George Brown, Class Clown 10 – Three Burps and You’re Out!

Nancy Krulik's Three Burps and You're Out is a baseball story for 6 year olds about a big match, a falling-out between friends and a burp that refuses to stay on the bench.

What happens

It's book ten in the George Brown, Class Clown series. George plays catcher on the school team, and the championship game is only a week away. This year they're determined to beat the Kangaroos from Klockermeister Elementary.

The team name is the first problem. Sea Monkeys sounds tough, right? Then Mrs Kelly brings a tank of real ones into class and they turn out to be teeny brine shrimp. It isn't long before the other side are calling them wimpy shrimpies.

Then George gets it into his head that Chris told the Kangaroos, and the two of them fall out in front of everyone at lunch. Chris quits the team. Sage takes his place in the outfield (and won't swing at a single pitch in case she hits Georgie with the bat).

Meanwhile the super burp is up to its usual tricks. Only half of George's wish on a star came true (the making-kids-laugh half), so the burp gets the laughs and George gets the trouble. At a minor-league game it has him singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game and juggling boxes of popcorn, right up on the giant stadium screen. At the school art show it gets its hands on a plate of jelly doughnuts. You can imagine the walls.

There's something really nice under all the silliness. George gets it wrong about a friend and has to find a way to fix things without making them worse. Most kids have been there.

It's also full of the little details kids love. Alex is building a record-breaking ball out of already-chewed gum (yes, really). Louie's mum turns up at practice and calls him Loo Loo Poo.

If your reader plays in a team, the build-up to the big game will feel very familiar. If they just like a laugh, George's burps are as daft as ever.

What to read next

For a look at the burp causing chaos somewhere new, Trouble Magnet has the school talent show coming up and George trying very hard to be the helpful one.