A realistic, fiction novel, The Looney Experiment is a nod to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Atticus has an imagination; instead of speaking, he imagines. He’s basically a good kid, but he doesn’t have a lot of self-confidence. He’d like to be more like Audrey who speaks up when someone needs help and doesn’t let bullies bully her. Atticus, on the other hand, is physically beat up by one particular bully, Danny. The problem is that Danny’s mother is a powerful member of the school board and his father is the coach of their baseball team. Danny is untouchable and has learned his bully tactics from both of his parents.

Mr. Looney arrives when their English teacher goes on maternity leave. He’s over 70 years old and is very strange. He doesn’t even talk the first day. On the second day, they make animal noises. For three weeks, they have no homework. This is a very unusual class, but the students are loving it because they are learning. They begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Mr. Looney gives Atticus his own signed copy of the novel and allows him to read it before school. This becomes a “safe place” for Atticus who feels that life is out to get him. His father leaves to “find himself,” Danny taunts him at every turn, and he wants Audrey to be his girlfriend. Danny is unlike the others; he doesn’t like Mr. Looney. With his powerful mother, Danny plans to take down the revered teacher, Mr. Looney.

This novel is about courage. When faced with a situation that cannot be won, how do you have courage? I have a hard time with books where the bully wins, but he wins only superficially. Unless someone changes you into what you don’t want to be or takes away your own sense of identity, safety, or courage, you cannot lose. There’s a great chapter on how to edit what you’ve written, and as an English teacher, I love it. It’s definitely a novel that English teachers will often nod in agreement because the author is an English teacher himself. I also love the parallels to Harper Lee’s great novel. ( )

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Atticus Hobart is a bit of a misfit. He is bullied by Danny Willis who makes fun of his name and his size (calls him Fatticus). His parents have recently separated and his father has moved out. He is on a baseball team that he does not really want to play on and is not very good, in fact he constantly strikes out. He is in love with a Audrey, a very nice girl in his class, but is afraid to let her know. He is not very happy with his teacher at school either. When she takes a maternity leave, Mr. Looney is hired to teach English. He is a 77 year old substitute English teacher who changes Atticus' life for the better. At first the class just thinks he is a crazy old man running around the room, making odd noises, but Atticus and his class soon see a different side to Mr. Looney's crazy teaching.

This was a great story. It was very realistic with problems that are encountered by children regularly. It was an easy read and will capture the interest of the middle grade student. Atticus is a very real boy who many students will be able to identify with and if not him, then one of the other characters in the class. The storyline of bullying and teasing is very timely, unfortunately. This book gives some ideas to the bystanders in these situations of how to help those being teased or bullied. With the help of Mr. Looney, his mother and his friends, Atticus learns to stand up for his beliefs. A very good message without being preachy.

This would be a good addition to a school or classroom library and a good read aloud for classes learning or talking about bullying, self-confidence and standing up for others. I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

Hmm. This one looked a lot better in the description.

I mean, it looks good, doesn't it? The synopsis makes it look like a sort of mix between Dork Diaries (or whatever it's called - Diary of a Teenaged something, maybe? I don't read them, in case you couldn't tell) and the Terupt books (which I have read - and loved!). I always like a good coming-of-age story, and books about kids with crazy-but-super-effective teachers are kind of my secret addiction. So I snapped The Looney Experiment up when I saw it available for review - and now I'm wishing I hadn't.

Because for one thing, they swear too much. And fart too much. I get that Atticus and his classmates aren't little kids, but it's still a little excessive that they have to be using the A word all the time. And I can forgive some of the farting because Atticus' little brother is pretty young, but I still don't really enjoy reading about it. There's only so much family bonding over flatulence that I can stomach, okay?

And in a way The Looney Experiment is meaningful - after all, Atticus learns some very valuable lessons from Mr. Looney! - but it also felt pretty fake. I mean, we're basically told (and not shown) that Mr. Looney is this awesome teacher, but all he really does is really nutty antics that shock his students into thinking he could be someone cool. To be perfectly honest, I would probably have behaved more like Danny than like Atticus when they all made a conga line and danced around the classroom.

As for the girl - yikes! I feel bad, because I know that kitschy middle-school romances are part and parcel with reading MG these days, but I just couldn't really handle it. They're, like, twelve. I don't care if she's nice, she's still six years from reaching majority! When I was that age, I wasn't even thinking about romance, let alone crushing on guys or wanting to go out with them. Reading about Atticus' clumsy attachment to Audrey is cute in a way, but the whole thing just isn't handled well enough to keep me invested. I know it's possible for me to enjoy MG romances (just look at the Willow Falls books by Wendy Mass, or The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt - links go to my reviews), but there was nothing doing this time.

I just don't know. I don't know who I would give this to, or why, or when. It's got some great themes and messages, don't get me wrong, but there are so many other books out there that cover all of this same material in a more tasteful way (or at least in a way that's more to my taste). If it looks good to you, go for it - maybe it's more your cup of tea than it is mine. But I won't be recommending The Looney Project in the future, and I'm donating my copy to the local book swap.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through the BookLook Bloggers program in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I was looking forward to reading this book because I was in the mood to laugh. I did not find laughs with this book. In fact, I had to check about three times to the back of the book on the reference for the age group/category that this book was listed for. It is listed as Juvenile Fiction/Social Issues/Adolescence. This is a good thing as there was the use of swear words and lots of bullying. With the current issues of bullying in the world I would suggest only older, mature readers read this book.

Although again, I have to say that for me, I did not find anything funny about this book or the characters that interesting. I stuck it out to about half way because I wanted to see how Mr. Looney lesson to teach Atticus would relate to the book, How to Kill a Mockingbird. however between the swearing and my lack of connection with the characters I could not finish this book. ( )