The Worst Class Trip Ever

Dave Barry has done it again. Although this book maybe more possible for the younger crowd because of the story but for someone in their 60's I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Dave covered alot of different angles in this story and the ending suprised me. Well worth the purchasee, please keep your wonderful humor Dave and write, write, write!!!

The Worst Class Trip Ever is narrated by Wyatt Palmer, an eighth grader. I suspect that eighth graders are the target audience (this is a Disney book, after all) but hey, it's Dave Barry, so it has to be funny, even for adults (particularly those who, like me, have not matured much beyond their eighth grade years). The novel relies on fart humor, always a winner for eighth graders, and "short geeky boy has no chance with cool tall girl" humor, which works at any age.

The class trip that gives the book its title involves a flight to Washington. On the plane, Wyatt and his friend Matt believe they are foiling terrorists who want to attack the city, but they may be mistaken, or so the Air Marshal believes who nearly arrests them. Once in the city, Wyatt and Matt spend much of their tour time worrying about the strange men from the plane -- with good reason, given that Matt has stolen a suspicious object from their backpack. The strange men spend about half of the brief novel chasing the kids around the city in an effort to get it back. Hijinks ensue.

The Worst Class Trip Ever is a quick read. The story is cute, funny in a silly but predictable way (although perhaps not so predictable to an eighth grade audience). It made me chuckle, as Dave Barry always does, although not as much as he does when he gears his writing to a slightly older audience. Barry's language is simple and clean (unless you think fart is a bad word). I have no trouble recommending this to an age appropriate audience, which might range from 12 to 90. Maybe even a year or two younger or older.

Bit disappointing by Dave Barry's normal high standards, definitely not in the high standard leagues of the other junior fiction books Barry has written such as Science Fair and the Peter and the Starcatchers series. Basically a 14 year old Floridian kid goes on a school excursion to Washington DC, where he observes everything from the smelly hotel room to the food as being terrible. His teachers aren't the brightest in the world, nor are his friends, including a kid who likes to pass gas constantly. These things are hurdles in his goal to get the hot chick of the school to notice him. But he'll have to sidetrack the fear of talking to her with the bigger fear of a couple of scary oddly behaving characters from their flight, likely wanting to kill him and his best friend, after they stole a device from their bag, after the boys thought they were stopping a missile attack on the white house from the men sitting behind them. The boys think there's no way the men will find them in DC, but when the class visits the White House, guess who spots them in the crowd?

This is a pretty predictable book, even for a junior fiction novel. Not helping avoiding that is the fact that each chapter has a picture of kite on it. I would also think a 14 year old would call the police if their friend got kidnapped, especially if they believed by terrorists about to strike in America.
Still it's a decent enough read and a long way from being the worst teenage market aimed book you could ever read as an adult. If you're a fan of Barry's other work, including his adult novels, you might be a bit disappointed by it overall, but you'll still probably want to check it out. There's a sequel called Worst Night Ever, with the same characters now in high school. Perhaps it will be better.

I have to agree with the other reviewers here who didn't think this book was up to Dave Barry's usual standards. BUT WAIT! That's judging the book but the author's adult titles..and that's not playing fair. No, from an adult point of view this novel is average at best BUT if you are a middle school reader this story will probably be a big hit. It is rather funny and totally off beat in topic which means kids will gravitate to it. Chronicling a bizarre field trip to Washington, D.C. that involves some very unlikely occurrences Barry reaches out to youngsters who enjoy crazy situations and he does do a good job drawing these folks in...so nice job Dave - you hit the intended audience!

Summary: Wyatt’s on his way from Miami to Washington, DC for an eighth-grade-class trip when his friend Matt notices some strange behavior from a couple of guys on the plane. Thinking he may be intercepting a terrorist attack, Matt grabs one of their backpacks and manages to steal a dangerous-looking device from it. This gets both Matt and Wyatt in a heap of trouble from their teachers, and it also makes them the target of the two men who proceed to chase them through DC, trying to get their device back. Before long, Victor, Cameron, and Wyatt’s crush, Suzana, have found out what’s going on. When the two men take Matt hostage, the adventures really begin, and don’t end until Wyatt has flown into the White House on the inside of a dragon kite. Grades 4-7.

Pros: I knew this would be a light, funny story from humorist Dave Barry, but I didn’t expect it to actually have an exciting plot. Wyatt’s voice is perfect for narrating this middle school tale, and readers will enjoy the humor and adventure.

Cons: The humor is more of a chuckle than laugh out loud.

Wyatt Palmer and the rest of his classmates are looking forward to their class trip to Washington, D.C. But with a title like this, you know things are bound to go wrong…and they do.

Things start out badly on the flight D.C when Wyatt and his buddy, Matt, are seated near two mysterious men on the airplane. The boys are sure the men are up to no good because --- they’re speaking in a language they can’t understand, they’re looking at an aerial map of the White House and they’re trying to hide something in a backpack. They might be terrorists! The president’s life may be in danger! But what can Wyatt and Matt do about it?

Wyatt and Matt, with some help from a couple of classmates, go to great lengths to thwart a supposed terrorist attack against the president. In the process, they get into a lot of trouble with their chaperones and they annoy the rest of the kids on the trip. However, they feel that they need to do whatever it takes to save the day.

I’m a huge fan of author Dave Barry. I used to read his weekly newspaper columns and I’ve read several of his books. I was delighted when I got a chance to read and review this book. I didn’t think I would be disappointed, and I wasn’t. Barry writes the story from the point of view of an eighth-grader and the voice is very authentic. Barry throws in a lot of his signature off-the-wall humor to make the narrative even more enjoyable. The story is funny and fast-paced with lots of action and crazy antics.

The story reminds me a bit of the Berenstain Bears book TOO MUCH VACATION, where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But the Bears managed to snap pictures of all the “bad” things that happened on the trip. When they got home, they spent many happy hours laughing about the worst/best vacation they ever had. That’s all I can say or I’ll give away ending of THE WORST CLASS TRIP EVER.

If you’re a fan of Dave Barry, you’ll be sure to enjoy this book. If you’re not, you probably will be once you’ve finished reading it.

Reviewed by Christine Irvin

I bought this thinking it was targeted to adults, but I read it anyway in a couple of hours. Just for fun I passed it along to my 5th grade daughter and she LOVED it! The best part was hearing her gasp out loud at the twists and turns in the plot and already knowing what would happen. I loved to hear what points she grasped and where she needed clarification in the story. It was very cool to be able to discuss this book together and even she commented how much fun it was! I am definitely looking for other books by Dave Barry in this genre. It was lighthearted, but enough of a "mystery" to keep the young audience engaged without being too complicated so they lose interest. Five stars all the way!

For years and years, Dave Barry's humor column was the first thing I read in the newspaper. When this YA book was recommended to me (can't remember if it was Audible or Goodreads) and it was on sale, I bought it. Good decision. I had so much fun listening to it (I think I must be a young adult at heart). It was often laugh out loud funny. In fact, I'm sure there were times when I was listening in the car that other motorists must have wondered what was wrong with me, all alone in my car and laughing so hard. I enjoyed my time in the head of an 8th grade boy.

I expected a childrens book, and was willing to give it more leaway than usual, but I really thought this was so bad that even kids wouldn't like it unless thay appreciated sophmoric humar about farts. It used the worst ploys like "Adults are all so dumb" and afore mentioned fart jokes. But I think most kids are tech savy enough that they would be turned off by the scene that made me say "enough" . That the kids wouldn't have just called the police, but would have taken photos or video right then, not talk about trying to get video later. I can forgive missing other options, people may do that under pressure, but with so many kids taking photos or videos almost as a knee jerk reaction these days, it just didn't ring true.

Wyatt Palmer,an eighth grade boy from Miami,Florida, who is going on a class trip to Washington,D.C. Wyatt's main goal on the trip is to impress a girl named Suzana. The girl of his dreams. Wyatt boarded the plane in hopes to sit by Suzana but instead he sits next to his best friend,Matt,and the class farter,Cameron. As Wyatt leaves his seat to talk to Suzana he sees three men looking at aerial photos of the White House. Wyatt rushes back to talk to Matt about his discovery. Soon their imaginations begin running wild. Could they be terrorists that are going to blow up the White House? One of the men are asked to take his backpack off of his lap and put in in the cubby or under the seat in front of him but he refuses. Finally the man agrees to place his backpack under the seat in front of him which happens to be Matt's seat. Matt grabs the backpack from underneath his seat and looks inside to discover something that resembles a detonator. Matt stole the object that looked like the detonator and returns the backpack to one of the three men. The men saw what Matt took and became very angry. Matt and Wyatt find themselves in deep trouble before the plane even landed. What will happen outside of the plane? Will Wyatt become a hero, be hurt by the three men or will he get sent home early? Read the book to see what happens to Wyatt and his friends. You will find this book to be funny,suspenseful and one of a kind.

My sixth grade class and I just finished reading this super funny book out loud. Each day they would beg to read just a little bit more. If you are a middle school teacher or student looking for an adventurous and hilarious story, buy this one!

I am a middle school teacher who constantly reads in search of great books for my kids. This one did the trick. I laughed out loud repeatedly and found the main character to be believable and endearing. I also really appreciated the fact that there was no questionable language/situations in the book.

My 3rd grader and I really enjoyed reading this book together, even though he probably could have read it on his own. His father then borrowed the book to read himself! Entertaining with some suspense but the reader is never too scared.

I bought this thinking it was targeted to adults, but I read it anyway in a couple of hours. Just for fun I passed it along to my 5th grade daughter and she LOVED it! The best part was hearing her gasp out loud at the twists and turns in the plot and already knowing what would happen. I loved to hear what points she grasped and where she needed clarification in the story. It was very cool to be able to discuss this book together and even she commented how much fun it was! I am definitely looking for other books by Dave Barry in this genre. It was lighthearted, but enough of a "mystery" to keep the young audience engaged without being too complicated so they lose interest. Five stars all the way!