Review - Rotten School: Punk'd and Skunked

188 pages; Amazon

In my continuing quest to reread the entire 16 book Rotten School series by R.L. Stine, I sat down this afternoon, took a few sips of coffee and read book 11, Rotten School: Punk'd and Skunked.

The series takes place at the boarding school called Rotten School and centers on a fourth-grader, Bernie Bridges, a student who annoys his teachers and tries to con his fellow classmates out of money.

For this installment, Bernie is excited about the upcoming Make-a-Great-Invention Contest, in which each dorm (there are three) will compete for a chance to win a trip to the super-rich prep school, Preppy Prep Prep. Then the winners will compete against other schools at the prep school with a chance to when $5,000.

Bernie is desperate to win the $5,000. He tries to get his buddies at the Rotten House to help him come up with a great idea for the contest. Sadly, they end up with the stupidest invention - a battery-powered Nose Vac.

Despite having the worst invention, Bernie and pals win the contest as Headmaster Upchuck will do anything to get rid of Bernie for a few days.

Bernie and his pals hop on a bus and travel to the rich Preppy Prep Prep, where they quickly learn that they are way over their heads. It seems the other schools have way better inventions. Bernie must come up with a new scheme to win the contest.

Final Thoughts: The 11th entry in the series changes the format slightly. Here there are almost two different stories in one book. The first half involves Bernie trying to come up with the perfect invention to win the invention contest. The second half has Bernie and his pals visiting the prep school for a week, where they have to come up with a new invention. Overall, Rotten School: Punk'd and Skunked is an entertaining read with several laugh out loud moments.