Rotten School #10: The Rottenest Angel

The Rotten School series books are great! My boys love them. I read to them daily, and they usually pick one of the Rotten School books. They are funny and entertaining. My older son, 7 (almost 8), loves to read them in bed before he goes to sleep. I'm glad I have finally found a series he enjoys reading on his own.

Jovial Bob Stine meets (shudder) R.L. Stine in this new series called Rotten School, an elementary boarding school for boys and girls. The Rottenest Angel (Book 10) features new kid Angel Goodeboy, who behaves in mean and sneaky ways to thwart fellow student Bernie Bridges, by getting him into big time trouble. Situations occur that are all too true in real life, such as Angel "accidentally" deleting Bernie's history report from Bernie's computer, and then acting in a self-deprecating way to show his remorse: Angel bangs his head against the wall, mea culpa! mea culpa! until Bernie grabs his head to make him stop. At that minute, Mrs. Heine, teacher and dorm supervisor, walks into the room and concludes that Bernie has been pounding Angel's head into the wall--which is exactly what Angel wanted to have happen. In many similar situations, Angel comes up smelling like a rose, and Bernie gets into trouble. That's the spooky part of this Stine series--the actions of these zany characters can be horribly real. Told in the first person by Bernie, it is well-written with excellent grammar, punctuation, textual variations, and is loaded with plenty of gross and corny boy-humor. Aptly and engagingly (and hysterically) illustrated by Trip Park, this series will appeal to reluctant and avid readers alike.

Starting with the morning announcements and reading the entire book is a treat for everyone. I enjoy reading the books to my grandchildren. We all sit (somewhat) cramped on the sofa. I read them the book and we all laugh together.