Strange Sights! My Weird School Goes to the Museum by Dan Gutman

"

"My name is Andrea and I love school.

I love tests. I love homework. I love teachers, and teachers love me.

Who wouldn't want to be teacher's pet?"

A. J. wouldn't. His ambition is to be class clown, and in that he's already been notably successful.

Andrea doesn't understand how A.J. qualified as "Talented and Gifted," but there he is, paired with her for a special tour of the art museum.

Ugh. It's bad enough to have to put up with A.J.'s silly shenanigans, but to make it worse, the rest of the class say they must be in LOVE! (Andrea thinks they are, but A.J. just doesn't know it--yet!)

At the museum, their personal guide Mr. Meezer has been informed that one of them may not be the well behaved. When A.J. persists in calling their guide "Mr. Geezer," Andrea is sure he'll know which one of them is the one prone to mischief.

But it doesn't work out that way. In the sculpture section, A.J. reacts to a nude statue.

"I can see his butt!" A. J. whispers.

"We're looking at fine art and all you can see is a BUTT?" Andrea protests.

"YOUNG LADY!" says Mr. Meezer. "You are being very immature!"

Andrea tries to explain.

"But...but... but..." she stammers.

"I TOLD you not to say that!" says Mr. Meezer.

Mr. Meezer's got it all wrong. Clearly he thinks Andrea is the misbehaving one of the pair, and as the tour goes on, it only gets worse, and finally it is Andrea who gets sent back early to Ella Mentary School in disgrace. She is humiliated. Will she lose her status as teacher's pet?

But luckily, A. J. is more worried about losing his status as class clown and cheerfully takes the rap for her, in Dan Gutman's latest in series, My Weird School Goes to the Museum (I Can Read Level 2) (HarperCollins, 2016). There's some witty wordplay and a bit of boy-girl humor in this independent reader, with Jim Paillot's jolly digital illustrations of funny field trip doings to elaborate Gutman's narrative. This more advanced easy reader is good for individualized independent reading practice and also serves as an introduction to Gutman's beginning chapter books in his My Weird School Daze 12-Book Box Set: Books 1-12. Dan Gutman is also the notable author of two very popular middle reader series, his time-traveling Baseball Card Adventures and his science fiction series, the Genius Files, page-turning novels that will take readers right into young adult status.