Friday, February 28, 2014

Brooke's Review/Interview: School is a Nightmare #5: Winter Breakdown, by Raymond Bean


My 9-year-old daughter, Brooke, loves to read and wants to have a blog of her own one day. She has committed to review one book a week and they will be featured on Fridays. This is the final book of a 5 book series!

School is a Nightmare #5: Winter Breakdown, by Raymond Bean
2013, 101p, Middle-grade Fiction
Brooke's Rating=5 Stars
Source: Own a Copy

Justin has been looking forward to winter break since the first day of school. It's finally arrived and he can't wait for some lazy days at home and time off from 4th grade. Unfortunately his family has different plans and they don't include relaxing at home. He thinks school is the worst, but a week off might just have him begging to go back!
 
In School is a Nightmare 5, Justin is so happy about winter break. But before then he has a few issues at school. He calls his teacher the worst right in front of her face. Justin and some other kids start blowing powdered sugar at each other. Justin falls over and cracks his tooth. He gets in some trouble with that and has to have some of his presents taken away. Grandma comes over and tells them that for Christmas they are going to Aruba. Justin and his family are so excited to go to Aruba. On the plane to Aruba Justin's teacher Mrs. Cliff is there too. His grandma and his teacher Mrs. Cliff become bffs. He is not all that happy with his teacher being on the trip. There is still a lot more to this book but I don’t want to give out too much!

I loved this book and it was my all time favorite. I feel that Justin has some great times and terrible times. I love this series and wish there were more. If Raymond Bean comes out with more I will definitely read and review them. I have loved these books since book one. Justin has some really bad punishments but I love to see how he can work through them. These are the only books of Raymond Bean's books I've read so far. I think he's a great author and can't wait until I read one of his other books. Justin's family is interesting. His sisters always are getting him in trouble or he's getting himself into trouble. His parents can always come up with crazy punishments.

I love this series and hope he comes out with more.


Brooke was super excited when we heard from the author and even more excited when he agreed to answer some questions. Here's our interview with him:

1. When did you first consider yourself a writer?
 I've always loved writing. It's something I've done for as long as I can remember. My closet is full of notebooks going back years and years.

2. What inspired you to write School is a Nightmare?
School Is A Nightmare was inspired by many things. When I was a kid there were times when I dreaded going to school. I think all kids go through stages of loving school and disliking it. The main character in School Is A Nightmare thinks school is the worst. He fails to realize that he's the root of his problems, not school.

3. What other series have you written?
I love writing books in series. I wrote the three book Sweet Farts Series. It's a fun, silly series that was a ton of fun to write. Capstone Kids just released Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire in February 2014. I hope to write more Benji books and expand the series.

4. What are you writing now?
I'm writing a few things right now. OUT OF THIS WORLD is a fun new series about a girl who's mom is an astronaut and her family will be the first family to live on a space station. I'm having a blast writing it.

5. What are some of your favorite books and what book are you reading now?
I teach fourth grade during the day, so I love many books for that age group.I love Frindle, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Tale of Despereaux, Maniac Magee, and so many more.

I'm currently reading The Magician's Elephant. I think this is my fifth time reading it, and it gets better every time.

6. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
When I'm not writing I love to spend time with my family. I enjoy basketball, going to the beach, and playing with my kids.

7. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
My advice for aspiring writers is to have goals. Set goals for how often you're going to write and how much time each day you will devote to your writing.

Thanks, Raymond, it's fun to getting to know you better! We've read The Magician's Elephant once and I actually don't remember that much about it, so it's good to hear that it gets better each time you read it. We'll have to read it again. We're looking forward to reading more of your books and it sounds like you'll keep them coming for years to come!

Speaking of Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire, the book trailer is out now and you can view it here.

About the Author

Raymond  Bean is a dad, a  teacher, and the Amazon best-selling author of the  Sweet Farts and  School Is A Nightmare series. His books have ranked #1  in Children's  Humor, Humorous Series, and Fantasy and Adventure. They  often rank among  Amazon's top 100 books for children.
 

Baseball: A Ticket To The Bigs releases August 23 and Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire comes out January 2014.


2 comments:

Jinky said...

Like the tease again Brooke! Grandma & teacher being bff sounds like the recipe for adventure ..and set in Aruba is even more interesting! --Enjoyed the interview as well.

Katie W said...

How fun to get an interview! I'll have to have my kids try these books out.

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