Rotten School 06 – The Heinie Prize

R. L. Stine's Rotten School The Heinie Prize is a gloriously silly boarding school comedy for 7 year olds about a boy who can talk his way out of anything.

What happens

Bernie Bridges thinks he's the king of Rotten School. He's also the one telling the story, so you hear all about his pure genius (his words, not ours).

This is the sixth Rotten School book. Mrs Heinie, the dorm mother, hands out a silver trophy each year for Most Outstanding Fourth Grader. Of course Bernie assumes it's his. Then his rich archenemy Sherman Oaks turns up with a two-thousand-dollar display case to keep it in.

And then a letter arrives for Belzer.

Belzer is the kid who does Bernie's homework, walks his dog and washes his boxer shorts (with fabric softener, the way Bernie likes them). His mum and dad have written to say he's hopeless and they're taking him out of the school. Bernie can't lose his best helper. So he comes up with a plan. Belzer is going to be the one who takes home the Heinie Prize.

Belzer eats soup up his nose. He sleeps with a blankie. How hard can it be?

What follows is one terrible scheme after another. Bernie gives Belzer his bedroom, sets up a pretend crush and plans a very wet rescue at a pond called Pooper's Pond. Meanwhile Sherman is sending Mrs Heinie flowers and chocolates every single day.

Reading it is like being let in on a joke. Bernie is completely sure of himself and almost always wrong, and your reader will see each disaster coming a mile off. The jokes are fast and very rude in the way young readers love. Burping records, stinky bulldogs, a parrot that threatens to peck your eye out and a bowling ball bouncing down the stairs.

Bernie isn't a role model, and that's the fun of it. He cheats, he fibs and he calls Belzer his slave before hastily correcting it to friend. It's all played for laughs. A child who takes things very literally might need a quick chat about why Bernie's plans aren't a good idea!

If your reader loves a narrator who thinks he's brilliant and a plot that gets sillier every chapter, this is a lot of fun.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, go back to where Bernie's story begins with The Big Blueberry Barf-Off. It's the first Rotten School book, with Belzer bringing Bernie breakfast in bed and a pie battle on the way.