Before becoming the adventure writer that we know him as now, Gordon Korman specialized in writing humor. One of his funniest books is No More Dead Dogs.
The concept in No More Dead Dogs is basically a story about a kid who refuses to tell a lie; to the point that it becomes ridiculous. It’s a hilarious and interesting concept that Korman says was based off of his dad.
Summary
Wallace Wallace is no great football player. He just had one lucky play; that’s all. But don’t try to tell that to his fans at Bedford Middle School.
In the championship game last year, Wallace happened to score the winning touchdown. He’s famous all over town, so people are upset when he’s not able to play his eighth grade year.
Why not? Because he’s serving constant detention.
Wallace’s teacher, Mr. Fogelman, asked him to write a review about the book Old Shep, My Pal. So Wallace did. Not only that, but he was honest. He said that in his belief, Old Shep, My Pal is a terrible book.
Mr. Fogelman tells Wallace he needs to write a proper review and praise the book, but Wallace refuses. Ever since he saw his parents fight about the lies his dad would constantly tell, he was never one to lie. Never.
In his daily detention, Wallace is forced to sit through the rehearsal of the school play. The play is-you guessed it-Old Shep, My Pal.
At first Wallace is just bored with the play, but before long he sees it as an opportunity to turn the play into something good and begins changing things. Soon, Wallace is the new director of the play and loving it.
Mr. Fogelman is at a complete loss of what to do. Not only has Wallace’s punishment turned into an enjoyable activity, but he’s managed to hijack the play!
Mr. Fogelman decides to let Wallace out of detention, after which Wallace quits the football team to continue working on the play.
Soon after that, however, things start to go wrong. Someone vandalizes the play. It’s not Wallace, but a lot of people think it’s him. Who is the culprit? Will they ruin the play? And, most importantly, will Shep survive at the end?
Review
This is an awesome and funny book. While definitely not the most funny of any of Korman’s books, the idea of someone refusing to tell any type of lie is very intriguing and Korman does a good job developing it.
Korman also writes this book so that each chapter has a different narrator, so we get to know all the characters really well. In addition to the people I already mentioned, there are Wallace’s friends on the football team, a girl named Rachel who at first hates Wallace but later comes around, and a girl named Trudi who has a crush on Wallace.
This is not a fast-paced book like Korman’s more recent works, but is instead a character based book as we visit the world of middle school through a fascinating lenses.
I wouldn’t recommend this book as a first choice for reluctant readers, but for kids around 10 to 13 who have already read Korman or have an interest in reading, this book is a sure-hit.
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