Review: The worst side of good kids
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 23, 2013
A group of 5 disparate 8th graders thrown together as punishment on a yardwork crew.  There's enough bad attitude, disrespect, teasing, bullying and name calling to make you feel like a school bus driver in need of some nervous breakdown time off.  Deusch bag and jockstrap seem to be special favorites.  Sure kids talk that way; so let's reinforce their behavior by finding humor in teasing people who are fat or different in some way.  And it goes on for at least 3/4 of the book.  That's why I had a hard time with it.  The emphasis was on clever and insulting wisecracks instead of story.  It seems logical to expect that their supernatural experiences and time travel would sober them up enough to make them take things a little more seriously.  To me it was like cartoon slapstick.Since I had depended heavily on the reviews in my decision to purchase this book, and then I had read several other books in the meantime, I started to question again what the reviews had said to motivate me to buy it.  So after reading Chapter 14 out of 19 and considering whether I should bother finishing it, I went back and checked them out.  There they were - glowing reports of how much fun it was and how great the dialogue was. (I was definitely not on the same wavelength.)  A couple of reviewers actually gave me hope, though, stating that the kids finally do come together as a team and become friends.  I did finish it and I must admit that they redeemed themselves somewhat.  I just wish it hadn't been so late in the story.I'm sorry, I would not recommend this to my 13-year-old granddaughter.