Jake Drake: Know-It-All with CD (Chinese-English)

Author: Andrew Clements
Paperback with CD: 228 page(s)
Age Range: 7 - 10
Ontario curriculum: Language - Reading

Book Description:

Jake Drake is excited about Despres Elementary School's first science fair. He wants to win the grand prize: a brand-new Hyper-Cross-Functional Bluntium Twelve computer system. And he really wants to beat the third-grade know-it-alls, Marsha McCall and Kevin Young.

The trouble is, to beat the know-it-alls, Jake has to become a know-it-all himself. And he may just lose more than he wins.

School Library Journal
Fourth-grader Jake Drake looks back on his third-grade science-fair project. Sure, he learned a lot about electromagnets, but he learned even more about the pitfalls of being a know-it-all. It all started when his principal announced the school's first-ever science fair. The plot thickened when a local businessman announced that a computer would be the grand prize. A self-described computer nut, Jake refused to work with his best friend because he didn't want to share the prize. Finally, it came to him that his single-mindedness was turning him into a person he didn't like, and his project wasn't fun. Even though he and his partner took second prize, and thus no computer, Jake valued the experience. He sounds like a regular fourth grader as he describes his teachers and classmates. But he also digs deep to reveal the character-building lessons in everyday events. Full-page, black-and-white drawings show the competitive classmates as they work toward winning the great prize. A cut above the usual beginning chapter book because of its depth, this realistic plot and Jake's personality will seal the deal with transitional readers.