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Summary
Summary
Allan Woodrow is back with another pitch-perfect middle-grade novel full of hilarious antics, epic arguments, and a fifth grade that just doesn't get along!This year's fifth graders are the worst Principal Klein has ever seen. But he's hoping that Spirit Week can teach them teamwork, with a top secret prize for the winning team as incentive.Best friends George and Lilly have been looking forward to Spirit Week all year. They might be complete opposites, but they can't wait to be on the winning team together. When their classes end up rivals, with Lilly leading Team Red and George leading Team Blue, the friends swear they can compete and remain best friends.But suddenly there are slimed lockers, sabotaged costumes, and class pets held hostage. As the pranks escalate, it threatens everything, including the prize. Because if Principal Klein finds out, Spirit Week will be cancelled and the students will spend the rest of the year in detention.Can George and Lilly find a way to fix their friendship and get the entire fifth grade to play fair, or is the most awesome week of fifth grade about to make this the worst school year ever?
Author Notes
Allan Woodrow is the author of Unschooled , Class Dismissed , and The Pet War , as well as other books for young readers, written under secret names. His writing also appears in the Scholastic anthology Lucky Dog: Twelve Tales of Rescued Dogs . Allan currently lives near Chicago with his family. For more about Allan and his books, visit him online at www.allanwoodrow.com.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-It's Spirit Week at Liberty Falls Elementary, and the fifth grade class has been divided into two teams-Blue and Red. Best friends George and Lilly have been looking forward to this event all year. Together they can conquer any challenge. To make the contest even more enticing, Principal Klein announces a secret prize for the winning team. Disaster strikes as George and Lilly realize that they are not only on different teams but are also rival captains. No one is playing fair, and Principal Klein threatens to cancel Spirit Week as team members are slimed, costumes sabotaged, and class pets held for ransom. George and Lilly struggle to salvage their friendship and save Spirit Week. Told in the alternating voices of the two protagonists, this work provides good fodder for discussion on right vs. wrong, pride, achievement, responsibility, and self-esteem. VERDICT This well-written, engaging story will be popular with middle graders. A good selection for most shelves.-Paula Huddy, The Blake School-Highcroft Campus, Wayzata, MN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Events spiral out of control when two fifth-grade friends find themselves captains of opposing teams at Liberty Falls Elementary School's Spirit Week competition. There's rampant competitiveness and unabashed cheating; will Lilly and George's relationship survive? Despite an improbably oblivious school administration, things settle down to a predictable conclusion. Characterization is thin, but middle graders will be entertained by the spirited shenanigans. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
BFFs George Martinez and Lilly Bloch get themselves into a difficult position when they become the captains for opposing fifth-grade teams during their school's spirit week.Lilly is way too competitive, whereas George has always preferred the path of least resistance. Lilly's spirit seems to fuel in her teammates the fire to win, no matter how. Meanwhile, George is too passive to rein in his fervent classmates, who are equally willing to do whatever it takes to get the prize. Speculation on the mystery prize at stake gets wilder and more improbable as the week passes. Both teams cheat, engaging in a series of dirty tricks that drive a wedge between George and Lilly but that neither does much to control. It's only after a series of funny, messy disasters that the pair finally realizes that standing by and letting their teammates cheat without intervening makes them guilty too. For the last day's event, a field day, Lilly and George work together, trying to derail any planned misbehaviorof which there is plentyeach eventually confronting the worst of the bad kids and their own demons as well. Related in distinctive alternating voices, the tale features ample over-the-top situations with character development taking second place to high jinks. George has light brown skin, like his evidently Latino dad, and Lilly is white. An amusing road map to bad behavior but also a fairly subtle reminder of the culpability of mere bystanders to nastiness. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
