Carlos is Gonna Get It

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Overview

Your friends on one side. This weird kid on the other. A great plan in the making. A new friendship growing.
What would *you* do?

How strange is Carlos? REALLY strange. He scratches himself all the time, and he talks about aliens in this weird shaky voice, and he breaks up the class and gets everyone else in trouble when it's *his* fault he's such a freak.
So Trina, Donte, Thea, Sara, and Frankie decide to use the upcoming 7th-grade class trip to "get" Carlos and scare him into acting normal. But when Trina has to work with Carlos on a class project, she discovers both his sweetness and the full extent of his troubles. Will she pull out of the plan or go through with it? And what will happen if--when--Carlos gets it?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Seventh-grader Trina and her friends have had enough of Carlos, the disturbed kid in class whose bizarre behavior always gets everyone else in trouble. They come up with a plan-to scare Carlos big-time during their upcoming class overnight at Mount Cardigan. Trina, the narrator, is not a bad kid, and she's initially reluctant to go along with the scheme, until Carlos embarrasses her in front of the whole class. Even so, Trina feels increasingly plagued by a "guilt-demon." Emerson (the Oliver Nocturne series) makes the tug-of-war within Trina-between her growing empathy for Carlos and her desire to fit in with her friends-realistic and compelling: "It's just too bad you don't have a little card that you can use at, like, a store, to swap yourself into another body for a while, until the heat of your own life cooled down." Though the prank plays out melodramatically, Trina's narration is authentic, and dialogue involving parents, teachers and classmates feels lifelike, too. Ages 9-12. (Oct.)

KLIATT

Carlos is undeniably weird: he scratches himself endlessly, he falls off chairs, he insists he's visited by aliens, and he disrupts classes but somehow never gets in trouble. Trina thinks of herself as a good girl at heart, but even she has had enough of Carlos when their joint science project ends in disaster. So when Thea and her friends hatch a plan to "get" Carlos by posing as real aliens when the 7th grade goes on an overnight trip to New Hampshire, Trina eventually decides to go along with the prank. Then a storm blows up on the mountain, and suddenly their scheme goes dangerously wrong. What has peer pressure led to? Told from Trina's point of view, we gain insight into the social structure of her school, her loving parents, and her best friend Sara and the ups and downs of their relationship, along with Trina's conflicting impulses toward lonely, sad Carlos. The African American and white students from Dorchester, MA and their neighborhood are realistically and sympathetically depicted by Emerson, who has taught elementary and middle school in Boston and clearly knows the milieu well. This examination of what real friendship entails would make a good choice for middle school book discussion groups. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6

Trina and her seventh-grade classmates organize a trick against Carlos, their special-needs classmate with big hair, a squeaky voice, and scratching issues. Trina uncovers his fear of aliens after being partnered with him for a school project, and the pranksters plan an extraterrestrial encounter for him during their class's wilderness excursion. As Trina gets to know Carlos, she begins second-guessing herself, especially since Sara, her best friend, has grown distant. Emerson fully explores some characters only to leave others languishing. Trina's anger and embarrassment after her in-class humiliation because of an accident Carlos causes becomes almost visceral, and readers will be shocked at how well they identify with her in that moment. They will commiserate with the students over the perceived favoritism that Carlos receives. The suspenseful forest scene in which the plan goes awry and the children become lost stirs the primeval fears of cold and dark, and generates empathy for both the pranksters and the victim. However, the author allows too much action to occur offstage, and there's not enough information about Carlos's unspecified disorder to understand him or the teachers' treatment of him. Still, this tale can illustrate the consequences of one's actions and provides comfort to those who are waiting for the pranks to end.-Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Bizarre, friendless Carlos is targeted by a group of classmates in this intriguing novel depicting the planning and execution of a cruel prank, told by the most dubious participant in the plan. Thoughtful Trina is unsure whether she wants to take part. While she agrees that Carlos's insistence that he is in contact with aliens and his incessant body scratching are annoying, she begins to see him in much more nuanced ways after they are paired up to work on a school assignment together. It is only after he completely melts down during the presentation that, in anger, she decides to go through with it. In the aftermath, she finds herself deeply regretting her decision. Emerson's ability to write realistic dialogue and his understanding of the dynamics of middle-school cliques and their inherent power struggles are evident here. The detailed, original and somewhat mysterious nature of Carlos's idiosyncrasies adds a real spark to this now familiar tale of bullying. (Fiction. 10 & up)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780439935258
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date: 10/1/2008
Pages: 291
Sales rank: 295,957
Age range: 9 - 12 Years
Lexile: 870L (what's this?)
Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.40 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

Kevin Emerson is not currently a vampire, but he does live in Seattle. He taught in elementary schools for several years and now works at a writing center called 826 Seattle and sings and plays drums in a few bands. He's been writing stories since he was a kid. Visit Kevin online at kevinemerson.net.

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A_Goetz

Posted May 16, 2009

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I Also Recommend:

Reasons to read this book:

1)This book brilliantly captures the trials of being stuck in junior high.
2)It tackles the internal drama of what you believe is right vs what you think you need to do to fit in.
3)Tricia and her internal conflict as she wanders the grounds between friendship, peer-pressure and "understanding" the weird guy
4)Aliens!
5)Messes in the science room
6)Bathtubs!
7)Overnight Field trip
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TeensReadToo

Posted October 27, 2008

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Reviewed by Steph for TeensReadToo.com

Have you ever had that voice in the back of your head telling you not to do something...that it wasn't a good idea and only trouble could come of following through with the act?

Well, Trina has that voice -- or guilt demon.

Carlos is a small and annoying boy in class who always acts out to get attention but never gets in trouble. One day, Trina's friends decide that they're going to pull the ultimate prank on Carlos on an upcoming overnight trip. Trina goes along for the ride, but she quickly discovers that the guilt demon and her budding friendship with Carlos could get in the way of the prank.

This entertaining yet serious book follows a young girl as she battles internally between right and wrong. Trina must decide whether to go through with the prank -- to succumb to her friends and peer pressure -- or to back down and help Carlos, a boy who is desperately in need of a friend.

Emerson writes an interesting story that gets readers to feel for this alienated boy (Carlos) and the troubled protagonist and narrator (Trina). He shows the reality of cause and effect -- of the consequences of one's actions. He also shows through this moving story that missed chances are a person's greatest regret.
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Anonymous

Posted September 21, 2009

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Carlos is Gonna Get It

Overview

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

KLIATT

School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

Meet the Author

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

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Reviewed by Steph for TeensReadToo.com