My Homework Ate My Homework

By Patrick Jennings

Math is not ten-year-old Zaritza's best subject. When her teacher, Mr. Phinney, offers extra credit to whomever takes the class ferret, Bandito, home over the weekend, she jumps at the opportunity. Unfortunately, taking care of this particular animal is as boring as school itself. All it does is eat, sleep, and lick itself. So when Zaritza accidentally leaves Bandito's cage open and the ferret goes missing, she blames everyone else, including her three-year-old sister. And her excuses get bigger and bigger. But when her mom finds out that there is a ferret on the loose, Zaritza better find her class pet fast!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781512403787

Patrick Jennings

Patrick Jennings grew up in a small town in Indiana, where there were no wild, lethally venomous snakes. His family then moved to rural Arizona, where lived many, including seventeen varieties of rattlesnake. Patrick got seriously freaked out. He now lives on the Olympic Peninsula, where there are scarcely any wild, lethally venomous snakes. We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes is his fourteenth book for young readers.

Reviews for My Homework Ate My Homework

[satyridae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this ARC up at ALA on the strength of the adorable cover and the clever title. I knew I was in good hands about 30 or so pages in, when I realized that I wanted to grab Zaritza and give her a good shake. Jennings has created an entirely believable 11-year-old drama queen who just walks right off the page, and one who I really didn't like at all for much of the book. I warmed up to her plenty by the end.

Zaritza has a complicated life- a little baby sister, a cranky mom, an over the top dad and math homework. Lots of math homework. So much math homework that she's in danger of being kept out of the fifth grade play unless she gets it turned in. She's entirely self-centered and scheming, full of herself and full of drama in equal measure. How she learns that other people (and ferrets) might be something other than her supporting cast.

Nicely drawn characterizations, involving plot and lots of laughs. Recommended for your favorite fifth-grader.