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Summary
Summary
When one boy waffles back and forth, it's going to take a few little kids-and one pet rat-to get him to finally make a decision.
Monty is a waffler-he can never make up his mind, which always gets him in trouble. But when each student in his fourth-grade class is assigned a kindergarten buddy, Monty takes some left-out kindergarteners under his wing, even though it's against the rules to have more than one buddy. When his blended family and his teachers find out, they give him an ultimatum: choose just one buddy, or have none at all. That stinks! On top of that, his beloved pet rat escapes, and his twin sister stops speaking to him! Monty doesn't want to cast away his new friends, but he needs to come to a decision before everything spins out of control. With laugh-out-loud humor reminiscent of Andrew Clements, Donovan gets the agony-and the tremendous fun-of elementary school perfectly.
Author Notes
Gail Donovan lives with her family in Portland, Maine, where she works in a school library. Like Monty, Gail is a twin, and her twin sister currently lives on a boat as she sails around the world. Gail's previous books include In Memory of Gorfman T. Frog , which was named a "New York Public Library Best Books for Children," and What's Bugging Bailey Blecker? , a "Horn Book back-to-school recommended title."
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Decision-making is an agonizing ordeal for Monty Greene, but it does not become the bane of his existence until his new fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Tuttle, decides to accelerate the process for him by branding him with three "decision-aids" (Band-Aids). These are applied to his arm every day for the entire class to see, earning him the derisive nickname, "Waffles." Monty steels himself for the worst school year ever. Reprieve comes in the unexpected form of four kindergarteners-his official Reading Buddy, Leo Schwarz III, and three unofficial reading buddies who missed out on the assignments. Monty empathizes with the three who were left out and spends his recesses reading to them. When Leo moves, Mrs. Tuttle's final, piercing injustice is the announcement that Monty can only pick one of his remaining buddies to join him at the grand "Culminating Event." Monty's resentment finally blossoms into open rebellion when he boldly invites all three to join him. This is decision-making at its finest, and the youngster suddenly finds himself in the role of hero with Mrs. Tuttle cast as the villain. Monty's world is populated with very real, well-developed characters, and his own evolution is almost imperceptible, which makes it all the more enjoyable.-Kathy Cherniavsky, Ridgefield Library, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Fourth grader Monty (short for Montana) seems to be the only one in his family who's paralyzed by indecision. His twin sister, Sierra, is a go-getter; Mom and Dad, amicably divorced, are both remarried and distracted by the challenges of keeping track of the blended family members' various schedules. At school Monty is dubbed "The Waffler" by the principal, and he gets in trouble with his teacher after agreeing to be the reading buddy for multiple kindergartners instead of choosing just one. His friendships with the little kids and his new pals at the no-peanut lunch table (where he's assigned to sit after not being able to make up his mind) -- not to mention his new pet rat -- help boost Monty's self-esteem. Though the story takes a while to get going, Monty's good spirits come through in the third-person narrative. Thankfully, his parents come through, too, after finally realizing that Monty's "waffling" can be a good thing. It's nice to see a blended family realistically portrayed as busy but loving and to see Monty stand up for himself in the end. A solidly realistic school and family story for fans of Louis Sachar and Claudia Mills. robin l. smith (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Making up his mind has always been hard for Monty to do, but when the principal tags him with the label "waffler," it becomes a nickname the fourth grader desperately wants to lose. Monty's unwillingness to call attention to himself will resonate with readers. He knows that objecting to the hated nickname will make it stick, and he fears that if his mother calls the teacher about the Band-Aid "decision-aids" he has to wear, the teacher will be angry. The adults in Monty's school seem competent but insensitive. When the fourth graders are assigned kindergarten Reading Buddies, three kindergartners are left out, and suddenly, Monty is reading to four of them at recess. Monty's family life is as complicated as his school life: two parents, two stepparents, two half sisters and two houses. He and his decisive twin sister move back and forth week by week. Because he takes so long to make them, many of Monty's choices seem desperate, but at least one works out: A pet rat's long name, a combination of all the names he had been considering, gives him an idea for solving his Reading Buddy problem. Donovan's third-person narration convincingly captures the interior monologue of a boy who likes to consider the alternatives, and her school and home settings ring true. A solid middle-grade choice--no waffling necessary. (Fiction. 7-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Donovan's latest middle-grade novel stars an indecisive boy but manages to reveal how it is adults who can often jump to conclusions and solutions too quickly. In the well-paced but nuanced narrative, Donovan presents Monty's complicated family situation and his frustrations at school as perfectly normal rather than as problems he has to solve. In addition to the new pet rat he dotes upon, he's got divorced parents who have both remarried, a little half sister, an older stepsister, and a twin sister who's better than him at school and sports. The story covers about two months as Monty copes with an unhelpful teacher and a principal who dubs him a waffler, which quickly inspires the titular nickname. Although his teacher puts Band-Aids on Monty's arm to encourage good decisions (she rips them off when he's made a bad one), Monty, in contrast, tries to be kind to kindergartners because he remembers what that age felt like. The book captures the pains and pleasures of being both a twin and a fourth-grader.--Nolan, Abby Copyright 2010 Booklist
