One of the Third Grade Thonkers

By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Book Overview

Jimmy Novak is excited about spring vacation. He and his club, the "Rough, Tough, and Terrible" Thokers, are planning to turn the Novaks' garage into a clubhouse for the whole week. But everything... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044040407X
• ISBN13: 9780440404071
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Yearling
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.3" x 5.2"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Thought Provoking Thonkers

My son and I came to this book via a collection of short adapted stories from other books, called It's Great To Be Eight." He's eleven now, and still enjoys it, as I read it to him through the years. Three boys, already friends, bond more closely as children who have had to be brave in the face of knee surgery, a broken arm, and a near-fatal auto accident. Sounds heavier than it is. Jimmy and Sam have the same doctor --who calls all his young patients "Thonker," a funny word. Jimmy, Sam, and Peter are work-class kids who form a club of brave boys that is the envy of their classmates. Jimmy's cousin is a year younger, and Jimmy thinks he's a baby and a whiner. David spoils Jimmy's spring vacation when his mother has to have heart surgery, and he is sent to stay with Jimmy's family until his mother, a single mom, is well enough to take him back, the subtext being "if ever." Through a scary incident in which Jimmy's father is "lost" overboard in a terrible storm on the canals, where he is a boatman. Through this experience, Jimmy learns how frightening it is to live with the uncertainty of whether your parent is going to live or die. He comes to understand that his younger cousin may be developmentally behind him, but is really very brave. It's a fun and warm story. Especially great for reading to your kids -- written in a way that appeals to 7s to at least 11s.