MacDonald Hall

Beware the Fish! (MacDonald Hall Series) by Gordon Korman Review

November 23, 2014 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

Beware the Fish! by Gordon Korman is without a doubt the funniest book I have ever read in my life. This book is incredibly good, especially considering it was published when Korman was just 17 years old.

It is the third book in the MacDonald Hall series, but they need not be read in order to understand them fully. The story takes place at the Canadian Boarding School, MacDonald Hall, and centers on Bruno and Boots, two roommates who are always stirring up excitement.

Summary

At the beginning of this book, weird things are happening at MacDonald Hall; they’re having to eat cheaper food, and Bruno and Boots have to move into a new room (with eccentric genius Elmer Drisdale) because one of the school dormitories’ is closing. The school is running out of money, and fast.

Bruno is of course not going to let the school go down without a fight. He starts trying to come up with crazy ways to save the school. They fAdd Newigure that if they can do something spectacular, then the school will get publicity and be resurrected.

Conspiring with the girls across the street at Miss Scrimmage’s Finishing School for Young Ladies (especially the crazy Cathy and roommate Diane), Bruno sets a number of absurd plans in motion. The school tries to collect 40,000 pop cans to build the biggest popcan pyramid in the world. They also try to cash in on many of Elmer’s inventions, including a remote controlled aircraft and a cure for the common cold.

Unfortunately, they are also being tailed my Miss Scrimmage, the headmistress of the girls’ school. She has a shotgun, and Bruno and Boots are constantly running from her when she discovers them “terrorizing” her girls. Although Mr. Sturgeon, the boys strict headmaster who has earned the nickname The Fish for his fishy glare, knows about what Bruno and Boots are doing, he is so mad at Miss Scrimmage for her antics that he falls for their lies to turn against her.

During this time, Bruno is broadcasting on a TV that Elmer has invented, using a fish in the background for his picture and saying inane things such as, “The Fish could descend at any time! Beware the fish!” Even though Bruno believes that what he is saying is only being broadcasted on his little screen, in fact it is disturbing television and appearing on screens all across the county! The police decide to investigate, and send out Agent Featherstone, who believes that The Fish is a dangerous terrorist, and goes to great lengths to stop his Fish Patrol missions.

At the end, everything eventually converges into a literal explosion. Will Bruno and Boots save the school? And if so, how?

Review

This book is so funny, I find myself in laughing fits every time I read it. Agent Featherstone’s investigation and the ultimate police presence at MacDonald Hall is just hilarious. All the characters in this book are vibrant and fresh, and I always feel really happy after reading this book.

I’d say it’s best for kids (especially boys) from the age range 7-13. The only thing you have to be careful about is to get a good edition. I have an original 1980’s copy, and you can find many of them for cheap on Amazon, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one that is still in good shape now that the book is out of print.

Gordon Korman is one of my favorite authors, and this is definitely my favorite book of his. Trying reading this book without collapsing into laughter. I dare you.

Go Jump in the Pool! by Gordon Korman (MacDonald Hall)

November 23, 2014 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

Go Jump in the Pool! is the second book in the MacDonald Hall series, started by Gordon Korman when he was just twelve years old. This book was published when Korman was just 16 years old, and is one of the funniest he has ever written!

Summary

At the beginning of the book, the MacDonald Hall swim team gets destroyed by their rivals from York Academy because MacDonald Hall doesn’t have a pool. Although Bruno and Boots (the main characters) are able to get back at the “turkeys,” trouble is starting mount. Although MacDonald Hall is the number one academic school, some parents are thinking of switching their kids over to York Academy; including Boots!

Of course Bruno isn’t going to have any of that. He immediately sets about trying to get a pool for their school. The only problem: It costs $25,000.

That doesn’t deter Bruno, though. He’s not about to let his best friends become turkeys. He sets out to raise the money, enlisting the help of their friends Cathy and Diane from Miss Scrimmage’s Finishing School for Young Ladies, which is across the road. Bruno comes out with ideas such as having a bake sale, a talent show, and trying to set a world record. However, $25,000 is hard to come by.

Review

This book is hilarious all the way throughout. Bruno and Cathy are awesome characters, and there is no telling what they are going to do next. Go Jump in the Pool! shows boys and girls of incredible determination and spirit trying to save themselves and their friends.

This book, like many of Korman’s (especially his early ones), is not exactly realistic; it is instead quite rollicking and crazy, but this is exactly the point. There is not one event in the book that you could call impossible; all of them could happen, it’s just that the likelihood is about a million to one. There aren’t a lot of books like that which tell stories that are quite unlikely and yet you believe they could be real.

Although $25,000 is a lot today, it’s interesting to think what it would have been in 1979 when this book was written. $25,000 back then would be worth $82,000 today, a pretty incredible sum.

Reading the first book is a good starter to this one, but the truth is that not reading it won’t hurt your enjoyment of this story at all. Nevertheless, once you read of these books you’ll definitely want to read all of them! They’re that good.

This Can’t be Happening at MacDonald Hall by Gordon Korman Review

January 30, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 5 Comments

When twelve year-old Gordon Korman didn’t have an English teacher to teach his seventh grade English class, the school had no choice but to have a gym teacher put the reading and writing hat on. As Korman said, “When it came to writing he just sort of blanked, so he said, ‘Just work on whatever you want for the rest of the year.’ And I wrote my first book.”

It is such a crazy and inspiring. Twelve year-old Korman going crazy on a homework assignment and writing his first book, This Can’t be Happening at MacDonald Hall. Now remember, this wasn’t modern day where children authors are fairly common and most of them are self-published. The G-Man sent in his manuscript to the address on the Scholastic book order form, and the day after his thirteenth birthday he signed a contract for his first book.

But here, I’ll let Korman tell you himself (the first part of the movie is about his journey as a kids author. The second part is about his recent book Swindle):

Isn’t that so amazing? The thing is that it’s not like this book is a slacker, either. It’s actually quite good, already showing the humorous style of Korman that everyone loves.

Summary

At the beginning of the story we are introduced to the main characters, Bruno and Boots, two roommates at the boarding school MacDonald Hall who are “partners in crime,” playing all kinds of funny pranks. We see some of their hilarious escapades, including going over to the girls school and hanging out with Diane and Cathy.

Unfortunately, however, the headmaster of their school, Mr. Sturgeon (also known as “The Fish“) decides that their trouble making has come to point of being detrimental to both them and the rest of the school. He switches their rooms, making Bruno the roommate of Elmer Drysdale, the eccentric school genius, and Boots the roommate of George Wexford-Smyth III, a weird guy who is obsessed with money and the stock market.

Bruno and Boots attempt to get themselves back together into the same room, but all of their plans backfire. In the end, a series of improbable events take place that make Bruno and Boots heroes. They are congratulated by an important government official, but will their headmaster congratulate them by giving them what they really want; having each other as roommates again?

Review

It’s hard to believe that Korman really wrote this book at twelve. Many of the jokes in this book are quite funny, hilarious even. It’s written in a very different style than his current books, which are mainly based on action. Korman’s earlier books (and all the MacDonald Hall) books are based on humor.

The characters in this book are very familiar and it’s easy to connect with them. I still remember and feel for all the lovable characters in this series. It’s like a happy world that is no less real than this one.

The only way that you can tell Korman was twelve when he wrote this book is the fact that it’s only 144 pages. In those 144 pages, however, is a story of very great depth and enjoyment.

This book also opens the way for a great series. The books only get better and better and climax with The Zucchini Warriors and Beware the Fish, the latter of which is the funniest book I have ever read.

These books are super easy to read. The great thing about Korman’s writing is that he doesn’t write his books to prove a point, not for book committees or reviewers. He writes books to be enjoyed, period. Reading MacDonald Hall you feel a great happiness and joy for life.

As much as Korman’s current books are great, I know old fans of Korman’s classic stories who think that his new books pale in comparison. While they are both good in different ways, I have to agree that there is no better way to guarantee yourself you’ll be laughing up a storm than reading MacDonald Hall.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook page or subscribe through email below to hear about more awesome books.