The kids at author Dan Gutman’s Ella Mentry School often find themselves in all kinds of outrageously funny situations with the school’s eccentric staff. But the craziness doesn’t end when the school bell rings. And in the audio edition of the holiday-themed My Weird School Special, Deck the Halls, We’re Off the Walls!, the kids manage to find trouble at the mall.
The story finds A. J. and his friends eagerly awaiting a special visit from Santa at the local mall. They all ride together, excited to meet the big guy in red—but when A. J.’s nemesis, Andrea, shows up, too, their fun afternoon at the mall is disrupted. And it turns out that Santa isn’t the only famous person making an appearance at the mall. When A. J. manages to escape Andrea, he runs into superstar kid rapper Cray-Z, who’s there to do a series of concerts to promote his hit single, “The Christmas Klepto.”
Whenever A. J. and the other kids are involved, comedy and chaos follow right behind. And this holiday-themed My Weird School Special finds the kids getting into all kinds of silly trouble. They try to figure out what to say when they finally get to meet Santa, A. J. tries to decide what to buy his annoying sister for Christmas, and Cray-Z whips the girls at the mall into a screaming holiday frenzy.
As always, the author fills the story with wacky situations and goofy gags. There are always plenty of recurring lines and jokes that kids will recite from one book to the next, and the sense of humor is lovably (if sometimes eye-rollingly) sophomoric.
As is often the case with Gutman’s holiday specials, the story here isn’t exactly cohesive. A trip to the mall to see Santa turns into something completely different—and the storytelling often gets sidetracked. But that won’t really matter to kids as much as the characters and their holiday silliness will.
If you’ve read any of Dan Gutman’s Weird School books, you’ll know what to expect from Deck the Halls, We’re Off the Walls!, too. It’s wacky and entertaining and about as unfocused as a kid who’s been eating Christmas cookies all afternoon. But if you’re making the road trip to Grandma’s this holiday season, it’s a fun-filled way to spend an hour of your time.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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