The Homework Machine

MY 11 YR. OLD SON COULDN'T PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! HE IS NOT AN AVID READER BUT THIS BOOK REALLY CAPTURED HIS INTEREST. WE SINCE HAVE PURCHASED OTHER "DAN GUTMAN" BOOKS.

Kids in grades 4-5 will love this book! It is a bit too easy for middle school kids, but a fun read none the less. It is written unlike most other chapter books. It is written more like an interview conducted with each character as the school year progresses and problems arise with Belch. This book can teach valuable lessons on ethics and morals. This is a definite read for my students this year. If you are a child who does not like to read or are a teacher or parent who knows kids who are reluctant readers, Dan Gutman books are fabulous. My students all rave about them.

The homework machine is a great book it is about a group of kids who become friends. They become friends by using a machine made to do homework codenamed Belch. The book is very very funny and knows just when to add humor to it. The only bad thing about this book is that you wish the book was longer. I think this is a good book for kids and grown-ups alike. You should read this book as soon as you can, so you can read it before people start talking about it and you look like a dummy. Read it today!

This was so great!!! You want to know why? My teacher read this as a read aloud book, he was so enthusiastic while reading this book! He had different voices for each hillarious charater! I don't know if you are the one who is tied up in mysteries, Non-Fictoin, Or history, well whoever you are, whatever you like, you will love this book! That's Guaranteed!

Yet another fun title from Dan, the man of Gut. Dan Gutman churns out children's books at the rate that brings to mind that "I Love Lucy" sketch involving the chocolate assembly line. His books keep coming and coming and it's anybody's guess on what the quality is going to be from time to time. Add insult to injury the fact that I sometimes get Gutman mixed up with fellow prolific kiddie author Dan Greenburg and it shouldn't be any wonder at all that I went into, "The Homework Machine" with a bit of trepidation. Still, I'd heard good things about this book. This is one of those titles that slowly but surely is gathering praise until someday you may not be able to say the word "Gutman" without the instantaneous image of a homework machine popping instantly to mind. Or maybe not. Maybe it's just a fun book that kids will adore and that manages to be simultaneously silly and serious while unwinding a truly interesting story. Whatever the case, this is certainly one of the best books of jolly old 2006. It's all over now. What's done is done. The only thing left is to interview the kids themselves and get their side of the story. There's Sam Dawkins a.k.a Snikwad ("Dawkins" backwards) a.k.a Snik. He'd just started as the new kid in a fifth grade class at the Grand Canyon School. Snik's a little high-strung and testy to begin with. Then he and three other students are put together into a little group. There's Kelsey who doesn't care too much about school. More on getting her hair dyed pink. Then there's Judy. She's already aiming for law school and nothing's going to stop her now. And finally, and most importantly, there's Brenton. Brenton was the whole reason all this started. Brenton was the genius. Brenton was the kid who came up with the homework machine. At first, these wholly different kids become good friends through a single invention. But when all four start using the machine for their own homework every day, things start to get out of hand. Suspicions are leveled. People are betrayed. A mysterious stranger is stalking them. And worst of all, it seems like the machine has taken on a life of its own. Now when I first heard the phrase, "homework machine", the first thing I thought of was that old Shel Silverstein poem. Do you remember it? It was featured in his collection, "A Light In the Attic", and for certain members of my generation it's near impossible to read the title of this book without hearing the words, "Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime / Snap on the switch, and it ten seconds time / Your homework comes out, quick and clean as can be / Here it is - "nine plus four?" and the answer is three". Of course, when Silverstein envisioned HIS machine, it was seriously low-tech. Gutman's the one who ironed out the tricky details like, "How do you fool a teacher into thinking it was written in your own handwriting?" or "Does it cost anything?", or even, "Wouldn't you just fail some tests and draw