This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall!

I was in the mood for a reread of something I love. And really, what would be better than grabbing something that I positively loved as a kid? And so, Gordon Korman’s Bruno & Boots were called for.

LOVE.

This was every bit as wonderful as when I read it when I was a kid. It was hilarious and heartwarming and brilliant and OH MY GOODNESS. Okay, how unaccomplished should everyone who reads this feel? I know I rave about how Catherine Webb was 19 when she wrote the first Horatio Lyle book, but Korman was in freakin’ SEVENTH GRADE when he wrote this. Do you know what I was doing in seventh grade? I certainly wasn’t writing an awesome book, that’s for sure.

This book is absolutely bloody hilarious.

It just amazes me how well written show more these books are for someone that young. I mean, they have everything – mad hijinks, adventure, humour, character development, oh! It’s all there.

Every moment reading this book I had a big huge grin on my face. I gobbled it up and enjoyed every last second of it. It was everything that was expected, and was everything that I needed.

The Bottom Line
Really, everyone needs to read this. That is all. The end. Go read it NOW. show less

Originally written as a junior-high English project, this debut by Gordon Korman is a guaranteed crowd pleaser for the 'tween set. It introduces us to Bruno and Boots, trixters extraordinaire, who specialize in pranks that keep their fellow students at Macdonald Hall in stitches and The Fish, their headmaster, guessing. But when they finally go too far, the boys are sent to separate dorms and faced with their greatest challenge yet - to devise a plan to reunite and to save their reputations as the most legendary team of jokesters MacDonald Hall has ever known.

THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL is not great literature, but it succeeds where it counts, providing non-stop hijinks and enough practical jokes at the expense of show more authority figures to keep the pages turning. Most adults will find the two protagonists, Bruno and Boots, grating and two-dimensional (it is difficult to tell them apart, really), and many of the jokes bordering on cruel, but then, Korman never for a second forgets his audience. He writes for his contemporaries, and he does so gleefully and unapologetically, paving the way for the further adventures of the unsinkable Bruno and Boots. show less

This is a fun story full of light-hearted hijinks, and I’m just sad my son would absolutely hate it. (He doesn’t like to read about people getting into trouble, alas.) I’ve been wanting to read this for years — I’ve read some great fan fiction set in the universe — and I’m so glad this one, at least, is finally in ebook form.

This was quite a funny book and I quite enjoyed it. I really enjoyed reading about the girls school and loved the girls characters. I would like to read a book where they are the main focus. I found this book got better as it went on and some of the funniest parts were toward the end.
I would recommend it for kids but for younger kids as a read aloud as the two boys do a lot of stuff that's against the rules like sneaking out at night that parents might want to discuss.

This was a reread of a childhood favourite. And I didn't laugh out loud or spit my coke, or snort or anything. I remember falling over laughing when I read it for the six millionth time as a child.

But still, it was pretty funny. Shorter than I remember, and a little predictable, but then there were whole phrases I remembered "I'm an entomologist. My world is the insect world."

When their headmaster The Fish sends school pranksters Bruno and Boots to live in separate rooms with weirdos, the best friends are desperate to get back to their own room. Craziness ensures.

I like that this book is firmly Canadian, even through the boarding school setting, with hockey games, and ambassadors from Ottawa.
I also like the example of how pranks can show more cross the line into bullying and meanness. Bruno and Boots, no matter how capering, are good lads, and redeem themselves by the end.

They are a little dated, especially the references to technology, but anyone who can handle Enid Blyton should have no trouble with this.I'd give this to readers looking for school stories or comedy stories. show less

Very fast-paced and funny. Heartfelt, too. No wonder the author grew up to be so beloved and respected. (I think this must have been revised & expanded for publication, though... but still, bravo for young Master Korman for a stellar first work.)
(avl. on openlibrary.org)

"This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall" is the first book in the Bruno and Boots series, which sometimes shows during the story. The characters, extravagant Bruno, and the more mild-mannered Boots, aren't as well developed and the plot doesn't flow quite as smoothly as later classics, such as "The War with Mr. Wizzle" or "The Zucchini Warriors".

That said, this is still a book well worth reading - it contains the trademark Korman wit, and ridiculous, yet believable circumstances for the main characters, as they blunder through problem after problem, eventually stumbling to the rather satisfying, if somewhat predictable, conclusion. Given that Korman wrote this as a 7th grade English project, I have no major complaints, and the rest show more of the series is worth reading enough to make up for any weaknesses in the first book.

I would particularlyreccommend this book for 7-8th graders, including male reluctant readers. show less