George Brown, Class Clown 15 – A Royal Pain in the Burp

Nancy Krulik's A Royal Pain in the Burp is a silly school story for 6 year olds about a boy who finds out he might be related to a king.

What happens

It's the fifteenth George Brown book, so George's big secret is well established. Ever since a wish on a shooting star only half came true, he's had a magic super burp. When it gets loose, George has to do whatever it wants.

This week that means monkey noises in class and a cha-cha with a shop dummy in Grandma's attic. It also means chocolate ice cream by the handful in the supermarket (followed by a mop in aisle four).

Meanwhile Mrs Kelly's class is researching family trees. Everyone has to find a relative who did something surprising. They'll talk about them at a Friday night assembly, and a TV crew is coming to film it.

Sage has a cousin who milked snakes. Mike's great-grandma inspected potato chips. And George? He turns out to be the seventeenth cousin, twice removed, of King Stanley of Arfendonia!

There's just one problem. Nobody knows a single thing about Arfendonia. On the map it looks like a speck of dirt. Louie Farley is sure George has made the whole thing up.

So George heads into Friday with two big worries. Will anyone believe him? And will the burp pick live TV for its next appearance?

It's packed with the things six year olds find hilarious. Snot, bottoms, noisy tummies going bing-bong and ping-pong, and a hypnotism experiment that goes wrong in the funniest possible way. You're right there with George as the bubbles start to build. Who hasn't sat in class desperately trying NOT to do something?

There's a kind moment underneath the silliness too. When George accidentally gets a whole hall laughing at Louie, he feels rotten about it, even after the week Louie has given him.

It's an American series, so expect fourth grade, root beer floats and Mom. None of it gets in the way.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Trouble Magnet is an earlier George Brown book in the library. It opens with Mrs Kelly doing a hula dance in the gym while George lies on the floor, wriggling like a snake to keep a burp down.