The Prank

Elizabeth Levin is chair of the Psychology Department at Laurentian
University.

Grade 8 has started and it sucks. Nate’s mother has given him new
crayons (as if he was in Grade 2), and to top things off, his best
friend Trevor pulls Nate’s jeans down, exposing his underwear in front
of a group of girls. At home, his mother is on his case to clean his
room. At first he is just grounded, but later she actually moves all his
stuff to the garage so he is forced to put it all away neatly. Then his
clothes begin disappearing, first his gym shoes, later his T-shirt. The
only good thing is that the Grade 8 boys get to pull a giant prank at
his school. The prank is revealed at the Halloween dance and it is one
to be remembered. Only thing is the girls also pulled one on the guys!

Written in the form of a journal and featuring pen-and-ink
illustrations, The Prank is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. It has mystery,
school, family problems, and boy-girl relationships. The only
problem—a minor one—concerns the included glossary. While allen key,
genie, and ghoul might be unfamiliar to some readers, sneeze,
highlighter, and bracelet are surely not. Highly recommended.