How to train your dad

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Farrar Straus Giroux
Publication Date
2021.
Language
English

Description

From the legendary author of Hatchet, a laugh-out-loud misadventure about a boy, his free-thinking dad, and the puppy-training pamphlet that turns their summer upside down.Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his father's single-minded pursuit of an off-the-grid existence. His dad may be brilliant, but dumpster-diving for food, scouring through trash for salvageable junk, and wearing clothes fully sourced from garage sales is getting old. Increasingly worried about what schoolmates and a certain girl at his new school might think of his circumstances—and encouraged by his off-kilter best friend—Carl adopts the principles set forth in a randomly discovered puppy-training pamphlet to “retrain” his dad’s mindset . . . a crackpot experiment that produces some very unintentional results.This is a fierce and funny novel about family, green-living, and untangling some of the ties that bind from middle-grade master Gary Paulsen.

More Details

ISBN
9780374314170

Discover More

Author Notes

Loading Author Notes...

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the subjects "best friends" and "friendship."
These books have the appeal factors wordplay-filled, and they have the subjects "preteen boys," "best friends," and "mothers and sons."
These books have the appeal factors funny and amusing, and they have the subjects "best friends," "children of divorced parents," and "friendship."
These books have the appeal factors funny and witty, and they have the genre "humorous stories"; the subject "fathers and sons"; and characters that are "exaggerated characters."
These books have the appeal factors funny and witty, and they have the genre "humorous stories."
These books have the appeal factors funny and witty, and they have the genre "humorous stories"; the subjects "preteen boys" and "misadventures"; and characters that are "mischievous characters."
These books have the appeal factors funny and amusing, and they have the genre "humorous stories"; and the subjects "preteen boys," "best friends," and "preteens."
These books have the appeal factors funny, and they have the genre "humorous stories"; the subject "preteen boys"; and characters that are "exaggerated characters."
These books have the appeal factors funny, and they have the subjects "preteen boys" and "single-parent families."
These books have the subjects "preteen boys," "best friends," and "friendship."
These books have the appeal factors funny, and they have the subject "best friends."

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Both Will Hobbs and Gary Paulsen write fast-paced, adventurous realistic fiction novels in which likeable male characters are pitted against harsh environmental conditions and must overcome them to survive. -- Kathy Stewart
Robert Newton Park and Gary Paulsen write fast-paced books for older kids and teens. Their stories are packed with historical tidbits, outdoorsy settings, and realistic portrayals of boys' coming of age experiences. Both authors write serious books, as well as those that are a bit more humorous. -- Catherine Coles
Although Richard Peck does not traffic in the survival and adventure stories Gary Paulsen is perhaps best known for, both prolific authors also pen moving, slightly nostalgic stories that are nonetheless fast-paced and full of laugh-out-loud moments. -- Autumn Winters
These authors' works have the appeal factors funny, and they have the genre "adventure stories"; and the subjects "boys," "wilderness survival," and "teenage boys."
These authors' works have the appeal factors funny and action-packed, and they have the genres "adventure stories" and "humorous stories"; and the subjects "boys" and "twelve-year-old boys."
These authors' works have the appeal factors funny and action-packed, and they have the genre "humorous stories"; and the subjects "boys," "teenage boys," and "kidnapping."
These authors' works have the appeal factors action-packed, fast-paced, and intricately plotted, and they have the genres "humorous stories" and "historical fiction"; and the subjects "boys" and "girls."
These authors' works have the appeal factors action-packed, and they have the subjects "boys," "teenage boys," and "child detectives."
These authors' works have the genres "mysteries" and "historical fiction"; and the subjects "boys," "teenage boys," and "fourteen-year-old boys."
These authors' works have the appeal factors funny and first person narratives, and they have the genres "mysteries" and "humorous stories"; and the subjects "boys," "teenage boys," and "misadventures."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

In a fresh, dude-centric romp from the author of Lawn Boy (2007) and Liar, Liar (2011), near-teen Carl sets out to cure his single dad of certain embarrassing habits with help from recklessly agreeable friend Pooder Haskell and a puppy-training manual. It's a tough challenge, as efforts to wean his unwitting and otherwise terrific father of a deep dedication to living cash-free through home gardening, dumpster diving, and yard-sale bartering are complicated by the opposition of the family pit bull Carol, who, in between gruesomely defending the henhouse from marauding skunks turns out to be a dab hand (or, OK, paw) at bending young humans to her will. Readers may sympathize with Carl, with his fixed-up, recumbent bike, mismatched shoes, and secondhand pink Juicy overalls, but following a string of hilarious set pieces, Paulsen tucks in a final sweet reconciliation with a hint of sequels on the way. A comical take on the value of "positive reinforcement" that's as perceptive as it is playful.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Publisher's Weekly Review

In a comically wry narration, Carl Hemesvedt explains that he desperately wants to be "lookatable" to impress classmate Peggy. But this poses a challenge for the cued-white 12-going-on-13-year-old, whose resourceful but mishap-prone single father believes in living off the grid in a "semi-scroungy" trailer in an industrial area, dumpster-diving for food, and bartering labor for clothes at garage sales. When Carl discovers a puppy-training pamphlet in a marked-down bag of food for the family's pit bull rescue, he tries applying its tenet of positive reinforcement to persuade his father to adopt more socially acceptable habits, also enlisting the help of garrulous best friend Pooder. Newbery Honoree Paulsen, renowned for his tales of survival, revisits the humor and hijinks found in his Liar, Liar series. Carl's hang-dog descriptions of having to wear pink overalls and ride an "original creation" bike are funny and endearing, and eternal optimist Pooder is the perfect sidekick to perpetually resigned Carl. And underneath the training mishaps is a sweet story about a kid who figures out that his life--and his dad--may not be so bad after all. Ages 10--14. (Oct.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Powered by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

Carl tries to change his father's frugal behavior over the course of a summer. Narrator Carl, 12, believes that his problem is his relentlessly optimistic, handy dad, who sees their life in a small trailer with pigs (fed partly from dumpster forays), chickens, and a garden as rich and full. But Carl's heart has been captured from afar, and he believes that being noticed will take an improved kind of being "lookatable." Carl's father regards money as stored human energy (and therefore sees energy as a kind of currency)--he "leans well into the concept of being practical and has never been one to honor the cosmetic side of things" and is an accomplished barterer who can't pass up a garage sale. Carl's pink, feminine overalls come from a garage sale, and his too-small underwear hails from another bargain source. Carl's garrulous, singularly imaginative sidekick Pooder (he "has made tangents an art form") offers color commentary, advice, comic relief, and perspective by turns. Carl takes inspiration from a pamphlet on puppy training in his plan to reward good behavior and ignore less desirable (as in dumpster diving for shoes) in his dad. The tall-tale, anecdotal quality of Carl's story is entertaining with its recitation of disastrous, smelly, embarrassing, dangerous, and misguided moments. Both father and son turn out to be likable heroes. Characters are assumed White. Funny, sure-handed, wise. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Booklist Reviews

In a fresh, dude-centric romp from the author of Lawn Boy (2007) and Liar, Liar (2011), near-teen Carl sets out to cure his single dad of certain embarrassing habits with help from recklessly agreeable friend Pooder Haskell and a puppy-training manual. It's a tough challenge, as efforts to wean his unwitting and otherwise terrific father of a deep dedication to living cash-free through home gardening, dumpster diving, and yard-sale bartering are complicated by the opposition of the family pit bull Carol, who, in between gruesomely defending the henhouse from marauding skunks turns out to be a dab hand (or, OK, paw) at bending young humans to her will. Readers may sympathize with Carl, with his fixed-up, recumbent bike, mismatched shoes, and secondhand pink Juicy overalls, but following a string of hilarious set pieces, Paulsen tucks in a final sweet reconciliation with a hint of sequels on the way. A comical take on the value of "positive reinforcement" that's as perceptive as it is playful. Grades 4-6. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.
Powered by Content Cafe

Publishers Weekly Reviews

In a comically wry narration, Carl Hemesvedt explains that he desperately wants to be "lookatable" to impress classmate Peggy. But this poses a challenge for the cued-white 12-going-on-13-year-old, whose resourceful but mishap-prone single father believes in living off the grid in a "semi-scroungy" trailer in an industrial area, dumpster-diving for food, and bartering labor for clothes at garage sales. When Carl discovers a puppy-training pamphlet in a marked-down bag of food for the family's pit bull rescue, he tries applying its tenet of positive reinforcement to persuade his father to adopt more socially acceptable habits, also enlisting the help of garrulous best friend Pooder. Newbery Honoree Paulsen, renowned for his tales of survival, revisits the humor and hijinks found in his Liar, Liar series. Carl's hang-dog descriptions of having to wear pink overalls and ride an "original creation" bike are funny and endearing, and eternal optimist Pooder is the perfect sidekick to perpetually resigned Carl. And underneath the training mishaps is a sweet story about a kid who figures out that his life—and his dad—may not be so bad after all. Ages 10–14. (Oct.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.
Powered by Content Cafe

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.