I remember reading this book in fifth grade. It made me cry so hard. My younger self obviously found it amazing and touching.

A classic case of teachers bringing their work home... I figured I might as well seeing as I'd read Holes once upon a time. Starts off very well, telling the story of the worst kid in the class meeting his new school counsellor. Full of good humour and excellent dialogue. Worst kid in class develops in fits and starts under the tutelage of said counsellor, all very well managed but finishes poorly. It all gets a little ham-fisted unfortunately. Still, my class have enjoyed it immensely so far and I think, as far as the 3/4 mark, they'll love it. I'll be curious to see how they react to the conclusion.

My favorite book as a kid. I still think of it when I multiply fractions.

This book cracked me up when I was twelve. And twenty-three.

I believe students would get a good laugh from this book and some of the ridiculous things that Bradley Chalkers does. As an adult I had trouble getting past how the various adults in the story interacted with him. Not my favorite.

This was one of my favorite books when I was younger. The character development is amazing in this. And Bradley is hilarious.

I had the pleasure of seeing a performance of this years ago at the Chicago Children's Theatre. It was phenomenal.

Read this book to my students every year and they will make fond references to it for the rest of the year. It is a sweet, sad story of boy who is mean, awkward, and irresistible. A wonderful illustration that our doubts, fears and insecurities are our own worst enemies and that everyone needs someone to believe in them.

Louis Sachar is America's Dahl; the left side of quirky. Often so over the top, it is hard not to have your eyes roll out of your head, but then he sneaks in a lovely emotional wallop, that manages to blend seamlessly with the silliness.

"En su planeta, puede que eso se considere muy bonito. A lo mejor acabas de describir a una estrella de cine"
"Luego pintó un corazón rojo en su pecho para mostrar la bondad que ocultaba allí"
"Te agradezco que hayas compartido esto conmigo"
"Hola, Carla. Es un placer verte hoy"
"Todos los libros son diferentes. Sin embargo, todos usan prácticamente las mismas palabras. Solo que las ponen en un orden diferente. En nuestro alfabeto hay veintisiete letras. ¡Basta con cambiarlas de orden para que signifiquen un montón de cosas diferentes"
"Si un monstruo te saluda, tú también debes saludarlo. Y si no lo haces, me pregunto cuál de los dos es el verdadero monstruo"
"La magia está en ti"
"Creo que es más importante enseñarles cómo pensar, en vez de qué deben pensar"
"Las palabras que buscaba aún no se habían inventado"
"Cumpleaños fel..., empezó a cantar"
"Aunque su equipo había perdido, había sido la carrera más divertida de todas"
"Es un regalo de corazón, así que no me lo puedes devolver"