Herbie Jones

I have a ten year old son who does not enjoy reading, but he got all of the Herbie Jones books that I could find for Christmas and he loved them. He had read them all by the end of January. There seems to be much more out there for girls so I was thrilled to find something for boys.

(...)We just read Herbie Jones and we think it is the best book on Earth! We don't like reading usually, but we liked this book and we hope you do too. The main character is Herbie Jones. (...) He lives in Connecticut just like us. He has a big sister Olivia just like one of us. Herbie loves to read but he doesn't do well on his assignments. He can do anything if he puts his mind to it, like moving up to the next higher reading group, "The Chargers." Herbie's friend, Raymond, also wants to go up to the higher reading group, but it's really hard for him. The other characters in the book include his friend Raymond and Annabelle, Margie and his teacher, Miss Pinkham. His parents and sister are also in the book. Herbie also made two spider friends in his bathroom at home. He always comes home after school to tell his spiders, Gus and Spike, about his day. The author did a good job describing Raymond's cheeseburger because it made us want to eat a cheeseburger too. There are some gross parts, like when Herbie found bones in the boys' bathroom and the girls found blood on the bathroom mirror. It's a mystery who put those things in the bathrooms. The girls in our reading didn't like that but the boy in our group thought it was cool. Herbie is brave when he has to help Annabelle by going in the girls' room. One of the chapters is called The Murder, but we will not tell you anything about that chapter. One of our favorite parts is when Herbie and Raymond get back together as friends. We wish there was a movie of Herbie Jones. We would like to read other books of Herbie Jones.

Herbie Jones is an awesome book. Herbie Jones is about a kid and how he is. He is brave because he snuck off and got a hamburger. Herbie is funny because he is trying to get on honor roll. At the beginning he got a 100 on his spelling test. Raymond bought Mrs. Pinkham a purple magic marker because he likes her as a teacher. At the end of the book Herbie's sister killed his pet spiders because she was cleaning the house. Herbie's mom got a new job. You should try reading this book.

In the same genre as Junie B. Jones, this book is easy to read and funny. My third grader, who has a learning disability, liked it, and we have found very few books that he likes. Example: the boys in the book think that RSVP means "remove shoes very promptly," so they wonder why they're the only two who took their shoes off at a birthday party. Because it's a clever book, I don't mind listening while my son reads it aloud to me.