloud. Concerned, his therapist mom gives him a self-help book and bribes him with a dollar for each chapter read. Kyle is surprised to find that the book tends to fall open to exactly the pages he needs--and even more surprised to find that the book's advice works. There's a chance that Kyle can reconnect with his old friends, make some new ones, and even redeem himself by doing the right thing. Maybe his seventh-grade glass can be half-full, after all.

Less about bullying and fitting in than I was looking for, but still worthwhile in terms of positivity and outlook, and modifying destructive behaviors. I don't think this needs to be a required summer reading nominee, but I'll probably add it to my booktalks list.

Will and Robby are two brothers who lead typical lives until their mother's baking attracts aliens. When their mother invites over two new kids from the neighborhood she doesn't realize that the visitors at her front door are aliens. Will immediately recognizes them as aliens and tries to tell his mom but she is too busy to listen to him. The aliens intend to destroy Earth until but the boys' mother's baking changes their minds. Throughout the book the aliens return to Will and Robby's house and get into all kinds of antics. In one scenario one of the aliens takes over the body of a dog and in another an alien takes over for Santa after getting into an Interstellar Space accident with Santa's sleigh.

The children in the story are able to recognize the aliens for what they are but for whatever reason the adults are not able to, even though the children try to tell them on several occasions and the aliens look like aliens in the illustrations. Despite being totally implausible the author somehow manages to make it believable. The writing and the characters are very funny and I don't think most children will care that it is totally over the top. Not your typical science fiction book but a nice introduction for young children looking for a lighthearted approach to science fiction. Suggested grade level: 3-4.

Kyle has been given a book, a book that knows what to tell him at the right moments. This book was given by his mother so he could be more positive in his daily life. Well, Kyle promises to read it for one dollar a chapter. The book helps him and he becomes stronger in what he does in his daily life. Kyle ends up becoming a very nice person, and helpful friend. Kyle gets what he needs and he helps others at the right time needed. This book HAPPY KID!, really taught him truth and correct development.

My opinion about this book is, is that it was very slow. The author (Gail Gauthier) didn't put real meaning into the story. Kyle gets a book by his mother and he finds out that the book know what to say at the right time and meaning. This was a great part of the story, but to get to this part it took the author a very long time and not the right timing. The climax of this book is none. There was a rising action when kyle starts doing what the book says. And there was a lowering action, when kyle gives the book away. But all together there was no real meaning to HAPPY KID!

If you want an ironic ending, this is the book for you. AHS/DA

It didn't keep my interest at all. Not enough action and the kid complains too much. Q1P1 AHS/Karissa B.

Brandon's often stuck at Hannah's house after school. He'd like to just watch TV, but she always wants to play come crazy make-believe game with him. Usually he can't be bothered, but when the make-believe turns into a real-live theft, he's hooked on Hannah's kind of adventure.

A little hokey - how many kids really will read a self-help book? - but otherwise good. A nice story; Kyle learns to make some tough decisions with the help of his seemingly-magical "Happy Kid!" book, which always gives him the exact self-help tip he needs to deal with the situation he's in. We all could use a magical self-help book...

not so engaging

Kyle begins seventh grade with the vain hope that everyone will have forgotten the screwdriver incident in sixth grade that landed him with the undeserved reputation of psychopath-in-the-making. Though initially underwhelmed by his concerned mother's gift of a book entitled Happy Kid! he finds himself intrigued by the volume's strange properties and enigmatic advice. Often misinterpreting its messages, he stumbles into situations that confound his expectations and challenge his assumptions. The essential darkness of Kyle's initial situation is lightened by the humor that bubbles up from time to time throughout this intelligently written novel. During the first part of the book in particular, Kyle's narrow focus on his problems and the unremitting dimness of his prospects for happiness may discourage some readers. Still, the engulfing groundswell of raw unhappiness will seem painfully familiar to many readers, and the gradual resolution of Kyle's dejection as he matures offers hope. From the author of Saving the Planet and Stuff (2003), this is a rewarding novel of adolescent angst and growth. Category: Books for Older Readers--Fiction. 2006, Putnam, $16.99. Gr. 6-9.

Three afternoons a week, Brandon reluctantly stays with his imaginative classmate, Hannah, and her oversized cat, Buttercup, playing games, but their adventures really begin when a new neighbor moves in with a ferocious chihuahua named Bucky.

Funny book about a kid who doesn't fit in. His mom insists that he read a self help book, which he discovers will tell him exactly what he needs to hear in any situation.

This story seems very realistic and current. Students could easily identify with Tessy and her classmates. The author describes Tessy in a way in which the reader really gets to know her. We can see how she changes throughout the book and learns a lot about herself, her family, and her real friends. Tessy is a round character who we get to see both at school and at home and really feel as though we are her struggling through the sixth grade with her.½

School Library Journal
Gr 5-8-To Kyle, Bert P. Trotts Middle School is "the gateway to hell.'' All he wants is to get through seventh grade unnoticed. Since he's infamous for an incident with a screwdriver on the bus in sixth grade that was blown way out of proportion by the administration, and he has been placed in accelerated classes, he has lost all of his friends. On the night before school starts, his mother gives him a book to help him counteract his negativity, claiming that Happy Kid: A Young Person's Guide to Satisfying Relationships and a Happy and Meaning-filled Life just screamed his name when she saw it. But the book seems to have a plan of its own, falling open to the parts that are pertinent to the zany situations that Kyle finds himself in, although sometimes offering advice that makes his life more complicated. Gauthier perfectly describes a typically self-absorbed teenage boy who sees himself as an underdog. Her one-liners, rapid-fire humor, and sharp ear for dialogue make this a quick, funny read. This portrait of middle school will ring all too true to students who run that gauntlet daily.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.