Every spring at Hardy Elementary School, the fifth graders, for the last big event before they go to middle school, spend one week in the woods. This is the sixteenth year of the program, and Mr. Maxwell, the science teacher, directs it. But a new kid in town, with super-rich parents, looks like he's going to be trouble. They have to deal with each other in A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements.
Mark Chelmsley didn't want to move to a small town in New Hampshire. But his father knew that business was business, and a promise is a promise, and Mark would only be at this new school for less than half the school year anyway. So he might as well just get through it.
His parents bought the old Fawcett farm for more than two million dollars, then spent another couple million having it renovated in a huge way. And in this small town, big money was big news.
Mr. Maxwell knew a slacker when he saw one in his class. And Mark was definitely a slacker. He dressed nicely, sat at the back of the room, and didn't pay attention. He didn't even try to.
When Mr. Maxwell found out his parents were the rich people, he wasn't surprised. He can't stand "environmentally insensitive, buy-the-whole-world rich folks." But the only people he can't stand more are their lazy, spoiled kids.
But Mark isn't trying to have a bad attitude. He's bored. All his life, he's been sent to the best private schools, with few students, and he's learned a lot. In fact, most of what he hears in school is stuff he's learned already.
But when he realizes he's acting like a stuck-up jerk, he decides to try to make friends and be a better student in his classes.
Mr. Maxwell isn't buying it, though. Mark has already been a show-off, know-it-all who ruined one of his classroom activities. So Mr. Maxwell is going to show Mark that his life can be pretty miserable from now on.
By the time the week in the woods happens, Mark has made a few friends, but Mr. Maxwell is still not being nice to him. Soon after they arrive at the campsight, a mistake causes Mark to run away, into the woods. Things soon get out of hand, and Mark and Mr. Maxwell end up relating to each other in a very unexpected way.
Kids who like nature, hiking, camping, or feel like they don't fit in at school will enjoy this book. Andrew Clements does an excellent job of presenting both Mark's and Mr. Maxwell's points of view. A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements is an easy read that will keep you wanting to find out what happens.
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