The Rat Brain Fiasco #1 (Splurch Academy) - Softcover

Julie Berry lives in Eastern Massachusetts with her husband and four young sons. She created the Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys series with her sister, illustrator Sally Faye Gardner. Her first novel, The Amaranth Enchantment, was published in 2009 by Bloomsbury Children's Books, and her second, Secondhand Charm, was published the following year. Julie holds an MFA degree in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of the Fine Arts and a BS in communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Gr 3-6–Cody Mack has been sent to the principal's office yet again because of his troublesome behavior. This time, instead of detention, he is introduced to Dr. Farley, a world-famous specialist in naughty children. The next day Cody is shipped off to Splurch Academy, a boarding school that is famous for its sinister plans to mold boys into becoming “model citizens.” To his surprise, the school is nothing more than a haunted-house nightmare run by crazy-foolish monsters. Cody runs into enemies that include mummy librarians, living skeletons, devil dogs, and squeaky rats. He also makes friends who try to help him escape the Farley Method experiment, for Cody will soon be the first student at Splurch Academy to test the Rebellio-Rodent Recipronator, which swaps the naughty part of the brain with a rat's brain. This hybrid novel incorporates black-and-white illustrations in a comic-book format. The story contains harmless malevolence and revenge, which will keep readers coming back for more. The imaginative writing and goofy plot will attract reluctant readers. With a tongue-in-cheek style and hilarious cartoons, the laugh-out-loud story is sure to creep off the shelves–Krista Welz, North Bergen Public Library, NJα(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.