Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Received one of these ("Ms. Todd Is Odd", #12 in the series) as a gift for my 7yo son, who tore through it one evening. He found it not very interesting, so I decided to read it to see if I could engage him further. I was disappointed in how crass and mean-spirited the story and specifically the protagonist is, and decided the less attention paid to this book, the better. (I binned it.) The word "hate"--which in our family we don't ban, but we try to use only for extremely bad experiences or situations, and never directly towards people--is probably the most common single word in the book. "I hate school." "I hate substitute teachers." "If these guys weren't my friends I would hate them." "I hate people who..." "Dear Andrea, I'm sorry I hate you." The second most common word might be "dumb". "She is the dumbest teacher in the history of the world." "That's corporation, dumbhead." "...that dumb story." Lastly, the "plot" revolves around an unexpected substitute teacher, and the kids' investigation amounts to little more than speculation that the sub murdered (yes, murdered) the regular teacher. But when the regular teacher re-appears, they conclude that she in fact murdered the sub. Although there are flashes of wit, none of the above is delivered ironically, nor is there any sort of come-uppance for the protagonist with the terrible attitude and questionable language. Long story short, not the kind of nonsense I want my 7yo to read.