A review by onceuponacarm
Miss Daisy Is Crazy! by Dan Gutman

2.0

Not my kind of book/series (main character reminds me of a 2nd grade Greg Heffley), but I can see the appeal it would have to some readers in 1st or 2nd grade. AJ announces proudly that he hates school on the first day of 2nd grade. (Heartbreaking! Not the kind of attitude we encourage in my school or family.) His teacher, Miss Daisy, confesses she also hates school and can't read or write or do math. She may not be completely honest about this, as she employs some clever ways of getting the kids to show what they know and teach her, as well as to get excited about reading. (Though I'm not generally in favor of reading incentives, the idea of getting the whole school to work together to read a million pages is kind of fun.) Some inconsistencies bothered me--this series seems aimed at 1st or 2nd graders in content and judging by the age of the characters, but the negativity seems so out of place with this age of student (and any 6 year old reading these books would be at or above grade level--why give them the idea of hating to read/learn/go to school?). The students also know a lot of things that aren't generally learned until later, like multiplication.

Giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because I know there are kids who enjoy these books, and I'm generally in favor of any books that kids want to read. I just know these won't be part of my family's library.