- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1 edition (May 18 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1416990038
- ISBN-13: 978-1416990031
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.6 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 318 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #755,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
When their town gets destroyed by a tornado, everyone is pretty depressed. So in order to cheer everyone up and raise some money, the community decides to put on a talent show. Unfortunately, no one in town is particularly talented. But that doesn’t stop everyone from giving it their all! Especially the one star in town. She just might have what it takes—if she can get to the show on time. When another tornado hits, the kids make every effort to put the show on, but there may be more surprises in store!
Dan Gutman delivers another hilarious tale about school adventures!
About the Author
Dan Gutman hated to read when he was a kid, then he grew up. Now he writes cool books like The Kid Who Ran for President, Honus & Me, The Million Dollar Shot, Race for the Sky, and The Edison Mystery: Qwerty Stevens, Back in Time. If you want to learn more about Dan or his books, stop by his Web site: www.dangutman.com.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Talent Show, July 12 2010
By L. Romich "Book Nympho" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Talent Show (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
THE TALENT SHOW by Dan Gutman is about two tornados that hit the city of Cape Bluff, Kansas. The kids at Cape Bluff Elementary School voted on whether or not to have a talent show or a rubble to rebuild the school. The deciding vote was a talent show. None of the kids knew there were so many people that wanted to be in the talent show.
Everyone is showing off their talents and doing their part such as: The Blufftones, a band that plays old-time rock and roll; Julia, a fourth grader who was on the pointe at The Fontaneau Ballet Studio, with a song by Justin Chanda, a multimillion-selling pop star; Don Potash, a sixth grader who did a stand-up comedy act; Richard Ackoon, a third grader who is an aspiring rap star and does his own rap, and "Honest Dave" Gale who owns a car dealership named Honest Dave's Hummer Heaven, who donated the car for the winner and their parent's.
THE TALENT SHOW by Dan Gutman was an okay read. The story is about a small town that is hit by two tornados, one before the talent show and the other in the middle of the talent show. It is also about how the kids raised money from the talent show to rebuild their school. It was an okay read because it was a little slow to get into. It was not quite what I expected after reading most of Mr. Gutman's other books. I personally am a fan of his SCHOOL DAZE series (the titles rhyme), which I would recommend for other kids to read.
This book was provided by the Amazon Vine program for review purposes.
Reviewed by Kalia
APOOO BookClub
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Talent Show doesn't play to the author's talents., July 22 2010
By Scott Sherman "Scott Sherman, Lambda Literary... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Talent Show (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
My nine-year-old son is a reluctant reader, but Dan Gutman's "My Weird School" series are books he can't wait to get his hands on. Told in the first person by a snarky second-grader who proudly announces "I hate school," that series gives my son a protagonist to whom he can relate, some funny set-ups, and a villain or two to root against.
Now that he's ready for more challenging materials, I was glad to see Gutman had written a book for older readers - The Talent Show. I hoped it would continue to build on Gutman's strengths for writing likable, relatable characters with an incremental increase in its level of difficultly.
Unfortunately, The Talent Show wasn't that book. For one thing, the word choices were more sophisticated than I anticipated. The first page of the book contains about 50-60 words, among them: "Stratocaster," ""on pointe," "The Fontaneua Ballet Studio," "releves," "tour jetes," "allegro," and "Giselle." My son stumbled over every one of those words, and for good reason. It turned him off to wanting to read more.
In those opening pages, Gutman establishes what several of his lead characters were doing "When the Tornado Hit..." One sixth grade character is in the shower singing "I Will Survive," another boy in her class is watching a Jerry Seinfeld DVD, and the fifth-grader practicing his Stratocaster is playing "Stairway to Heaven."
These seemed like more missed opportunities to draw in the target audience. My son didn't get any of those references. Why are the characters into music and comedians from over a decade ago? It's strangely off-putting. My kid likes The Jonas Brothers and Spongebob, not Gloria Gaynor and Seinfeld.
We read another thirty or so pages but the book never grabbed him. Me, either. At that point, there still wasn't a major character defined. The jumps of the third-person omniscient narrator were confusing. The focus on the tornado and its aftermath were kind of scary. Although no one dies, there is the threat of death, and real destruction and injury. "Why is the story so sad," my son asked. "And where's the 'talent show?'"
We didn't stick around to find out. Maybe it gets better, but without a strong point of view or a single character he could get behind, my son wasn't interested. Reading it became a chore. Gutman's a talented guy, but The Talent Show didn't play to his strengths.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children, Nov 22 2010
By Yana V. Rodgers "econkids.rutgers.edu" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Talent Show (Hardcover)
Cape Bluff, Kansas, a working class town located in the heart of Tornado Alley, had a long history of surviving physical and economic devastation. Although the population had dwindled to the most resilient folks, the townspeople were fed up when the latest tornado struck, the worst ever in Cape Bluff's history and the cause of some $34 million worth of damage. Numerous people who could not afford insurance faced total destruction to their homes and cars, businesses suffered extensive damage, and the elementary school library lost all its books.
Resiliency, though, took hold once again when the principal suggested they hold a talent show to lift spirits and raise money for the library. The idea caught on quickly, especially when a number of local businesspeople offered free goods and services to support the show's production, including a brand new Hummer for the grand prize. Cape Bluff's student body included a number of budding singers, dancers, musicians, and comedians, virtually all of whom dreamed about shining on stage and bringing home that Hummer. Who would win, and could the show raise the money they needed?
The Talent Show offers up an entertaining blend of suspense and adolescent drama as a bunch of talented youngsters go head to head to become the next Cape Bluff Idol. Cleverly intertwined with the story are a number of economics ideas related to class, scarcity, small businesses, and fundraising. The book will likely encourage readers to think about how they could use their own talents to raise money for a good cause.
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