George Brown, Class Clown

Main Characters: George, Chris, Alex, Louie, Sage, Julianna

Setting: Edith B. Sugarman Elementary School, pet shop, craft store, George's backyard

Summary: After playing with a new toy called Dude-on-a-Skateboard, George decides that he needs to be more responsible and and try to earn some money to save up for the toy.  George especially wants the toy when he sees that Louie, a boy at school, has the new toy.  Despite his efforts to work at his mother's craft shop, open a lemonade stand, and put on a backyard circus, George can't escape his magic burp that comes out at all of the wrong times and makes George act crazy.  After getting a job at a pet shop, George and his friends finally have the money for the toy, but find out that it's sold out once they get to the store.  Afterwards, they see Louie stomping on his Dude-on-a-Skateboard because he says it keeps breaking and it's a piece of junk that doesn't work.  Therefore, they were happy that they didn't waste their money on the toy in the end anyways.

I would use this book as a way for students to discuss many different questions relating to real life situations.  Would you share your new toy with your friends?  Why do you think George keeps acting this way?  Have you ever worked hard to save up for a new toy?  One activity I would do with students is to have them draw a picture of any of the scenes in the book or they could add their own scene.  I would also use this book as a reader's theater.  I would take a chapter and create a reader's theater out of it and have students read the chapter and act it out.

Questions to consider:

• How do we help students reflect and respond to realistic fiction?
• How will you handle it when the subject matter hits close to home for your students?
• Most realistic fiction has quite a bit of dialogue. Was it well written? How so? What can you and your students learn about writing from the author?   

Reference:

Krulik, Nancy. George Brown, Class Clown: World's Worst Wedgie. Scholastic Inc. New York, NY. 2010. Print.