Radio Fifth Grade by Gordon Korman

Publisher: Scholastic
Copyright: 2006

In Radio Fifth Grade, Benjy Driver's dream is to become a professional radio broadcaster, just like his hero, Eldridge Kestenbaum. Benjy, Mark, and Ellen-Louise are all involved in the school's radio show, 'Kidsview'. To Mark and Ellen-Louise, 'Kidsview' is just something else to do, but to Benjy, it's the start of his career.

The radio show 'Kidsview' has one sponsor: Mr Whitehead, owner of Our Animal Friends pet store. Every week on 'Kidsview', Benjy and his friends present the Mascot of the Week, a pet from Mr Whitehead's store that he is trying to sell. The three producers' problems begin when Winston Churchill, a parrot who is supposed to talk but doesn't, comes on the show as Mascot of the Week. When he doesn't talk on the air, he doesn't sell. And when Winston Churchill does learn how to say something, his chances of selling are cut even slimmer.

Ms. Gucci, Benjy, Mark and Ellen-Louise's teacher, wins the lottery and moves to somewhere in Hawaii, so the three's class get their new teacher, Ms. Panagopulos, who turns the class into a seminar. Getting more homework than ever, Benjy can't seem to find the time to work on the script for 'Kidsview', and he and his friends hatch a plan to get their homework done by turning the questions on their papers into radio-show quiz questions.

Not only is fifth grade turned into a seminar and 'Kidsview' at a risk of being canceled, but Brad, the Venice Menace, comes along onto the show with a story that nobody wants to hear, although his teacher encourages him to share it. The Monday after, the hilarious story of Fuzzy and Puffy is laughed at and mocked behind the author's back. Brad is mistaken and intimidates the entire school to start a Fuzzy and Puffy fan club.

Problems at the radio studio escalate, until Benjy and his friends must prevent their new teacher from tuning in and discovering how they all get 100% on their homework. Not only are Benjy and Mark nearly caught stealing Ms. P's radio and returning it to the store for the complaint 'I hate this radio', but Winston Churchill gets loose in the radio studio and sabotages it.

Benjy, the main character of Radio Fifth Grade, is a serious, hard-working person; when it comes to the radio and his future career. His best friend, Mark, can be bone-headed and impulsive, and the two boys' partner in producing 'Kidsview', Ellen-Louise, is a goody two shoes straight A student whose main goal is to be the smartest, best, and perfect. Gordon Korman takes serious, ignorant, and smart to create three characters that together make Radio Fifth Grade a hilarious and clever plot.

With Gordon Korman, you can't go wrong. I never had my doubts about Radio Fifth Grade. Every novel I have read by Gordon Korman, be it adventure or comedy, I have enjoyed. So when I picked up this book, I didn't know what to expect: comedy, adventure, drama, or all three. From this novel, I'm positive I got comedy and drama, and in its own way, Radio Fifth Grade delivered a magnificent adventure.

Radio Fifth Grade is a timeless novel, first printed in 1989, and brought back into print in 2010. No doubt Radio Fifth Grade will be in print for a while, and might even grow in popularity. Radio Fifth Grade is aimed at elementary students or early high school students, but in my opinion anybody will enjoy it.

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