I am a 5th grade teacher and I found this book very helpful in providing explanations to my students about various elections processes. The kids really enjoy as it is written in a question/answer format. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about our elections!

Although the title focuses on wrestler Dr. Demented, a scary "heel" (bad guy) who demolished his opponents with power and brutality, this is primarily an issue book, exploring such themes as divorce and single parenting, dating, violence and bullies, and being true to oneself. As such, it was somewhat boring to my third grader but will probably appeal to young adolescents around 5th to 7th grade or so.

Wrestling fan Wesley discovers that the feared and idolized "Dr. Demented," is really his gym teacher, Landon Wheeler, in disguise. He and a friend begin weight training with Dr. Demented so that the school bully will stop picking on them. Wesley's mom, who suffered through after an abusive relationship with her ex-husband, tries to raise her son to rely on his brains and not his body. However, she meets the cultured, strong but gentle Mr. Wheeler, and they begin to date. Soon, each person is struggling with a dilemma: Should Wesley tell his mom the truth about Dr. Demented's identity? Should Wesley's mom see Landon anymore after his secret identity is revealed? How should Wes and his friend deal with the bully? Should Dr. Demented continue his secret (and, maybe even "job" a fight--lose on purpose) so that he can get enough money for medical school, or should he be honest with himself and with Wesley's mom?

There are just too many complex problems to resolve, and Gutman sometimes straddles both sides of an issue. He points out that wrestling is fake, but also that wrestlers do get injured and sometimes hurt themselves intentionally for the sake of the show. Violent self-defense is "sticking up for a friend" and may avert future attacks, yet could also have seriously injured the school bully. Honesty and sincerity are important, but the gym teacher's obsessive attentions and later apologies seem to come from a man who view a date as a conquest to be won like a wrestling match. At least, Gutman comes out unequivocally against using substances to enhance weight training.

This book might be best in a classroom, where a teacher could point out the contrasts, and let kids debate the various angles that Gutman presents. Otherwise, I recommend this to older students who are mature enough to both enjoy and think through these dilemmas, either by themselves or with family members. There is some intriguing information about how wrestling is choreographed, and Gutman's ear for kids' dialogue is keen as usual. However, I don't think this somewhat overly ambitious book is as good as those in his sports time traveling series (e.g., "Jackie Robinson and Me"). Still, it's an interesting "serious" exploration of a very popular phenomenon.

Dan Gutman wrote many different series such as Baseball's Greatest Games and It Came From Center Field. The Shortstop Who Knew too Much takes place in Somerville, a town in central New Jersey. The charctersin this story are Jake, who is the main character and is important to the story. His best friend known as ''Whiplash'' is another main character. This story is about when Jake and Whip had an argument because Whip hit Jake by accident in a baseball game. Now, Jake has a new talent. He can read people's minds, but his relationship with Whip is falling apart. Because he can read minds, his team is doing well because he knows what his opponents are thinking. Later during the season, he is aloud to play the championships. Jake is going one on one with Whip with the bases loaded, and he gets hit again by accident which makes him the winning run. All in all, I recommend this book highly. This is a good book to read.

This was an okay book, though it probably could have been better. The book includes a history of the sport, its first superstars, the gymnastics events, judging and scoring, a day in the life of a gymnast, superstars of the 1990s, a chapter about the dangers of the sport, (more on that later) a timeline of important gymnastics dates, and trivia and facts. The book is a little dated and could use some updating, and the chapter that dissapointed me a lot was the chapter about "the price of success". Dan Gutman fails to mention that these things don't happen in every sport. He also fails to point out that he is talking about the ELITE level of gymnastics. Anyone who has read "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" will see that Gutman's source for the ENTIRE chapter was based upon that book! Dan Gutmnan used the same exact information just with different wording! That chapter clearly does not fit in with the rest of the book, which says nothing of the dark side of these sports. If you want to buy this book, I would say save your money and buy a different book- this one isn't the best.

I thought that the book was excellent! It was very well written and it covered a lot of important and interesting things. I would've rated this book at 5 star, but I heard that in a short story about a girl that died because her head slammed into the vault and her neck snapped, then she went into a coma and died, the author didn't mention that when she was in the hospitol her air tube came out and they couldn't put it back in, and that's what made her go into a coma ( and as a result die) that made me angry because I expect the REAL facts when I read a book.

wow I thought the book thoughlly explained
this graceful and dynamic sport> I recommend this
book to any fan or gymnast.Some people may not agree
with my comments or rating but hey, thats
there opoinion!I am a competitive gymnast and that is
probably why I enjoyed the book so much!

"The Way Baseball Works" is an oversized picture book touching on the basics of baseball. Unfortunately there is not much else here to help you learn the game.

If you are new to baseball and you are really interested in learning about the game, try Nick Bakalar's "The Baseball Fan's Companion" and Johnny Bench's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Baseball."

Sometimes nothing is better than knowing why something happens-especially in sports. This book is great for showing you the science of how hard it is to be good as baseball. I really enjoyed it.

My book is about great games such as Mets vs Astros. The Astros had 3 points and the Mets had 0 but then the Mets mysteriously came back. It tells about Little Poison and Big Poison. It even tells about the Yankees vs. Cardinals in 1926. I like this book because it talks about baseball and baseball is my favorite sport.

Do you like to read about aliens? Do you like stinky cheese? Do you like silly books? Then here is book for you. This is about Funny Boy, a "good alien" who has been sent to Earth to save us from "unspeakably disgusting aliens." In two other books Funny Boy saved Earth from alien invaders by using his sense of humor and jokes. He alleviated the Airsick Alien from Andromeda, and then banished the Bubble Brained Barbers from the Big Bang. Now, the President of the United States has drafted Funny Boy to save us from conniving chitchatting Cheeses from the celestial planet of Chattanooga. It's already "snowing" white cheddar cheese on New Jersey! Funny Boy better think fast!

I got the feeling that this book was hastily put together to cash in on the popularity of figure skating. There is an unbelievable amount of incorrect information! Don't waste your money on this one! My recommendation for a great book to give a child on the subject of skating is "Boitano's Edge". The information in this beautiful book is accurate, inspiring and fun.