My Weird School Series by Dan Gutman

With kooky titles like Miss Daisy Is Crazy!  and Mr. Klutz Is Nuts!, how could Josh resist?
I chanced upon this series at the library and decided that Josh might enjoy reading them over the holidays.  From a stack of books that I’d picked up, he just zoomed in on Miss Daisy Is Crazy! and started reading it on the drive home, chuckling and laughing out loud at certain parts.  I had to ask him to put down the book during the drive.  He’d pick it up again as soon as we stop for a light and I’d had to remind him to put it down again.  In the end, I gave up.  He finished the book shortly after we got home.

Then he started on the next one, Mrs. Roopy Is Loopy!, and finished it that night.  To say that he loves the books would be an understatement.  He just devours them and I’d see and hear him laughing out loud, exclaiming, “This is so funny!”

I read through one (Miss Daisy Is Crazy!) just to see what it is that he finds so funny in them and I’ll have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it, too.  The story is told from A.J.’s point of view.  A.J. is a boy who hates school.  A.J.’s voice rings true and you could almost picture A.J. as you read through his accounts of events.  I guess it’s easy for Josh to relate to another little boy who’s telling about stuff that go on at his school. 

The My Weird School series by Dan Gutman are chapter books (about 100 pages per book) set at Ella Mentry School. (You just gotta love the names!)  Weird things seem to happen at that school.  All the grown-ups are, well, weird.  Check out some of the titles above. Weird = Funny in Josh’s world.

I think part of what Josh loves about this series, too, is that the main characters (A.J. and know-it-all Andrea and their friends) are featured throughout the series and the setting is the same, so there is some sort of continuity to it.  I asked him why he loves the each of the My Weird School books that he’s read and every time he’d say, “Because it’s funny!”  I guess if you’re 5 and you read chapter titles like “Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too” (Mr. Louie Is Screwy!), “Indoor Recess Is No Fun” (Ms. Todd Is Odd!), and “The Amazing World of Poop” (Ms. Krup Cracks Me Up!), you’d be totally drawn in, too!
Here is the complete My Weird School series:

1. Miss Daisy Is Crazy!
2. Mr. Klutz Is Nuts!
3. Mrs. Roopy Is Loopy!
4. Ms. Hannah Is Bananas!
5. Miss Small Is Off the Wall!
6. Mr. Hynde Is Out of His Mind!
7. Mrs. Cooney Is Loony!
8. Ms. LaGrange Is Strange!
9. Miss Lazar Is Bizarre!
10. Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker!
11. Mrs. Kormel Is Not Normal!
12. Ms. Todd Is Odd!
13. Mrs. Patty Is Batty!
14. Miss Holly Is Too Jolly!
15. Mr. Macky Is Wacky!
16. Ms. Coco Is Loco!
17. Miss Suki Is Kooky!
18. Mrs. Yonkers Is Bonkers!
19. Dr. Carbles Is Losing His Marbles!
20. Mr. Louie Is Screwy!
21. Ms. Krup Cracks Me Up!

And then there’s the My Weird School Daze series, when A.J. and Andrea move on to third grade and get a new teacher…

1. Mrs. Dole Is Out of Control!
2. Mr. Sunny Is Funny!
3. Mr. Granite Is from Another Planet!
4. Coach Hyatt Is a Riot!
5. Officer Spence Makes No Sense!
6. Mrs. Jafee Is Daffy!
7. Dr. Brad Has Gone Mad!
8. Miss Laney Is Zany!
9. Mrs. Lizzy Is Dizzy!
10. Miss Mary Is Scary!
11. Mr. Tony Is Full of Baloney!