My ten year old son and I read this together and both enjoyed it. My son would laugh so hard at some parts that he could barely read!

Another fun lesser known Beverly Cleary book with Otis Spofford, a kid with a lot of unsupervised time with a working mom in the 1950s. He was constantly picking on Ellen Tebbits, another title character of the book prior to this. I loved how Ellen was able to get back at him for his pranks; it reminded me a lot of the stories my uncle tells about his time growing up in the 1950s.

It’s a sign of the times. Not very PC today.

Otis is a boy who likes to drum up trouble. Parts of this book were great, such as when Austine's brother asks why Ellen and Austin are running from Otis. Bruce asks what Otis would do if he caught them, probably nothing, and suggests that the girls chase Otis. Which they do, much to Otis' chagrin. Parts of this book do not age well, such as sexism ("you got chased by a girl!?"), cultural stereotypes of the time (the portrayal of Indians when the teacher left the room), the experiment with the rats. But I sure know kids who have yearned for attention and let their actions get out of hand. I think this would be better as a readaloud, with plenty of time for discussion. It surely does give insight into why Otis acts as he does.