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- My Weird School is a series of humorous chapter books written by Dan Gutman and illustrated by Jim Paillot, first published in July 2004. Further series include My Weird School Daze (2008-2011), My Weirder School (2011-2014), My Weirdest School (2015-2018) and My Weirder-est School (2019-2022). The series takes place in a school whose teachers display bizarre traits, with each title focusing on a specific teacher. The main character, A.J., is a boy who hates school. His rival is a girl named Andrea, who loves school and has a friend, Emily, that A.J. considers a "crybaby." Much of the humor is derived from the plot's unlikely situations and the teachers' personalities which are written to be "outlandish." Gutman was initially inspired to write the books after being exposed to the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and wanted to write something similar from a boy's point of view. Gutman says that he has been inspired by visiting real-life schools, going to 60 schools a year to gather material. He has also stated that his goal in writing the books is to interest children in reading and especially to make reading fun for children who have difficulty in school. The series' defining characteristic of strange teachers comes from Gutman's belief that children enjoy reading about "grownups doing dumb things." Gutman feels that along with having his own son, the series My Weird School helped launch his writing career. (en)
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