Big Nate Hug It Out!

Peirce, Lincoln. Big Nate: Hug It Out 
September 3rd 2019 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
Copy provided by the publisher

In this collection of strips published from March 15, 2015 to  September 13, 2015, we follow Nate's various exploits at school and at home. He goes to the art museum on a class trip chaperoned by his grandparents, plays baseball, and has to be tutored by Gina. He also goes to a carnival and rides on a fair ride with a girl he later cannot locate, although he obsesses about her in true Nate fashion.

It amazes me that students refuse to read the newspaper comics but love these books so much. I personally prefer the Big Nate notebook novels, because we get more of Nate's story, but I am still glad The Columbus Dispatch carries this strip.

I did put in an order for some new graphic novels, but I have noticed something. While the new 6th graders only want to read graphic novels, most of my 7th and 8th graders read them just occasionally, usually checking out a decent number of novels or nonfiction books. Are there 8th graders who will still only check out Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Yes, but since I offer other choices that often are appealing, I think my students learn to enjoy a variety of books.

There are a couple of 8th grade girls who keep telling me they just don't like to read and are never going to finish a 200 page book for their book project (which can be a book about any topic they choose). These same girls forget to bring the books to study hall and stare into space for 45 minutes. There is only so much I can do.

On the bright side, one of my library helpers mentioned that she is envisioning fan fiction where Anne of Green Gables meets Little House on the Prairie.. in the 1960s (She just read Hood's She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah). Anne is friends with Mary, because Laura would have no patience for her, but Mary and Diana embrace a more traditional view of the world and eventually ostracize Anne, who runs off to Haight-Asbury to join the hippie movement. It was a slow day, so we got a bit distracted!

The Chloe books, to my chagrin, have been popular. So- hooray, money well spent but boo- not thrilled with the somewhat sexist content.