Gutman, Dan. The Homework Machine

[Mary]

I have not yet finished The Homework Machine, but I am so pleased that it is on our reading list. I had been worried that this book would just be a rehash of Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, but I have been very pleasantly surprised. I enjoy the writing style which uses short, first-person entries from the 5th graders themselves, their teacher, their parents, and even the police chief. This will be a great book to discuss at our Mock Newbery AND will be a great book for classroom discussions of ethics, friendship, honesty, and integrity.

[Mary]

I totally bought into the whole idea of a child being bright enough to program his computer to do homework; I REALLY enjoyed the style of writing and watching each character develop; and the subplot about Sam's soldier dad being sent to the Middle East was very strong... but I was disappointed in the ending of this book. I don't want to spoil a fun read for any of you who have not yet read the book, but Brenton in particular seemed out of character as the book resolved itself. I'll be interested in hearing what you all think.

[Christi]

I was disappointed in this book. The format was interesting, but the characters seemed like stereotypes and I didn't care what happened to them.

[Diane]

How can this book be nominated for the Mock Newbery? It serves no benefit to our children. "Homework sucks and school sucks!" How can Dan write like this? I am a fan of his sports/historical time travel books and the "Kid Who Ran for President" books. But, his latest book contain language that I do not want my students emulating. The moral to the book "The Homework Machine" is that you can cheat all year without any consequences.

[heather]

I was disappointed to say the least. And left with some questions:
How did the marketing guy track down the students? How did he get their phone numbers and home addresses? WHY did the computer stay on and am I really supposed to believe that would happen?
I agree with Diane's comment on the moral of the story.
Ick.

[rach]

Did not like this book at all. The plot was very shaky and unbelievable, the characters did not ring true for 5th graders and there were so many trite answers for complex mysteries. I also did not like how the Iraq issue was dealt with in the end(I won't give details for those of you who still would like to read it). I liked that the book addressed the issue, but the way it was dropped so quickly was unnerving and distressing. It's hard to believe those kids forgot about the tragedy so quickly. I was very disappointed.

[Estonian Dancer]

I had never read anything by Dan Gutman before I read The Homework Machine this week.
I did enjoy the "personal account-interviewing" style writing throughout the book as a way of telling the story...but that format is not new, as Konigsburg and others have tried it in the past. I did buy into the personalities of the 4 students and I thought they were developed enough to have a good idea of who they were as individuals.
The Iraq war sub-sub-sub theme was sooo tiny that I almost wonder why Gutman included it.

I had a couple of problems with this book:

1. Did Mrs Damagatchi not have any fruit or carrot sticks or granola bars in her local supermarket? All she ever dished out to those 4 kids when they came around after school was cinnamon buns and ready-bake cookies!!
2. I despise teachers who only assign cloze worksheets for homework! The nerve!! I mean, I know she's a first year teacher and all, but what's the point of just giving children cloze sentence worksheets day in and day out? No wonder the philosphical and bright Brenton got creative and invented the machine!

As a professional librarian who works with children of all ages, I see many children coming into the the library after school wanting to use the Internet for homework. Given the chance, some children think just doing a bit of cutting and pasting of info from the Net is "doing their homework".
This book really throws a pie in the face of librarians and teachers who do believe in children being taught about information literacy, so that in future they know where to access information and how to access resources effectively and accurately.

[KSlib]

Lighten up guys!!! The book is an attempt at humor for the children to enjoy. So it is not realistic. Do you think Captain Underpants and Goosebumps are realistic as well? Is this not a "fiction" book? This does have a good moral about cheating in the end and the students do seem to learn a lesson. Can we not just enjoy a book for its content instead of digging into negativities over trivial ethics?