The Report Card

I enjoyed reading this book. I would say it would be for students in 4th, 5th and maybe 6th grade.

One thing I liked about this story was that it was relatable. It's about a girl in the 5th grade who has a very high IQ but decides to hide it from the world because she doesn't want people to see her as different. She notices that she is different at a very young age and quickly discovers that if she continues being as smart as she is, then people will watch her and label her as something other than "normal". As a child in the 5th grade, it can be a stressful time. You are about to transition into middle school and you want to have friends and to be normal. So here we have this character who is facing the same struggles as what the reader show more may be facing. Another reason why I like this book was because it also went a lot into Nora's feelings about her being different and the way people treat her. This can be eye opening for readers and make them more aware of what others may be going through. In the book, after her parents find out how smart she is, they begin planning what private schools she's going to interview at and what colleges she could go to. Meanwhile, Nora is feeling very overwhelmed and as if her feelings aren't being taken into account. In the story, her principal and guidance counselor also think she should join special programs to "fulfill her potential". Nora feels very strongly against this and says that she is the one to determine her own potential and wants to have the option to decide what she does or doesn't do.

I think the main message in this book was about standing up for yourself and what you believe in. The entire book, Nora is fed up with testing and earning grades because she thinks that it's a poor way to determine a child's intelligence. So throughout the story, she's planning on ways that she can try to change the system. She also stands up for herself and clearly states that she is the determiner of her potential and what she will do and that no one else should be allowed to decide that for her. The character is very strong and brave and really stands up for herself which I think is a good lesson to teach students. show less

The Report Card follows Nora Rose Rowley, a secretly gifted fifth grader who hides her intelligence to avoid attention. When she receives her first report card, Nora intentionally earns poor grades to protest how much pressure schools place on testing and ranking students. Her low scores cause confusion among teachers and concern at home. As her plan spirals into a schoolwide controversy, Nora must decide how to use her intelligence responsibly while helping her classmates understand that grades don’t define their worth.

I had mixed feelings about this book. One thing I liked was that the author Clements chose to make Nora a genius. Nora being a genius gave her a deeper insight than children her age which made the book more interesting for older readers (Including myself). "The fact is, when a kid gets a bad grade, the teacher does too." One thing I did not like about the book was Nora's parents. All they cared about were her grades and they pushed it too far. "Did you ever stop to think how this all makes me feel?" They just disregard Nora's feelings and it really bothered me. This book tells how grades do not define nor show who a student truly is on the inside.

This book is about a girl called Nora that purposely gets bad grades. She's actually a genius, but she's kept it to herself because she likes being normal. If she lets the teachers know that's she's really smart, she's going to get put is the gifted education group. But at lunch one day, she accidentally blows it by yelling at the kid in her class that got the highest grades. When the counselor finds out, he gives her an IQ test, and she purposely get 3 out of every 10 questions wrong. But even so, her IQ is 188. The teachers and her parents plan the next ten years of Nora's life. Then she gets more bad grades, just so she can get out of the gifted group.

I think this book is very interesting. I think it's absolutely brilliant how Nora show more keeps her intelligence to herself, so she doesn't raise anybody's expectations. Although she does try to keep herself in the average range, I think she should at least raise her grades a little bit because I don't think that D's are exactly in the "average range." I like how Nora and her friend Stephen both work together to prove to their classmates that tests are a stupid way to measure intelligence. Then the librarian sees what Nora's doing so she begins to help Nora. Then the issue becomes so big that the town newspaper reports the story. This was a good book, and it was kind of suspenseful. show less

Clements does an excellent job of getting into the head of older elementary students. There aren't enough realistic stories about what goes on in the mind of 4th and 5th graders. I found this novel especially endearing because I could, even 16 years later, relate to a girl who has always had the best grades and wants to deal with a little less pressure. I also appreciate that Clements never talks down to his readers and doesn't shy away from subjects that might normally be glossed over for this age reader. My only complaint is that his novels usually end in a sappy, heart warming way that is wholly unrealistic. But they are sweet stories about good kids and I've enjoyed every one.

This story is narrated by a fifth grader named Nora who just wants to be treated like a regular kid, despite the fact that she is way beyond average. She decides to challenge her school's focus on grading and testing because she's concnerned about her best friend who is made to feel like he doesn't measure up.

I was not very into this. The audio book reader had a really high-pitched voice and I often felt like it wasn't going anywhere interesting. The subject of testing has been beaten to death from every possible angle, so at this point I'm only interested in hearing creative alternatives to grading and testing...and this book offers none. As with many of Clements' books, the emphasis is on questioning authority in a mature and show more responsible way. I would recommend it, even though it didn't do much for me.

Oh, and the adult hero of the book is the school librarian, which was cool. show less

Fifth grader Nora is a genius but has learned to hide it from everyone. She reaches a point where she's fed up with grades and testing and the stress they cause for others. Does getting a bad grade mean you're a bad person? Does getting good grades mean you're better than everyone else? Nora takes a stand by deliberately earning poor grades but when it's found she has an IQ of 188, will everyone miss the point she was trying to make? Not the best story I've seen from Mr. Clements.