Stanford Wong Flunks Big-time
Because he's just flunked sixth-grade English, Stanford Wong, who thinks of himself as "the only stupid Chinese kid in America," won't be able to go to basketball camp this summer. Instead, he'll be taking a summer school English class with Mr. Glick, AKA Teacher Torturer. If he fails it, he'll be off the A-team at Rancho Rosetta Middle School next year and back in sixth grade to boot. In addition, Stanford's forgetful but wonderfully eccentric grandmother, Yin-Yin, is about to get moved into Vacation Village, an old people's home, and he doesn't want her to go. Dad is always working late and has nothing but harsh words for his less than academic son. Stanford's lied to his friends, telling them he got an A in English. And worst of all, that tattletale, that geek, his mortal enemy, Millicent Min, who's so smart she's already in high school and who has the nerve to call him Stan-Turd, is going to be tutoring him in English at the library 3 days a week all summer, though he makes her swear on her mother's life she won't tell a soul. It takes a tough teacher and a first crush to get Stanford back on track.
Your boys who won't read will read this one. They know Stanford. Some of them are Stanford. This is the male counterpart book to Millicent Min, Girl Genius and So Totally Emily Ebers, each of which covers the same events, each perceived so completely differently from the three characters’ points of view.
Reviewed by : JF.
Themes : CHINESE AMERICANS. FATHERS AND SONS. HUMOR. MULTICULTURAL BOOKS.
CRITICS HAVE SAID
There’s much here for boys to identify with, including Stanford’s need for parental approval and his single-minded pursuit of the sport he loves. His growth as a person as the summer unfolds is warmly satisfying.
Faith Brautigam, School Library Journal
Young readers will find themselves chortling over comedic scenes, delivered in Stanford’s genuine, age-appropriate voice, even as the well-drawn, authentic heartache about family, friends, and integrity reaches directly into their lives. Young sports fans, particularly boys, will appreciate a portrait of a wholly likable underachiever in the classroom who shines on the court.
Gillian Engberg, Booklist
Watch Stanford become a champ in more ways than basketball. Watch reluctant adolescent male readers gobble up Stanford’s story.
Kathleen Karr, Children
This follow-up novel about her friend is equally humorous and entertaining, but because it is centered upon a less exceptional preteen, it will be appreciated most by its natural audience of upper elementary and middle school readers.
Walter Hogan, VOYA
IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:
Codell, Esmé Raji. Sahara Special. Hyperion, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-0786816118
Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. Farrar, 1998. ISBN-13: 978-0064408332
Gauthier, Gail. A Year with Butch and Spike. Putnam, 1998. ISBN-13: 978-0399232169
Gorman, Carol. Dork on the Run. HarperCollins, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0064409704
Himelblau, Linda. The Trouble Begins. Delacorte, 2005.
Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. Miramax/Hyperion, 2005. (And others in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series). ISBN-13: 978-0786838653
Shreve, Susan. Jonah the Whale. Scholastic, 1998. ISBN-13: 978-0590371346
Spinelli, Jerry. Crash. Knopf, 1996. ISBN-13: 978-0440238577
Spinelli, Jerry. Loser. HarperCollins, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0060540746
Yee, Lisa. Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Scholastic, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-0439425209
Yee, Lisa. So Totally Emily Ebers. Scholastic, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0439838481
Yep, Laurence. The Star Fisher. Morrow, 1991. ISBN-13: 978-0140360035