Mark, the 11-year-old at the center of Clements's (Frindle; The Jacket) brooding and uneven novel, initially has no interest in making friends at his new school in Whitson, N.H., where his constantly traveling parents have just renovated and enlarged a 1798 farmhouse. Knowing that he's headed off to a prestigious boarding school next year, the boy has no incentive for pleasing his teachers and spends much of the day gazing out the classroom window. His science teacher, Mr. Maxwell, passes judgment on Mark before the boy finally decides to give the school a chance ("The only kind of people Mr. Maxwell disliked more than slackers were... buy-the-whole-world rich folks"). A showdown between boy and teacher occurs at the start of the annual environmental program organized by Mr. Maxwell for the fifth graders, who spend a week in a wooded state park. The teacher's discovery of Mark with a tool containing a knife (which actually belongs to another boy) climaxes with a pursuit through the woods. Unfortunately, the suspenseful sequence that follows and the engaging denouement account for only a fraction of the novel. Laborious passages about Mark's family's home and barn and the boy's preparations for the school trip, plus perhaps a bit too much description of Mr. Maxwell's background, bog down the story line and may derail readers drawn to the book's enticing title. Ages 9-13.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

這本書描寫師生之間的衝突與矛盾。Mark Clelmsley出生在一個富有的家庭，因為父母的工作關係，他必須要經常搬家，而這一次他們又從紐約搬到了New Haampshire，而在他們搬到新家之前，因為其家境的富裕，幾乎鎮上所有的人早就耳聞他們了，而當Mark剛到新學校時，因為原本就不打算在學校停留太久，初期他也表現得一副無所謂的樣子，在學校一人獨來獨往，直到有一天他突然發現自己在新學校表現得像個「紈絝子弟」一樣，他便決定要開始改變自己融入新學校，而他的自然老師Mr. Maxwell對Mark觀察了一陣子之後便對他下了結論—被寵壞的有錢人家公子。因此對於Mark 的任何努力或改變都視若無睹。而對五年級而言，全學年最重要的活動便是為期一週的國家公園戶外活動，而Mr. Maxwell 正好是這個活動的負責老師，Mark為了這個活動做了很多的準備工作同時也表現高度熱誠來參與這個活動，然而他還是得不到Mr. Maxwell 的認同，甚至在活動的第一天就因為同學的摺疊刀而被迫提早離開營隊！當Mr. Maxwell發現自己冤枉了Mark時，Mark卻已不見人影，接下來又會發生什麼事呢？Mr. Maxwell 會找到Mark嗎？他們又將如何修補這段受傷的師生情呢？