Showing results by author "Dan Gutman" in All Categories

One minute Qwerty Stevens is researching a last-minute report on the internet, and the next minute Benjamin Franklin is sitting on his bed! Thanks to the Anytime Anywhere Machine hooked up to his computer, Qwerty has snatched Franklin from July 4, 1776, the very day the Declaration of Independence was signed. Qwerty and his best friend, Joe, realize they have to get Franklin back in time for the signing, and they can't resist seeing it with their own eyes. Can the boys make sure the Declaration gets signed like history says it should? And can they make it back home?

Winter break is over, and it’s another five months until summer vacation. A.J. and his friends aren’t looking forward to school starting back up, but they’re even less excited when Dr. Carbles, president of the Board of Education, cancels ALL school holidays. No Presidents' Day, no Memorial Day, and forget about any snow days!

School’s almost out for the summer, and A.J. is dreaming about all the fun things he’s going to do on vacation. But A.J.’s dream quickly turns into a nightmare when three familiar spirits appear to show him summers past, present, and yet to come. Will they be able to convince him to leave his bad ways behind? Or will this summer end up being a total bummer?

Funny Boy, a superhero who disarms villains with his powerful sense of humor, is summoned to save Earth from a planet-gobbling alien from outer space.

My Weirdtastic School #8: Mr. Plummer Is Dumber! has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Ella Mentry School will have a schoolwide poem-writing contest, and all the students have to enter. There’s just one problem: A.J. has no time for rhymes! But when an amazing secret prize is revealed, will A.J. be inspired to write a winning poem? And can he beat Little Miss Know-It-All Andrea—the best poet in school?

A. J. and Andrea are taking a class trip to the museum! Their museum guide has been warned that one of them might misbehave. But who will it be?

When cows across the country go on strike and cause a nationwide cheese shortage, everyone initially welcomes Romano, Fontina, Mozzarella, and Monterey Jack. These cliche-cracking giant cheeseheads claim they will return cheese to supermarket shelves everywhere. But Funny Boy isn't fooled for a minute. He knows these moldy manipulators are malicious aliens. You can bet your bottom dollar that Funny Boy will burn the midnight oil to come up with an artillery of jokes to defeat these cheesy aliens.

Mr. Cooper's class is getting a pet! Alexia hopes it is something cool, like a snake. But is she ready to take care of the pet, or will it be one weird mess? Join A.J. and the gang from Ella Mentry School as they show young listeners why they attend the weirdest - and most fun! - school around.

Jimmy, David, and Henry are psyched. It's summer, school's out, and they are on their way to California, where they will be able to do some major skating. But on the plane, the unthinkable happens: They are hijacked by terrorists. As frightened as they may be, they take action and they succeed. Sort of. They may have beaten the terrorists, but now their plane has crashed in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden, their summer vacation is about finding food, shelter, and a rescue. Can three normal 12-year-old boys find a way to get by without fast food and skate parks?

A lineman with something to prove. A vendetta against a baseball legend. The rise of a real-life NHL all-star. The luckiest grapefruit in sports history. Open up The Sports Pages, the third volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading, and you're in for all of this and more. From fiction to nonfiction, from baseball to mixed martial arts and everything in between, these are 10 stories about the rush of victory and the crush of defeat on and off the field. Compiled by kid-lit all-star Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: The Sports Pages is a thrilling collection of brand-new short stories.

We, the members of the Get Rich Quick Club, in order to form a more perfect summer, vow we will figure out a way to make a million dollars by September. We agree that neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night will prevent us from achieving our stated goal, until death do us part.

When a kid is dragged to Central Park in New York on a Saturday (when he could be at home watching the ball game), the last thing he wants is a history lesson from his mom. But then his mother starts telling him a story. A story about the giant structure sitting in right in front of them—Cleopatra’s Needle. It turns out that an enslaved boy and hundreds of other people spent more than six hundred days carving the Needle out of stone and pulling it upright. And another kid’s drawings were used to create the hieroglyphs on its sides.

Join the gang from Ella Mentry School in this hilarious, hijinks-filled sports story as they show young readers and listeners why they attend the weirdest - and most fun! - school around. With help from Coach Deen, Ryan wants to form a sports team with A.J. and Andrea, but it's for one of the weirdest sports there is: curling! Will the sweepers be able to get the stones to the house, or will trouble among the teammates end in one weird mess?

Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt was shot before a rally, and went on to give his speech with the bullet in his chest? Or that he skinny-dipped in the Potomac River? Bet you didn’t know that he had a zebra, a lion, and a one-legged rooster at the White House! Siblings Paige and Turner have collected some of the most unusual and surprising facts about the larger-than-life president, from his childhood and his Rough Rider days to his rise to politics and his complicated presidential legacy.

Mr. Cooper's class is having a talent show. But A. J. has a problem - he doesn't have a talent! What will he do when the big day comes? Join A. J. and the gang from Ella Mentry School as they show young listeners why they attend the weirdest - and most fun! - school around.

How does the president get his job? How do people know who will win an election before everybody’s voted? Do the candidates hate each other? Dan Gutman takes on his strangest subject ever: the American political system. Reaching through history from the days of the founding fathers to today’s voting system, Gutman tackles complex subjects in a clear, easy-to-understand way. Even grown-ups will find something in here that they’ve never learned before.

RBG failed her driving test five times! She could do twenty push-ups when she was eighty years old! She was a terrible cook! Siblings Paige and Turner have collected some of the most unusual and surprising facts about the Supreme Court icon, from her childhood and school days to her rise through the United States legal system to become one of the most famous justices—and political figures—in history.

John Lennon’s mom called him “Stinker” because he farted so much! Paul McCartney’s car was wrecked by chickens! George Harrison once had his friend’s parent sign his bad report card! Ringo Starr’s grandma thought he was possessed by witches! Wait! What? Siblings Paige and Turner have collected the most unusual and surprising facts about these rock stars, from their childhoods and early days as musicians to the formation of the Beatles and their skyrocketing journey to become the greatest band in the world.

One day at recess, Rappy the dinosaur gets taken by aliens on a UFO ride. The head alien, Janet, wants Rappy to live with her - on Mars! Will Rappy stay in space to roam, or will he rap his way back home?