Although I was at first a bit disappointed that I never managed to read the fourth of Gordon Korman's MacDonald Hall novels as a teenager, in retrospect, I am actually more than a bit glad, as I have certainly not all that much enjoyed The War With Mr. Wizzle and frankly, if I had indeed read this novel in 1982 (when The War With Mr. Wizzle was originally published), it might very well also have tainted my prior enjoyment and appreciation of This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall!, Go Jump in...

It's interesting that this takes place in a (relatively) modern-day boarding school. So much of what goes on here, on both sides of the 'war,' could not take place if there were parents involved, or if the children were only on the campuses for 7 hrs a day. Even so, it's necessary to suspend one's disbelief. Once that is done, though, the rest works well. I think my favorite character now if Mr. Sturgeon. Mrs. Sturgeon is funny though. When I was a kid I would have envied all these brave childre...

Bruno and Boots are back with a vengeance! This time their goal is to get rid of Walter C. Wizzle, a new staff member who is bent on modernizing Macdonald Hall. Meanwhile, the girls at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School are trying to get rid of their tyrannical ex-Marine assistant Headmistress, Gloria Peabody. The students of both schools, with Bruno and Cathy as the usual ringleaders, get into all kinds of trouble with their schemes to get rid of Wizzle and Peabody, until they finally come up wi...

Just too funny....loved these as a teen, my own teens have also enjoyed them too now :)

I remember reading this several times when I was a kid, and loving the antics. I would like to get my hands on the original (not updated) version so I could also laugh at the technology references.

Canadian children's author Gordon Korman has had a long career as the prolific writer of humorous, exciting, and easy-to-read novels geared toward grades 4 to 9. He started writing at age 12, when he wrote This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! for a seventh grade English class. Over the course of nearly 20 years after the publication of this first MacDonald Hall book, Korman published a total of 7 titles about the boarding school exploits of best friends Bruno and Boots.This month, I read t...

This is my favourite one of the Bruno and Boots series... The author is Canadian, and I have not been able to find these books in the States, so I was happy to find them on this site. If you can find them, they are some of the funniest children's books around. The author started writing them when he was 15 or 16. When I was a kid, I remember seeing my dad laugh until he cried while reading this book (well, one of the books in the series, there's a few).

I was reading this aloud to the kids and it got put away for what turned out to be a long while. Brought it back for a road trip and every time I stopped to get a breath they asked if I was going to keep reading.Finished this book and they immediately dug out the next one.

Funny. Silly. Improbable. Quite enjoyable. I love reading the funny Korman books.

In the 'lore' of the MacDonald Hall series, this book stands out as being one of the most important ones. Why? (view spoiler)[Because this book features the one and only time that Boots and Bruno have a serious disagreement that results in them staying mad at each other for several days and it's the one and only time that Boots quits one of Bruno's committees. What makes this more meaningful is that the reason behind their disagreement is a serious but age-appropriate issue: Bruno and Boots have...

Reading The War With Mr. Wizzle is an interesting experience. It's a pretty standard MacDonald Hall book, so I don't think too much more needs to be said on that front, but Wizzle stands out because it's so dated. The whole premise that Mr. Wizzle is a young modernizer who's been brought in to update the school with his fancy computer, a reel-to-reel machine that uses punch cards and doesn't even have a monitor. Wizzle was written at the same time as the other MH stories, but they're relatively

Still a fun read, but this one felt kind of sloppy. For example, Mr Sturgeon's wife, Mildred, has always been a sensible person, and she has always stood up for the boys, but in this book she's constantly telling her husband to "give Wizzle a chance" even after countless examples of Wizzle causing nothing but trouble for the school and the boys. In previous books, she was a character; in this book, she was just a voice of contention to give Mr Sturgeon someone to argue with, so he could voice hi...

I remember this series from my fifth grade teacher reading it to the class. In turn, I had found the books at a thrift store in a small town when my young sons and I were vacationing. I picked it up for them to read. Very YA and innocently enjoyable!

I just finished reading this to my daughters (11 and 8). Judging from the peals of laughter, it still holds up!

Such a delightful old favourite after all these years. I've probably read these books 50 times each and they're now like old friends to me!

FUNNY always worth a second read

What did the adults in the book do, like say, the board of directors, perhaps?

I read a bunch of Gordon Korman books starting in the 4th grade.

Who would have thought that, in reading this book to my kids, they would then have so much fun playing at assigning everybody demerits, lines, and laps?

Scholastic Apple Paperbacks from the 80's could always be counted on as the G-rated Disney label for books: fun, safe, lighthearted stories for children and tweens completely free of offensive material. I read this book years ago, unaware it was part of a series from Canada since the characters were so similar to Americans in speech and behavior. I had a faint recollection of a story about rebellious boys trying to out-smart their strict teacher. It was fun locating a used copy on Amazon and re-...

YA. Another Macdonald Hall book. Walter C. Wizzle and his Magnetronic 515 have come to whip the Hall into shape and they've brought a dress code with them. The boys are now required to wear a shirt and tie at all times, and you know Bruno's just not going to put up with that.My love for Elmer multiplied tenfold upon learning that he "habitually sported a white shirt and neat black tie." I can only hope it was a thin black tie. That's the good news. The bad news is that this book is a pretty medi...

To be honest, The War with Mr. Wizzle is not my favourite Macdonald Hall book. I mean there were still some laugh-out loud moments and the characters still get into ridiculous hijinks, but I don't know, the book overall felt a bit flat to me. I guess, it's because the matchmaking of Mr. Wizzle and Ms. Peabody and the success of it felt weird to me. I think this is a matter of personal opinion so don't let my discomfort dissuade you from reading the book if you're a Korman & Macdonald Hall fa...

This is actually a slightly different book from *The War with Mr. Wizzle*--it has been updated with current technology, as the original version came out in 1982. It doesn't really jar anything--the only thing I even caught was a mention of PowerPoint--but I imagine it makes it easier for the current generation of whippersnappers to be engaged. With some of Korman's books I don't feel the age gap between myself and his intended audience at all, but in this one I do. I get why my 10-year-old self

I remember reading it and thinking what if there was a way for a computer to match peoples? This was when I was 13, I never imagined. I love all the Bruno and Boots books, the same way I love the Little House on the Prairie Series. I think my Mom had bought them so I would have something to read and didn't think I would wear them out from re-reading. They were the first books I can remember finding funny and make you laugh outloud.When I think back now, I don't know who I feel more sorry for - t...

Bruno and Boots make me smile and laugh the whole way through the book! Walter C. Wizzle arrives at Macdonald Hall and with the help of his computer, begins modernizing what he calls an "out-of-date" school by enforcing a dress code and handing out demerits. Bruno is enraged and enlists the help of friends to start an anti-Wizzle committee that will do whatever it takes to get rid of Mr. Wizzle.

Sigh. Nothing beats a good book. I hate when you get to the end and in this book particularly you've laughed and laughed and absolutely loved the book beginning to end. Alas, thank God for Gordan Korman. No matter what anyone says, this guy is the bomb diggity and I love who he is. Hard to love an author and run out of his books.

I read this book as a kid and loved it. I loved almost anything by Gordon Korman. This book is about two mischievous boys that go to an all boys boarding school in Canada. It is hilarious! It's all about kids versus the adults which as a kid, makes it a very exciting read.

Korman, Gordon PB

My favorite Korman book - and that's saying a lot.

This book is hysterical, but I didn't rate it 'cause there's some stuff in there, I don't feel comfortable condoning.