Jamie Gilson Books

I loved Wagon Train 911!!! I don't like most books that go back in time but this book is different. It's about kids that "go back in time" but they are living in modern times. I read it when I was eight, it's the perfect book for an eight yr. old. I loved it and I'm sure the eight yr.old in your life will too!

I loved this book. It was fun to read! This book was about a 5th grade class who were suppose to get married (pretend) and go out west

Wagon Train 911 was a very good book. It is about this class who is travelling back to old times. They are taking a journey like the Oregon Trail. They have to buy food and wear heavy clothing. Do they make it?

Wagon Train 911 is about a girl named Dinah whos class reenacts the Oregon Trail. The boys have to "marry" the girls and everything! Will this wagon train survive? Read Wagon Train 911 to find out!

Setting - this story takes place in the woods of Wisconsin during the winter. Character - the main character is Hobie Hanson. At the beginning Hobie is shy, very organized and doesn't know how to have fun. At the end he has learned how to have fun and not be so shy. Summary - Class 4B earned a trip to Outdoor Ed where Hobie got homesick. He tried to call his parents late one night, but bumped into Miss Ivanavitch in the dark. She told him he couldn't call because his father was in the hospital. Hobie stays and changes his attitude and turns out to have a great time! At the end he had fun because he tried new things and wasn't so shy. A fourth grader at Springdale Elementary

I'm an adult but I still enjoy kids' books. This book is excellent and very funny for children. Perfect for reading to kids in class. Kids will love it!

"Gotcha!" is Patrick the Pest's own game of sneaky torment. Mrs. Zookey's lively second grade provides audience and victims for his clowning and nasty tricks. Gilson's easy chapter book is in the first person voice of Richard, Patrick's favorite target, who describes everything that's going on as the class learns about spiders and takes a field trip to find some. Besides incidental arachnid info and briskly paced you-know-everything's-going -to-turn-out okay entertainment with just the right amount of tension, Richard's interesting observations offer a lot to think about concerning responsibility, getting along, and behaving well toward others -not like the neat, preachy bullying books, but from Richard's satisfying, realistic perspective. He describes his own impulses and susceptibility to Patrick's quick wit, mean ploys, and challenges, and candidly weighs his attempts at restraint and inclination to retaliate. Richard is a sympathetic character, a regular, perceptive kid who can't resist Patrick's manipulations and strays from his good intentions. His glimpses of the feelings and characters of other members of the class, and descriptions of the roles they play in the dynamics of Patrick's pranks are effortlessly brilliant. They provide context and ring true. The incident with Richard tipping his chair and hurting his head perfectly reflects the Patrick-Richard relationship (although personally, I'm terrified of kids' skull fractures from chairs falling backward, and am dismayed when chair tipping is treated too lightly.) Principal Prothero's positive attitude and general competence make his heroic rescue of Patrick a perfect climax. Underwear holds powerful meaning in many ways for children the age of the intended audience. They fully understand the seriousness of Patrick's predicament by rotund Mr. Prothero's immediately stripping to just boxers and socks to dive in the lake-- what a good guy, a principal who likes and respects his kids and is prepared to take care of them. I like that this book is easy and light but has substance. I like that Patrick's mishap is not a major comeuppance, but gives a glimmer of the true fellow he's gradually maturing into, without the bravado and meanness. His path will be a long one, but I like that this book doesn't demonize this bright, complex kid or turn a single event into a life-changing snap resolution. Seeing dedicated Mrs. Zookey figuring out how to work with all her students, teaching them what they need to prepare them for their own long paths feels good, and Amy Wummer's friendly, cartoony illustrations complement the story just right.


Accomplished second grade readers could manage this well-written, thoughtful book independently, but most second graders would love having it read aloud, and third and many fourth graders would enjoy it too.

Hobie is one of my favorite characters of all time. I am 22 and haved loved this book since I was a little kid. My copy is very stained from being dropped in the water so many times while I was reading in the tub. No matter what your age, you must read this book. Absolutely classic entertainment--a great book to read out loud to your kids on a trip, or whenever. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! Much better than 13 Ways to Sink a Sub, Gilson's more well-known book.

i thought it was a good book but not the best, Jamie Gilson has writen better ones, i highly recomend Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin Van Dranaanen

I laughed my head off when I read this book! The Hobie books are so funny and awesome! He and his soccer team have a game but Hobie is on thin ice with his dad but he cannot stay out of trouble! He doesn't think before he acts!

Go Zappers go! The Zappers take a road trip in Soccer Circus to a big tournament. Before the big trip Hobie, a member of the team, wasn't paying attention while riding his bike and rode into wet cement. He was fined and yelled at, but was still allowed to attend the tournament. His Father told him he had to keep his nose clean or he would take away Hobie's bike.

On the way to the tournament the team finds they don't get very well as they thought. The boy's bother the girl's, the girl's whine, and Hobie just sits quietly playing tic-tac-toe.

They lost the first game, so they decided to go see a circus wedding. Somehow Hobie ends up on in a penguin costume riding on top of a car full of circus clowns.

I think this book would be good for children that love playing soccer between the ages of 10-12. It may not be interesting for kids younger or older. I enjoyed the book very much. It's a little hard to follow, but only in the beginning. This book is very well written and very enjoyable. I'm not giving away any more, you'll have to read it yourself.

Harvey is sure that his collection of beer cans will win him the coveted Sixth-Grade Superkid title, but he thinks he's up against former-friend Quint (a talented magician), and skateboarding mentor Eric. What he really needs to overcome are not his classmates but his inflated sense of importance and his willingness to take advantage of younger kids in order to improve his collection.

This could easily have been a cliche story of a boy who overcomes external conflict before glorying in victory, but Jamie Gilson throws a curve-ball here, and what we get instead is a silly, funny, introspective, thoroughly charming study of pride, greed, good advice, and forgiveness. It's not Shakespeare, but it's a fun, quick read middle-grade elementary schoolers will enjoy, and it's a good launching point from which their parents and teachers might begin conversations about ambition and priorities. Gilson creates an instantly likable main character with likable friends and likable siblings and places them deftly in a story where the only real villain is the main character himself.

This is a great book... as I remember anyway. It's been about 20 years since I read it, but I am about to buy it to read to my son. It's basically about a boy that goes around collecting beer cans and the different ways that finds super rare and collectible cans.

On a seperate note, why does Amazon have this and The Great Brain books listed as 9-12 reading level? I read these when I was in elementary school. So, either I was exceedingly brilliant (which I doubt), our kids are getting exceedingly stupid (partially true), or Amazon has many of these mis-categorized (most likely). Just my 2 cents.

I first read this book with my father when I was seven. I am now 23 and have re-read it many times. It deals with serious issues in a clever and funny way. I think most kids can relate to this story on some level. Everyone has felt like they are behind, or unable to follow a class. Everyone knows what its like to not fit in. Many people know what it's like to be the new kid in school. I had a lot of problems in school for my first three years. I didn't have a learning dissability, I just had trouble focusing. Consequently, I was often behind in my classwork and felt ashamed and slightly outcast. Finally, my parents realized I needed a more creative type of education and enrolled me in an experimental school. I excelled and proceeded to a brilliant academic career. I think this book suggests, not that students with different learning needs be sent to "special classrooms", but that their problems may result from a failed approach in the classroom. I think different kids, just like adults, need to be stimulated in different ways in order to absorb information. Sam's regular teachers failed to give him the skills and confidence he needed. Sam taking a few out of class tests dosen't mean he will spend time being in a "special" environment. It means he had someone help him in a new and creative way. It also gave him the confidence to believe in himself. This book is a total triumph. He starts out feeling like a friendless loser. By the end of the book Sam has two great friends, is begining to believe that he is smart, starts to see the skills he took for granted such as his math abilities, learns responsibility and that adults trust him. What isn't triumphant about that?

First, let's dispense with the obvious. The title of this book refers to the first question on a learning disabilities test. Sam Mott is in sixth grade, but he reads at a second grade level. He has an undiagnosed learning disability, but in his moves from school to school, no one has been able to pin it down. Sam feels stupid, and erects mechanisms to disguise his `dumbness', like acting silly in class. We all know students like this, either as teachers or students. What we may not know is how painful and frustrating school is for these students.

Do Bananas Chew Gum? would be among the first books I would recommend to a child having trouble in school. The book ends on a hopeful note, with Sam realizing that if he works very hard, he will be able to get along fine. It presents a positive image of learning disabilities.

This book is great for kids who like books that have many problems to deal with and if you like kids with a learning disability. It probably has issues you have to deal with in your life spand. When you first read it, it might be boring for you, but as you get to the middle it gets really interesting. The setting of the book are great because all through the whole course of the book. Sam and his friends (Alica and Wally) do things together and help each other out. Anybody who reads this book will like it very much!

I agree with everything the review below stated about how this book is triumphant and affirming of the main character. Furthermore, it is affirming of all of the main characters. Everyone, from Mrs. Glass, who learns not to sell herself short as a working woman; to Alicia, who learns that although "book smarts" come easy to her, she will have to work hard to develop her "people skills"; to Sam, who learns to value his mathmatical abilities, and stop considering himself as stupid because he has difficulties with reading.

I would like to take issue with the reviewer who criticized the book because Sam claims that his small reading victory is comparable to swimming a great distance. Why is that statement so offensive? In my mind any educational process, if you're really trying to learn and not simply going through the motions, feels exactly like that. I've always been a good student, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have to work hard to learn new things. That feeling of exhaustion and pride that you've really concentrated your efforts to learn something new shouldn't be a source of shame, it should be a source of pride.

I strongly disagree with the review that states this book is not positive and allows institutions to rationalize the learning disabled. I have dyslexia and have successfully graduated from top undergrad and law schools. This book made me feel less alone at a time when dyslexia was little understood and it also allowed me to see that "stupid" is a relative term defined mainly by the ignorant. We each have different strengths and weaknesses and this book celebrates that while at the same time illustrating that weaknesses may be improved upon with hard work.

Fun book for the beginning teacher or future teacher to read.

This book was one of the best books I ever read. It is really funny. I think the author did a really good job writing the book. This book is not about a submarine. It is about kids trying to sink their substitute teacher. To sink is to make him/her cry. Then the sub tells them a secret this is her first time as a sub. They think they can sink her because she is a first timer. And they come close. They flood the room, change names, they even hit her with snowballs. Do they make her cry? Read the book and find out.

You probably think this book is about submarine right? We'll you're thinking wrong. This book is about kids who try to make the substitute cry before the week is over. They mess up the chalkboard, they throw snowballs at her. Do they make her cry? If you want to find out you'll have to read the book.

Kind of slow. A great way to show kids kind of a different perspective to teachers and substitutes. Not something I would enjoy reading but a pretty good book.I'd recommend it to someone who likes reading realistic fiction.

I think that this book was okay. I mean it was good but i think it was a bit short. The author could of wrote a lot more. When I finished the book I was surprised that it was the end. Although it was really humorous. I would recommened this book for younger children because it's an easy book to understand and it's really short.