Review - Rotten School: The Good, the Bad and the Very Slimy

ISBN: B0140D9F94; Pages: 110

Don't you like it when a title of a book puts a spin on a movie title?

Well, usually I don't care for this as I think it is basically a ripoff. However, I do like the title of the third Rotten School book, titled Rotten School: The Good, the Bad and the Very Slimy, which is a spoof of the Clint Eastwood film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I'm an Eastwood fan, so the title doesn't bother me at all.

Published back in 2005 by Parachute Press, the third installment in the R.L. Stine series once again centers on the fourth-grader Bernie Bridges, who is the #1 troublemaker at the private school, Rotten School. All the students are excited about the upcoming dance, well, all except for Bernie, who is being stalked by Jennifer Ecch. She's the tallest, biggest student and she has a huge crush of Bernie, but he wants nothing to do with her.

Actually, Bernie has his own crush, April-May-June - the prettiest girl in the school. As soon as he heard about the dance, he made plans to ask her as his date. Unfortunately, she only agrees to go out with him if he changes his ways and becomes the best student in school. This means no more tricks or cons; and he must improve his grades.

Bernie accepts the bet. Studying is easy, right?

Final Thoughts: With all the vampire craze that occurred around 2005, the Rotten School didn't get the attention that it deserved. The series had a total of 16 books and ended in 2008, right around the time the Goosebumps series was relaunched. Unlike most of R.L. Stine's writings, Rotten School was a slapstick comedy that was set in a private school. Each book was about 100 pages and featured illustrations by Trip Park. Additionally, there was one page of stickers in the back of each hardcover edition. Overall, reading Rotten School: The Good, the Bad and the Very Slimy was better the second time around. I had completely forgotten about he main plot, which had Bernie trying his best to be good for one week. What's does the "Slimy" in the title stand for? Well, there happens to be a slug race!