Now, as some of you may know, I love Andrew Clements’ Frindle with all the pieces of my heart. It is magical. It is marvelous. I keep a copy on my "Love You Long Time" shelf at home, next to Redwall and These Old Shades and Daddy Long-Legs. That’s how fantastic it is.A Week in the Woods... is not so fantastic. It is, dare I say it, mediocre. Mark is a smart loner child who moves to a new town and knows all the class material and doesn’t want to bother making friends since his uber-rich family will be carting him off to boarding school in five weeks.Mr. Maxwell is kind of an asshole science teacher, who when he thinks Mark isn’t wowed enough by the “Look What Happened To The Hindenburg” demonstration, decides the most mature thing to do is to HATE MARK FOREVER and ignore him in class and demean him in private and basically act like a fifteen year old girl.During a week-long field trip in the woods, Mr. Maxwell tries to get Mark sent home, Mark wanders off by himself, Mr. Maxwell follows him and sprains an ankle off-screen, they meet up with one another, they eat Snickers bars, they repent of their misbehaviors, they hobble back to camp, and life basically goes on.Now, to be fair, all of this is totally realistic. This is probably exactly how the story would play out if it were to happen in real life. A+ for facts and stuff, Mr. Clements.But it’s boring. Oh my God it’s tedious. Why the hell do you throw your main characters into the woods if the most that will happen is they’ll eat some candy and ruefully talk about an ankle sprain that the reader didn’t even get to witness? It’s a waste of a scene! There are no bear attacks, no knife fights, no accidental ingestion of poisonous berries, no dark cold nights where the threat of freezing takes second place to the threat of dehydration and death due to shock, nothing!! This is a book for boys – let’s add in something that they’d actually care to read about! The references to Hatchet are the most exciting part, which mostly served to make me want to put down Week in the Woods and go back to Gary Paulsen, who has the decency to follow through for his readers and provide all the Trapped In The Wilderness action scenes one could want. Thanks Gary Paulsen!
Clements is known for his school stories, and this one is no different. This is a book about self-discovery and second chances through the novel's main character, Mark.Mark is not a typical Clements sketch of a character, and yet he is at the same time. He is the stereotypical rich kid that gets a bad wrap. His parents are moving him to a new house, and a new school, and the last thing he wants to do is leave behind his friends.If moving was not hard enough on Mark, he also has the label of "spoiled rich kid" to overcome. While the spoiled part of his personality is debatable, what is not is that he is hurting. After all, his own parents don't raise him. They leave that to Leon and Anya, a Russian couple hired to care for him when his parents are away, which is always.Enter A Week in the Woods - an annual event on his new school for fifth graders. It is a week of learning in a new environment, and it just might be what Mark needs to find himself as well as gain the trust of his teachers, but most especially Mr. Maxwell.Clements has told a solid story with this novel. I have only one complaint, and it is why I did not give it five stars: A Week in the Wood only covers a couple of chapters. The majority of the book is Mark discovering who is really is through nature, which is fine, but I really wanted to experience this week along with the characters. I did not get that with this novel, but I still loved it.
What do You think about A Week In The Woods (2004)?
Okay, in my opinion, this is Andrew Clements' best book! Truly! When I started out reading this, I figured it was going to be 4 stars. But it came out being five!Throughout the book, Clements described in true detail Mark's thoughts and his surroundings. Though I usually find myself bored with a lot of description and thoughts and less dialogue, there was a balance. With this story it made sense, and it kept my attention well.Also, I loved the fact that Clements focused on just Mark and Mr. Maxwell (who drove me nuts at first and got me really frustrated because he was discrimination against Mark because Mr. Maxwell thought he was a "spoiled lazy rich kid"). I could really relate with Mark for some reason. I could understand everything - and I mean everthing - he went through. I would have reacted the same way he did with everything! Though I probably wouldn't have run into the woods like he did later on. But everything else was the same! And maybe that's the reason I loved this book so much: I could truly say that I would have had the same thoughts, the same actions, and the same mindset about everything up to when he took off into the woods.Oh, and I have to say, there was one section in the book that got me to laughing even though it wasn't meant to be funny. Clements used the phrase "moment of clarity" when Mark suddenly realized what he was doing and what should be done. But that reminded me of the scene in Wreck-It Ralph where Zangief said, "Then, I have moment of clarity." xP xD I just had to share that.Anyhoo, I hope my review gets some people (like you *points at the person who is reading this*) to take the time to read this book! Because I don't think you'll regret it!
—( ●—● ) Evelynn
Andrew Clements in his book "A Week in the Woods" writes not just about a fifth-grade field trip, but a journey about biases, first-impressions, learning our own limits and conquering our weaknesses.The fifth grade new-comer to the school needs a challenge, but also needs somewhere to belong. As he seeks to avoid boredom, he stumbles into nature and feels its call.His fifth grade teacher thinks him to be a rich kid with no incentive until he forces his answer and finds that he is unchallenged. He gives him one chance. One chance may not be enough. The struggle between adult and child was also a battle between viewpoints and whether to try again. A moving book that intrigues the reader and wants more than just a simple solution. Clements gives that.It was refreshing to have the fifth grader be mature, and struggle with deeper issues, not the typical silly character, for young boys. My boys didn't want me to stop reading. We will look for other books by this author.
—Sonya
This is an interesting story about a young adult moving to a new place, again, and his adjustment to his environment while trying to find out what he is all about. Our protagonist is Mark Robert Chelmsley, an only child of rich, largely absent parents. Mr. Maxwell, the science teacher at the new school in New Hampshire, is the other main character of this novel. The narrator moves into and out of the minds of both characters.This is Mark's first time in public school. He only plans on only being
—Patrick
