The World's Greatest Underachiever And The Crazy Classroom Cascade (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Booklist (December 15, 2011 (Vol. 108, No. 8))Grades 3-6. Soon-to-be sixth-grader Billy Broccoli has a new family (his mother has recently remarried), a new school, and a new room, which unfortunately still bears the pink pony wallpaper of its previous occupant. It also comes with its own ghost, Hoover Porterhouse. “The Hoove” is everything that Billy is not: confident, mischievous, and gifted with fashion sense (well, for 99 years ago). The Hoove is also in danger of failing his ghost exams if he cannot pass Responsibility and Helping Others. Billy’s goals, on the other hand, are to avoid public humiliation and make some friends. Can the two boys, who are initially at odds, learn to cooperate and help each other reach their goals? Much like Billy and Hoover’s relationship, the series is a work in progress as it lays the groundwork for future installments. Billy and Hoover have a snappy repartee, although the Hoove sometimes sounds more modern than turn of the twentieth century. Billy is a likable protagonist whose trials and tribulations should resonate with middle-school boys. This odd couple shows promise.Horn Book (Spring 2013)Billy Broccoli's new house is inhabited by teenage ghost Hoover Porterhouse. Hoove helps Billy navigate a new school and defeat a nasty bully (Zero); second installment Mind finds Billy, with Hoove's help, convincing classmates that he's a mind-reader, but Billy opts for a less impressive (honest) feat in a competition. Billy and Hoove's snarky repartee make these books' lessons go down easy. [Review covers these Ghost Buddy titles: Mind if I Read Your Mind? and Zero to Hero.]Kirkus Reviews (November 15, 2011)Eleven-year-old Billy Broccoli's move up to middle school is complicated by a teenage ghost determined to give him lessons in how to be cool. The nerdy lad already has a lot on his plate: new house (with a bedroom done up in pink and lavender), new stepfather and prickly older stepsister, new school whose principal is his mother and nosy, bullying schoolmate Rod Brownstone for a next-door neighbor. It is understandable, then, that he's only temporarily freaked out when hyperconfident former jock Hoover "The Hoove" Porterhouse III, a ghost killed 99 years ago, swims into view and grandly announces that Billy is his special project. It seems that the Hoove has just one more year to pull up his failing celestial grades in "Responsibility" and "Helping Others" or be tied to that house and surrounding property forever--a fate worse than, well.... As it happens, the schooling goes both ways, and by the end not only has Billy been guided away from wearing fart-joke T-shirts and taking tuna sandwiches for lunch, he's shown the Hoove a better way to get Brownstone off his case than responding in kind when the bully engineers a public humiliation. A purposeful but not simplistic opener from the creators of the Hank Zipzer series. (Fantasy. 10-12)Library Media Connection (May/June 2012)Billy Brocolli's mother has just married a dentist with a teenage daughter. For Billy, middle school is awkward enough without his mother being the principal, a bully, a stepsister, and his own klutziness. The book opens with the move into a new house, and Billy ends up with a pink and lavender room with a ghost who adds to the hijinks of the story. Hoover Porterhouse III, died in the orange grove on the property 99 years ago when he was the same age as Billy. The story will amuse younger readers, reluctant readers, and high-interest, low reading ability older readers, particularly boys. This being the first in the series, it ends with the promise of more adventures. Kay Evey, Teacher-Librarian, Tukwila (Washington) Elementary School. RECOMMENDED.Publishers Weekly (October 31, 2011)Hank Zipzer collaborators Winkler and Oliver launch the Ghost Buddy series, introducing an endearingly uncool hero with the dorky name of Billy Broccoli. Despite his acute clumsiness and preference for wearing fart-themed T-shirts, Billy is articulate, witty, and good-hearted. None of which, unfortunately, will win him popularity in his new middle school, especially since his mother is the principal. This new series would fall clearly into the genre of silly realistic fiction were it not for the presence of a 113-year-old ghost, Hoover Porterhouse, into whose room Billy has just moved, and who undertakes the task of turning Billy into a hip and agile 11-year-old. After Billy's initial fright, he accepts the ghost's company and guidance while Hoover, forever age 14, struggles with his own ghostly goals. An amusing cast of broadly drawn secondary characters play their expected roles-snobby older half-sister, embarrassing mother and stepfather, pretty and kind classmate, and neighborhood bully with an embarrassing secret. Readers will root for Billy to conquer his klutziness as well as the bully; his final feel-good triumph is satisfying. Ages 8-12. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.School Library Journal (April 1, 2012)Gr 3-5-Eleven-year-old Billy Broccoli's name is only the start of his problems in the coolness department. He's also plagued by a fondness for T-shirts with fart jokes on them, and he has the grace of a clown with two left feet. Now he is starting at a new school, and his supreme dorkiness is sure to cause him trouble. Fortunately, he has an ally: the ghost of 12-year-old Hoover Porterhouse III, who is stuck haunting the house that Billy's family has just moved into. Hoover is the sultan of cool and coaches Billy on what to wear and how to act. Despite his best efforts, though, the boy's first days of school are disastrous, mostly due to a bully named Rod Brownstone. Hoover calls for revenge, but in the end Billy manages to stand up to Rod. Billy is still nerdy at the story's conclusion, but it looks as though Hoover will be sticking around, which means that there may be hope for him yet. This title is chock-full of nuggets that will have boys cheering, from the grossness of Billy's embalmed tonsil to the hilarity of Rod's attachment to his baby blanket. What's more, parents and educators will cheer when Billy stands up to Rod without resorting to bullying tactics. Readers may wonder how Hoover died, but hopefully the authors will reveal more about the sassy apparition as the series progresses.-Amy Holland, Irondequoit Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Have you ever been bullied? What if you had a ghost buddy that could seek revenge on that bully and really give them a taste of their own medicine? Would you do it?Billy Broccoli and his family (blended family) have just moved into a new house and he is now going to be attending a new school. Fitting in is not the easiest thing for Billy, however, things start to get a lot more exciting for Billy when he meets his new roommate-Hoover Porterhouse. a funny teen ghost with some major swagger!
What do You think about The World's Greatest Underachiever And The Crazy Classroom Cascade (2012)?
This was a cute book with a good lesson on being yourself and revenge. We all enjoyed it.
—trixiebw
Read it with my year old son. He liked it and that's all that mattered.
—Jose
