I felt like something was not as it seemed from the very beginning. I expected a huge revelation to occur at some point in the plot - that the boys were not seeing what they thought they were seeing. There was a slight revelation in the last couple of scenes, but everything else was pretty much exactly what Barry wrote it was. I found that to be a little disappointing.
Finally, the continued reference to the "hot" girl were unnecessary. Though we find that the girl in question has much more to offer than pretty looks, and even though nothing inappropriate happens, it still seems a little too pubescent for a book targeting the middle grades to mention "hotness" in this fashion. It adds nothing to the story or the characters.
From author's website: In this hilarious novel, written in the voice of eighth-grader Wyatt Palmer, Dave Barry takes us on a class trip to Washington, DC. Wyatt, his best friend, Matt, and a few kids from Culver Middle School find themselves in a heap of trouble—not just with their teachers, who have long lost patience with them—but from several mysterious men they first meet on their flight to the nation’s capital. In a fast-paced adventure with the monuments as a backdrop, the kids try to stay out of danger and out of the doghouse while trying to save the president from attack—or maybe not. |