Mr. Sunny Is Funny! (My Weird School Daze Series #2) by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

A.J.'s family rented a beach house for the summer, and you'll never guess in a million hundred years who rented the house next door. Well, you have to read the book to find out. So nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you!*

*Okay, okay, it's Andrea and her family. And she has a monster crush on Mr. Sunny, the hunky (but weird) lifeguard. Ooooh! When are they gonna get married?

Children's Literature

Up-and-coming third grader A.J. hates school. He also hates Andrea, "Little Miss Perfect Know-It-All." Luckily for A.J., it is summer vacation, and that means he will not have to contend with school or Andrea for over seven million seconds (according to his trusty calculator), or so he thinks, until Andrea shows up to share his family's beach house! It is almost a catastrophe; luckily, Andrea is smitten with 16-year-old lifeguard Evan (a.k.a. Mr. Sunny), whose motto is "Sand is my life." Sadly, Andrea's love is unrequited; Mr. Sunny is obsessed with building a sandcastle for a big contest. Who can blame him? First prize is a trip to France, where he hopes "to study sand sculpture from the great sand masters." A.J. convinces broken-hearted Andrea to win Mr. Sunny's attention by pretending to drown. Unfortunately, Andrea gets a cramp and actually almost drowns. Even more unfortunately, Mr. Sunny is busy fending off a shark (plus it turns out he is one of those lifeguards who cannot really swim), so it is A.J. to the rescue! The second in Gutman's "My Weird School Daze" series, this is another wacky tale sure to keep kids, and their parents, smiling. Gutman even manages to sneak in some Shakespeare (but do not tell anyone). Paillot's black-and-white illustrations are just silly enough to add to the spirit of fun. Reviewer: Naomi Milliner

Product Details

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Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My name is A.J. and I hate school.

But I don't care about school anymore. You know why? Because last week I graduated from second grade at Ella Mentry School. And third grade doesn't start until September.

You know what that means?

That's right! It's summertime! I don't have to worry about school for three whole months!

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before school ended my teacher, Mrs. Daisy, told us to write about our favorite season. We had to read our essays in front of everybody.

"My favorite season is spring," wrote Andrea Young, this annoying girl with curly brown hair. "The sun is out. Flowers are blooming. Birds are chirping. Butterflies flit to and fro. It fills me with joy and happiness."

I hate Andrea.

What is her problem? Everybody knows the best season of all is summer. That's the first rule of being a kid! Summer blows the doors off the other seasons.

You know why summer is so great? Because you don't have to sit still all day. You don't have to pledge the allegiance or have circle time or learn the Word of the Day. You don't have to line up in ABC order and walk in single file. Teachers don't yell at you, and you can't be sent to the principal's office. There's no disgusting cafeteria food to eat. You don't have to read books. No homework! You don't have to learn stuff.

My brain hurts from so much thinking all year long. In second grade I thought my head was gonna explode from thinking too much.

During the school year, you have to go tobed early and get up early. In the summer you can stay up late and get up late. The sun stays out until nine o'clock at night. How does it know to do that? I guess the sun likes summer, too.

Summer is like three months of recess! You can have water balloon fights, eat saltwater taffy, and play football on the beach. And you don't have to wear a coat or gloves. You can wear flip-flops and shorts with holes in them. Ice cream tastes better. And you don't have to take as many showers because you can go swimming. I love swimming. I'm a great swimmer. In the summer you can swim all day.

Plus, in the summer when you get sunburned, you can peel off your skin!

What's cooler than peeling off your own skin?

But here's the number one reason why summer is the best season: I don't have to see Andrea Young for three whole months!

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three months is 12 weeks. That's 12 whole weeks with no Andrea!

I got a calculator for Christmas, and I figured it out. Twelve weeks times 7 days in a week is 84 days.

That's 84 days with no Andrea!

And 84 days times 24 hours in a day is 2,016 hours.

That's 2,016 hours with no Andrea!

And 2,016 hours times 60 minutes in an hour is 120,960 minutes.

That's 120,960 minutes with no Andrea!

And 120,960 minutes times 60 seconds in a minute is 7,257,600 seconds.*

That's more than 7 million seconds with no Andrea!

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I'm going to enjoy every one of them.