R (one of the kids I used to watch) gave me this book. I read it before I saw him again so I could tell him I had read it (and he took it back!). This series is popular at work. They're fun school stories. Probably pretty formulaic (I'm just guessing, I've only read the one), but not bad. 

Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker! by Dan Gutman is a chapter book all about science.  The book focuses on a boy named AJ who thinks science is for nerds.  When AJ gets a new science teacher named Mr. Docker and sees all the amazing things that relate to science, AJ realizes that science can be fun and interesting and that science answers many questions of how the world works.  Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker! emphasizes the importance of students having inquiries and testing theories out.  In the book, there are mentions of prisms, pendulums, and energy from potatoes.  With Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker, teachers could introduce many science topics and try some of the experiments included in this book, like combining water with the chemicals citric acid and sodium bicarbonate and seeing what happens.  Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker has a Lexile Reading Level of 580L (Grades 2-3).    

So I saw this book on Overdrive and decided to check it out because of the title. I figured K would get a kick out of it. Now the book seemed okay overall. Though it got a bit repetitive between A.J. going "blah,blah,blah" when an adult would talk. To when he met the new girl Alexia and she liked everything that he did. For example Alexia likes this, so do I. She likes that, so do I and so forth. Also I had an issue which is just me as a parent of the jealous that seemed to issue between two of the girls. Alexia and Andrea I mean you are in third grade and feel jealous? K thought the book was funny when they went to the school especially with the whole chapter of Brian the Lion scene came into play. I would gear this book toward maybe 10 years on and up, though I would suggest maybe parents read it first to see if the book is right for your child. We will be reading book 2 as I checked it out the same time as this one.

I reckon there must be a ton of words written about those fellers Orville and Wilbur Wright. Some of the words are true, some of them are lies, but mostly the words are just left out cause the folks who wrote 'em just weren't there when it all happened.

 

-First sentence

 

This book is written as the diary of Johnny Moore, from January 1, 1900 through 1908. He lives in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina and witnesses the Wright brothers make history by being the first people to fly. He starts off as a 15-year old boy spying to try to figure out what Wilbur and Orville are up to, then he meets Wilbur and becomes a part of history.

Johnny's grammar and language are dreadful. He doesn't curse, but he uses a lot of slang that may be difficult for middle grade students to understand. It was a bit distracting at first, but I got used to it.

The story was interesting and quick to read. I finished it in an afternoon. A child in grades 4 and up who has an interest in the Wright brothers or inventions, would probably enjoy this book. It is written by Dan Gutman who is a prolific writer of middle grade books (including the baseball card adventures like Honus and Me).

I saw this book on the shelf, read the title and decided that it had to be a good book. 

A and I had a blast laughing at how this raptor told his story by rapping. 

We learn how Rappy the raptor talks but not in the normal way. He likes to rhyme and rap and we learn what caused him to be like that. Very cute and fun to read, the pictures are wonderful and really go with the story. 

I think A and I will be looking into more stories of Rappy the Raptor and see what else he has to rhyme and rap about.