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6 Things Young Readers Will Love About Big Nate
Earlier this year, my second grader told me that he had a friend who only wanted to read Big Nate books during free reading time, and that his teacher had suggested he mix things up a bit. I learned at the parent-teacher conference that this “friend” was actually my son, who was, in fact, the Big Nate obsessive. I’d never heard of this spiky-haired cartoon character who plays the drums, loves to skateboard, eats Cheez Doodles by the pound and stresses over tests until my son Theo and his friend Liam introduced me to him. Nate Wright is an 11-year-old sixth grader who first appeared in a cartoon strip by Lincoln Peirce in 1991, and has since begun starring in novels interspersed with comics for young readers. I interviewed the boys about why they love Big Nate so much.
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Big Nate is funny.
The irrepressible Big Nate is always getting into trouble, his corresponding expressions are hilarious. He also gets himself into the kinds of predicaments that middle schoolers can relate to. Liam loved “when he fell asleep in class and missed his next subject,” as Nate did in Big Nate Strikes Again.
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Big Nate has great friends.
Nate loves to get into mischief with his buddies Francis Pope and Teddy Ortiz. But Theo and Liam’s favorite friend is Big Nate’s dog Spitsy. “He has a satellite dish on his head!” they told me. On further investigation, I found out that Spitsy wears a classic post-vet-visit halo collar, which explains that mystery.
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Some Big Nate books come with a poster.
As soon as Theo got his copy of I Can’t Take It, he had me frame the poster from it and hang it on his wall. It’s great when kids want to decorate their rooms with characters from books along with athletes and musicians.
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Nate wants to be a comic book artist, too.
Art is about the only subject in school that Nate cares for, because he wants to be a comic book artist. Many of Peirce’s books, including the novel Big Nate On A Roll, feature Nate-drawn comic strips, which may encourage artistic-minded kids to pursue their creative interests.
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Nate gets into hilarious conflicts.
Big Nate is loyal to his friends, but he also accumulates enemies, such as his Social Studies teacher. Big Nate has a crush on a girl named Jenny, who doesn’t care for him. Liam said one of the funniest parts from in In A Class By Himself, where he “calls dibs on Jenny,” and Jenny informs him that he can’t call dibs on a person. And she smacks him.
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Nate makes lots of mistakes.
Part of Big Nate’s appeal is that he provides a funny fantasy of misbehavior that appeals to kids who’d never get sent to detention like Big Nate always does. He makes plenty of mistakes, and experiences plenty of failure—like the time when his soccer team lost to a school with a 60-game losing streak in Big Nate’s latest adventure, What’s A Little Noogie Between Friends. Nate’s mishaps make kids feel better about their own misadventures.
Has your young reader met Big Nate yet?