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Loading... A Week in the Woodsby Andrew Clements
None. it was a great exciting read aloud for me to enjoy it with my teacher reading it to the rest of my class.  SRaval | Mar 13, 2013 |  School Library Journal Gr 4-6-Angered by his family's move from Scarsdale, NY, to rural New Hampshire, Mark refuses to make friends or please his teachers. Because of his indifference, one teacher decides that he's dealing with a "slacker" and a "spoiled rich kid." To make matters worse, the fifth grader acts unimpressed with Mr. Maxwell's annual outing to the state park for a week of nature studies. However, the boy becomes increasingly interested in the outdoors and camping and signs up for the trip. On the first day there, the teacher discovers Mark with a camping tool that contains a knife, an item that students were asked not to bring. He decides that someone needs to teach the boy a lesson and decides to send him home. Mark runs away, gets lost, and must use his newly acquired skills to survive a night in the woods. The story explores both Mark's and Mr. Maxwell's point of view, and the final resolution of their conflict is effective. The boy's relationships with his ever-absent parents and his caregivers are interestingly developed. The novel includes a helpful map of the state park. Like many of Clements's titles, this one will be a popular choice, particularly with fans of Gary Paulsen and Jean Craighead George.-Jean Gaffney, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, Miamisburg, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. (  )  EBurggraf | Apr 12, 2012 | Mark Chelmsy the Fourth is moving to a new town in late Feburary against his will. Mark has to go to a new school and has to make new friends. He doesn't like it. Then Mark realizes that since he moved so late in the school year, his grades in school won't count. So Mark doesn't even try in class. He just stares out the window. No one is friends with him. One day Mark decides he wants to change. But the teachers already think he's snotty. Will Mark change the teachers opinion? Or will he put his teacher and him in grave danger?! Is it too late?! (  ) mark_14 | Nov 30, 2011 | Quick, holiday read. This book has a good plot, setting, and mood to it. This book helps the reader understand why people behave like they do. ( ) hoffer30380 | May 21, 2011 | Clements is one of my favorite elementary authors. His stories are always accented by little grace notes: moments of characterization and humanity, frequently from minor characters, that help the reader to understand why people behave like they do. A Week in the Woods is no exception as he naturally conveys why his main character is aloof, why the main teacher doesn't like him, and how they both change under difficult circumstances and come to understand each other. ( ) littlepiece | Jan 30, 2011 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0689858027, Paperback)Rich kids are snobs and slackers. They think they're too good for anyone else, and that they don't have to work hard at anything. That, at least, is the opinion of fifth-grade science teacher Mr. Maxwell, and the super-rich new kid, Mark Chelmsley, is showing no signs of transcending the stereotype. Or is Mr. Maxwell just too anti-elitist or ego-driven to notice? Once again, the talented Andrew Clements (Frindle, The Janitor's Boy) allows adult characters to "come of age" right along with his adolescent characters in the most refreshing and insightful of ways.Mark has low expectations of his new school in rural New Hampshire, and he'll be there for less than four months anyway, so he can't let himself get attached. It's the glory of the countryside around him that shakes him awake--and the urban boy's first trek on snowshoes, discovery of an old barn, and rediscovery of Jack London are exciting to behold. For the first time in his busy, absentee parent-controlled life, Mark discovers "his own sense of time--time present--and he had discovered how much this time was worth." As the reader starts to like this curious, resourceful, clearly not lazy kid, Mr. Maxwell's preconceptions start to seem all the worse. It all comes to a head at the school's annual camp out (called A Week in the Woods), where Mr. Maxwell accuses Mark of breaking a rule--without getting all the facts that would have proven his innocence. Mark escapes into the woods before he can be driven home: "If Mr. Maxwell wants to get rid of me so bad, then he's gonna have to find me first!" Will Mark survive on his own in the woods overnight? What will Mr. Maxwell do when he learns his own prejudices have colored his judgment? What starts out as a school camp out turns into a terrifically suspenseful survival story of a man and boy who come head-to-head, and learn a few lessons while they're at it. Readers will be on the edges of their seats! (Ages 9 to 13) --Karin Snelson (retrieved from Amazon Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:53:41 -0500) The fifth grade's annual camping trip in the woods tests Mark's survival skills and his ability to relate to a teacher who seems out to get him. |
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