Marty Pants

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: November 8, 2017

Review

Marty just knows that his teacher Mr. McPhee is an alien bent on the annihilation of the human race. Problem is he can't convince anyone else of his teacher's dastardly plan (well, anyone else except his friend Parker who fancies herself a budding psychiatrist and listens to Marty in an advisory role). Through hi-jinks and many, many missteps, Marty does prove that McPhee has a secret, it just might not be the one Marty thinks. Short chapters, plentiful black & white line drawings, and a ferocious, head-sleeping cat named Jerome will draw in dormant readers from 1st-4th grade (ages 7-10). And Parisi manages to wind in great vocabulary words along with concepts like misdirection, irony, and wordplay (the girl of Marty's dreams is named Analie N.) Marty is delightfully clueless and hilariously sure of all of his theories, which become funnier as the reader realizes the truth. A great book to put in the hands of Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid readers.

Overall Book Score: very good