Mike Thaler

On the first day of school, a young boy expects only the worst when he discovers that his new teacher is the "monstrous" Mrs. Green.

Rumor has it that the new gym teacher is a real monster, someone who works the students very hard and makes them participate in dangerous activities like playing dodge ball with his truck.

A young boy's imagined school trip makes the real trip look mundane.

When a boy hears that a noted bully known as Butch Pounder is tranferring to school, he is afraid of the trouble that Butch will cause.

For Hubie, getting ready to go back to school after summer vacation is worse than actually going to class. His mom picks out all the wrong clothes, he gets back-to-back shots from his doctor, and there are rumors of a new teacher worse than any other. Will Hubie fail before school even starts.

Mean Mrs. Green says that everyone has to invent something for the school science fair. But everyone would rather invent a way to get out of it! Hubie can't decide on what he's going to do. He thinks all the good inventions have been done already. And all of his friends have figured out what they are going to do. He tries to decide between cloning himself or building a laugh machine. After a bad dream about cloning, he decides to build a laugh machine....

"It's the end of March, and Hubie is struggling to prepare his pranks for the big day. The whoopee cushion, the rubber tarantula, and the fly in the ice cube just aren't good enough anymore--not when the worst joke comes from the place he least expects it"--P. [4] of cover.

Waiting for the bus, a nervous boy thinks about all the wild stories he has heard about the driver.