Book Review: Big Nate in a Class by Himself

A Fair Trade Book

(Note: What I physically own is a booklet that was printed to publicize the full-size books about Big Nate, not the full-size book shown here.)

Title: Big Nate In a Class by Himself

Author: Lincoln Peirce

Author's web site: http://bignatebooks.com/about-the-author

Date: 2010

Publisher: Harper

ISBN: 978-0062283597

Length: 224 pages

Illustrations:  cartoons by the author

Quote: "She always calls on me when I don't know the answer."

For those who've not already seen it, "Big Nate" is a comic strip syndicated in many daily newspapers. Nate is a middle school boy, drawn only slightly taller than his classmates, not a big enough child to be physically intimidating to adults. His problems with being a "big" child are the manageable kind, like being easy for teachers to see and call on. His adventures are consistently funny.

In this book, which contains narrative as well as cartoons, Nate worries about a test. The story has a happy ending. Most parents probably don't need to explain to fourth grade readers that Peirce is trying to suggest that Nate could suffer less test anxiety if he took notes and studied, although somewhere in the Official Rules of Aunthood is a requirement that I mention that. In the full-length book Nate has other things go wrong that day, besides his last-minute test anxiety.

What I physically own is a promotional "trailer" that wasn't even sold, but was given to children with a fast-food selection that had the Orwellian-sounding title of "Happy Meal." The ickiness of the phrase "Happy Meal" guaranteed this book limited circulation and, thus, eventual collectibility. It's seldom easy to predict which collectibles will gain value within the original owner's lifetime, but the mere fact that you can now get the 44-page mini-book Big Nate In a Class by Himself without having to look at a "Happy Meal" shows that it's gained some value, so it may gain more.

For the full-length story, send $5 per book, $5 per package, and $1 per online payment to the appropriate address at the bottom of the screen--$10 by postal money order to Boxholder, P.O. Box 322, or $11 by Paypal to the account address you get by e-mailing salolianigodagewi. For seven different Big Nate books, all containing a mix of regular printed prose and cartoons, send $65 or $66; Amazon may have mixed up data fields--it looks as if, at the time of writing, a brand-new set straight from the publisher costs less than a secondhand set, and if that's true when you order you'll get brand-new books. (For the new set of nine Big Nate books, including two brand-new ones, visit Peirce's web site.) From this payment we'll send $1 per book to Lincoln Peirce or the charity of his choice.