Big Nate: From the Top by Lincoln Peirce

Big Nate: From the Top Reviews

• 
  Emily

  I read this last night. Several former students recommended this series. For the most part, it was funny and rather interesting. But there were two big glaring things that made me rather disappointed.
  First, the thread of disrespect that permeated each comic: (and all of these go for vice versa as well) father/son, student/teacher, and child/child.
  Second, there was a lot of questionable content involved--mentions of "sexy", and "shacking up", and a few others. I realize this is written about a middle school kid, but I wonder if people are aware of the reading level? For this one--2.5! The rest are between 2-3.5ish. So guess who is checking these out of the library, by and large, because of the sticker level? Second and third graders. NOT middle or almost middle schoolers. Maybe they wouldn't fully understand ALL of the innuendo, but I've learned to NEVER underestimate what I child can understand.
• 
  Maria

  This book was really good. Although it was very confusing too. In this big Nate book, Nate skips around to different comics even though it has nothing to do with the one he already started. He tries to impress Jenny but she dosent like him the way he likes her. She keeps thinking whenever he is around "oh brother". He even called dibs on her becuase she was talking to Teddy and he doesnt want them to go out, so he says" I call dibs on Jenny" and then Jenny punches him in the face and walks away. Also Artur keeps wanting to be friends with Nate, but Nate cant stand him. Artur got him a snowglobe and Nate just gave him a pencil that he found in his school bag. Francis keeps on wondering how is Nate is so good in chess but not any thing else. He does some research and he finds out that people that are good in chess and very smart in ther subjects. When I read that part, I infered that Nate is probably smart in his other subjects, but he just doesnt show it because he wants to be cool and not like the nerdy kids in his class.
• 
  Alan

  it was funny
• 
  Josiah

  "Take a look, kid! Everywhere around you, there are moments happening! They happen, and then they're gone!"
  
  —Big Nate: From the Top, P. 205
  
  I've long considered the Big Nate comic strip a spiritual descendant of Bill Watterson's classic Calvin and Hobbes; it's the closest thing we had to that boy and his stuffed tiger after Mr. Watterson retired the strip in 1995. Big Nate isn't as deep, emotional, or brilliantly funny as Calvin and Hobbes, but Nate is easy to like and root for, the humor is routinely excellent, and there's more substance than most newspaper comics. The Big Nate novels have their own equal appeal in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid tradition, but the comic strip is pure entertainment, a pick-me-up for readers craving a spritz of Nate's brand of comedy. There's never a time when I wouldn't gladly dive into a book of Big Nate comics.
  
  The strips in Big Nate: From the Top originally ran in newspapers from August 28, 2006 to April 1, 2007, so they cover a large portion of the American year and its seasonal events. September starts with Nate anxious about going back to school, featuring a classic Big Nate gag on September 3 (page thirteen). As the fall session picks up speed, Nate thinks he's come up with the perfect facial expression for school picture day, considers running for student government, and avoids confrontations with Chester, a bully who remains always just out of readers' view. October 15 (page fifty-five) is one of the funniest Sunday strips of this collection, where Nate's seemingly innocent interview with Mr. Galvin turns into a different news story than Mr. Galvin intended. That one had me laughing out loud. An assignment to help first-graders improve their reading matches Nate with a lisping little foe from a storyline that predates this book, a kid named Peter who's a much more sophisticated student than Nate. But Nate works his magic (courtesy of provocative comic-book star Femme Fatality), and his influence over Peter becomes permanent. The October 25 (page sixty-five) comic involving Peter is a humorous surprise. Nate decides one day to become a "bad boy", which doesn't turn out as he envisioned, and Mrs. Godfrey's absence from school leads to cartoonish Coach John being named substitute teacher. Not even Gina, the perennial "teacher's pet", likes this. November 17 (page eighty-eight) is a great Coach John strip, when John tells Nate he reminds him of an incorrigible kid he had to teach in soccer camp...and Nate points out he was that kid. Coach John is a reliable fount of humor.
  
  Thanksgiving passes, Nate obsesses over "dibs", and then has another laugh-out-loud encounter with Mr. Galvin on December 12 (page one hundred thirteen). Christmas comes and goes with no pet dog for Nate, but he's served a subtle reminder that Spitsy is as good as his, even if the neighbor's dog is a less-than-manly companion. Nate complains to weatherman Wink Summers about untimely snowfall, and an extended story featuring "Nate Wright, Private Eye!!" opens on January 8 (page one hundred forty). Several of Big Nate: From the Top's best strips are in this story arc, notably January 11 (page one hundred forty-three), Nate's questioning of Jenny on January 13 (page one hundred forty-five), and his interaction with school secretary Mrs. Shipulski on January 15 (page one hundred forty-seven). Nate's masquerade as Sherlock Holmes throughout the story is hysterically funny. Nate engages his friends in a "Yo Mama Smackdown" at January's end, and at home he and his dad quarrel over possession of the latest Femme Fatality comic book. Nate works hard to compose just the right Valentine's poem for Jenny (February 14, page one hundred seventy-seven), and it's surprisingly good: funny, effervescently flirtatious, with a sprinkling of winsome sentimentality. Why isn't Jenny interested in Nate? He's awesome. Nate enthusiastically creates clay sculpture in Mr. Rosa's art class, capped off by a madcap exchange with Jenny, who's flattered that Nate wants to sculpt her until she finds out what he has in mind (February 24, page one hundred eighty-seven). That one's terrific. Nate chills out from test stress by bopping himself in the head with an empty plastic drink bottle, Francis is at a loss to explain how Nate is so good at chess, and Nate learns from School Picture Guy the art of snapping candid photos so he'll know how to do it for the yearbook. The final extended story has Nate teaming up with Teddy on a Civil War project, and getting one over on Gina. All in all, it's a satisfying variety of Big Nate comics.
  
  Calvin and Hobbes did well avoiding topical humor, which is key to originating material that stands the test of time. Big Nate is good at that, too, a comic that will be relevant as long as boys struggle in school, goof off with friends, and still manage to learn a little something from teachers. The strips in Big Nate: From the Top were written more than fifteen years into the series' newspaper run, but Nate's adventures feel fresh as ever, and I had lots of fun with this book. Thanks for the laughs, Nate. See you around the halls of P.S. 38.
• 
  Eagle

  Big Nate From the Top is a really good book. Lincoln Peirces Big Nate seires is hilarious. A 6th grade kid with his two friends do a lot of weird and funny stuff. He gets a lot of detentions for not getting homework done and messing around. He's always trying to get Jenny as his girlfriend but he never does. He makes her poems on Valentine's Day. He has really weird spiky hair. He doesn't like his dad so much because he thinks his dad is not that cool. He doesn't like his teacher Mrs. Godfray. That's where he gets in trouble themost. He gets hurt a lot when he's doing sports. He doesn't like his sister. He always fights with her. The thing that bugs him the most is Mrs. Godfrey her as a student. I think you should read this book. Joseph
• 
  Tal

  not a book for my kids. the content is a little too old (talk about "shacking up"!) and the characters are disrespectful - well, the father and son are to each other. i was curious and now i know. i do not like this trend in children's literature.
• 
  Erth

  Nate Wright is eleven years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for school detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth-grade Renaissance man.
• 
  Salena He

  AWESOME! This book was really good. I also liked the gags a lot. Lincoln’s way of writing and drawing comic strips let me take an interest in other strips like Calvin & Hobbes and Garfield. I mean, it’s hard to believe that just one person can write a so many good comics in only like twenty-five years? I think it’s twenty-five. Yeah.
  Anyway. The best comic strip in this whole book was the one on page one hundred thirty-four where that dude Chester are that entire chicken. It was ridiculously funny. :D. I like the ew face Nate, Francis and Teddy had in the last two panels of the comic strip. But still the others were good too.
  I’m happy I found Big Nate because it’s part of my everyday life! :) (happy face yay!)
• 
  Colin

  I think the book could have been a little better. It kept going from one subject to another. It starts off with Nate and his dad at the store trying to find a pair of pants for Nate. His dad picked a pair out and Nate said that they were terrible. The next day, he went off to school for the first day. His crush is jenny, a girl who is pretty popular and dosen't really like Nate.
  
  
• 
  Addy Orangutan

  Why do you think it’s called “Big Nate”?
  
  Not because Nate is cool.
  Not because Nate is phat.
  Because he’s downright BIG.
  
  Love the kid. Props to the editor. Made him look slim. ❤️
• 
  Marisa

  I've got a migraine, so this is going to be a fully honest review because I don't have the spoons to filter. Pretty obvious from this first book that this series was originally written as an adult comic strip. I'm over the objectifying of women and drooling over Femme Fatality, and honestly, I'm over the trope of trouble-making "harmless" white boys. There, I said it. However, I think later books become actual stories rather than a bunch of vignettes, so maybe it gets better. Either way, I bought several in the series for my library because I kind of had to. If kids read it, that's cool - reading a crappy book is superior to not reading.
• 
  Sooraya Evans

  This is the second Big Nate book I read after 'Out Loud'.
  I must say, there were too many gags where Nate disrespects friends, teachers and parent.
  Not cool Nate... Not cool :(
• 
  Natalinek3

  Czasem fajnie przypomnieć sobie, jakie problemy miało się w podstawówce.
• 
  Matthew

  Hilarious!
• 
  Daisya Spencer

  Not a fan. I kind of found Nate to be inappropriate at times and he was completely disrespectful to other people. I didn't find anything to be funny and maybe it's because of my age, but it seemed liked the author was trying to hard to make Nate funny and I wasn't feeling it. It's a quick read, but I personally wouldn't read it again.
  
  Rating: 2/5
• 
  Jesus Madrigal

  This book isn't a book about Nate's adventures. It's just a book about all the comics in all the books. The comics were hilarious and I just love the shorts in there. They have some real gut buster ones. It's not the best book EVER!!! but it is just a great book about celebrating his series.
• 
  Wade, Rosario, and Marco

  Wade is reading this one.
• 
  Wesley

  cool