My Weird School 2 – Mr. Klutz Is Nuts!

Dan Gutman's Mr. Klutz Is Nuts is a fast, daft school comedy for 8 year olds about a bald head teacher who'll do absolutely anything to get his pupils learning.

What happens

It's the second My Weird School book, and it opens with Mr. Klutz skateboarding down the hill to school, totally out of control. He flies through the air like a superhero and lands head first in a bush. Then he gets up, dusts himself off and says good morning.

A.J. is eight, he hates school, and he's just been sent to the principal's office for the first time ever. (There was a hockey game with a tennis ball, and a girl called Annette. Annette? A net? You'll get it.)

He's expecting a dungeon. Instead Mr. Klutz is hanging upside down from a bar on the ceiling, and he gives A.J. a chocolate bar.

So of course the whole class suddenly wants to be sent to the office. A drawing pin goes on Miss Daisy's chair. It does not end with chocolate. You might want a little chat about that one!

Then Mr. Klutz starts making deals. A million maths problems, and he'll kiss a pig on the lips at a chocolate party. Essays for Election Day, and he'll climb the flagpole. Spellings, and he'll ride a pogo stick down Main Street dressed as a turkey. Plenty of the stunts go wrong, and he keeps getting hurt.

Is he a brilliant head teacher or is he nuts? Andrea (who knows everything) starts to worry he might just want a hug.

A.J. tells it all straight to you, and he takes everything literally. When Miss Daisy says "That's the last straw", he's convinced she thinks he stole her straws. Things are "the funniest thing in the history of the world" again and again.

It's an American book with American school years, and the "I hate her" about Andrea is all part of the act. Every chapter is short, and the pages turn themselves.

What to read next

If your reader can't get enough of A.J.'s class, Mrs. Roopy Is Loopy brings in a new librarian, and someone in a George Washington wig marches into their classroom.