Big Nate: On a Roll
Big Nate: On a Roll is a realistic fiction novel by American cartoonist Lincoln Peirce, based on the comic strip Big Nate. It is the third book in the Big Nate novel series, followed by Big Nate Goes for Broke, released on August 16, 2011. It is aimed at children aged 8 to 12. It was published by HarperCollins Publishers in New York City.[1]
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| Author | Lincoln Peirce |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Lincoln Peirce |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Big Nate |
| Genre | Comedy Fictional Children's novel Comic strip |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers |
Publication date | August 16, 2011 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 9780061944390 |
| Preceded by | Big Nate: Strikes Again |
| Followed by | Big Nate: Goes for Broke |
Plot
Nate Wright is in detention, as earlier his art teacher Mr. Rosa asks him to hold a ladder for his rival Artur, so that he can paint the scenery for the school play. However Artur accidentally drips paint on Nate, landing in his eye, and having him knock over the ladder. Mr. Rosa is angry at Nate, and gives him detention, continuing to the setting he is in right now. When detention is over, Nate tries to get to his Timber scout troop meeting which is held in his best friend Teddy's house on his skateboard, which lands in oily water under a bridge (due to him crashing into a woman's poodle's stretched leash). This results in Nate having to walk and being late and ultimately missing the meeting. To make matters worse, his best friend Francis and Teddy tell him they have great news: Artur has joined their scout troop, much to Nate's horror. Nate is also angry because he would have gotten the whole attendance merit badge in addition to the ones he already has, because he has to attend all 26 meetings (six months), and missed the 25th meeting, meaning he has to start all over again. Nate's anger only increases when he realizes that the last of Mrs. Ortiz's chocolate chip cookies that Nate really loves is eaten by Artur. The meeting ends, and Artur offers to give Nate and Francis rides home in his mother's car, but they both agree to walk. As the two are walking home, Nate asks Francis what happened during the meeting. Francis tells Nate they talked about their fundraiser, where they have to sell Warm Fuzzies, wall hangings with little statements underneath (which Nate says are horrible), as they need money for their camping gear. Francis also mentions the prizes, which Nate wants to know about. After Francis tells about the prizes, he leaves Nate with the brochure. After Nate finds out what the grand prize is (A brand new skateboard), it motivates Nate to sell Warm Fuzzies (despite what Nate said about them). When Nate meets Teddy and Francis at his mailbox, Nate tells them how he'll sell the warm fuzzies. Francis tells Nate that Artur's his competition. When Nate's at school, he sees Artur sucking up to Mr. Galvin, Nate's science teacher, and calls Artur the biggest suck-up in P.S. 38. After Nate sees Gina, Nate's arch enemy, sucking up to Mrs. Godfrey, Nate's social studies teacher, he (Nate) drops Artur down to second and also says that Gina's ahead. Nate also says that the teachers always falling for the sucking up bugs him and thinks that they are made for each other and calls them the perfect couple because they both get on the honor roll, they both annoy Nate, and they never get in trouble. The problem is that Artur goes out with Jenny, Nate's crush, and Nate thinks he is a better match for Jenny than Artur and says that he has known her longer. Nate thinks of a way to convince Artur to go out with Gina and dump Jenny so Nate can go out with Jenny. Nate opens his locker while saying that he will "Sweep Jenny off her feet" when random junk flies out leaving Nate on his back, which makes him a laughingstock. Jenny comes in and calls Nate a slob and Artur suggests that if Nate cleans his locker, it will not be messy. He shoves all the junk back in his locker, while saying that he has to avoid getting detention so he will be free after school to sell the warm fuzzies. He starts sucking up to the teachers to get on their good side. But during the last period of school, Science, his mind wanders to the prize skateboard and he starts doodling in his notebook. Gina peers over his shoulder and tells Mr Galvin that Nate was drawing. Nate tries to explain the skateboard, but Mr Galvin says that he would like to see Nate in the hallway. In the hallway, Mr Galvin mentions that he was also once a Timber scout and says that he will let Nate off the hook and not give Nate detention. After school, Nate tries to get Artur to like Gina by mentioning that she is smart. Artur soon says goodbye and mentioned that he would spend the afternoon sailing, which makes Nate realize that he could get a head-start selling wall hangings. He sprints home, changes into his uniform, and goes out to sell the warm fuzzies. As he heads to his next-door neighbor Mr Eustis's house, he is jumped on by Spitsy, Mr Eustis's moronic dog. Mr Eustis apologizes and buys a warm fuzzy. After a couple of hours of trying to sell wall-hangings he has managed to sell five. Which Nate thinks is great, because he made 40$. When Nate gets home, he is shocked to find Artur in his uniform talking to his dad. He confronts Artur, only to realize that he mispronounced the word "selling" and pronounced it "sailing". After talking a bit longer, he is shocked to find out that Artur has sold twenty wall hangings equaling to 160$. After talking to Artur, he goes into his house only to hear Marty say that Artur was "A very impressive young man." Nate almost explodes with rage only to realize that Artur felt bad for Nate and baked him brownies which Nate thinks is obnoxious. Nate's glad that he didn't shout at Marty because then he would have missed the opening night of the Peter Pan play put on by the Drama Club. He mentions that he is exited to check it out because Francis and Teddy were going, and he had only seen Peter Pan once in his life, when he was in second grade. He mentions the he doesn't really remember all the details, and he puts all the details he does know into a comic. An hour later he meets up with Francis and Teddy, and Francis mentions that the tickets are sold out. Which makes Teddy remember about the wall-hangings and ask about how many wall-hangings they have sold yet. Nate answers five which makes Francis mention that the only wall-hanging he sold was to his grandma, and he thought that five was good. Then Nate says "Not as good as Artur." and mentioned that he sold twenty. Francis and Teddy are clearly shocked, and Nate said that winning the skateboard was going to be harder then he thought. Francis mentions that Nate already had a good skateboard. Nate mentions the whole "crashing into a poodle leash" incident and Francis and Teddy burst into laughter. [2]
Characters
These characters appear in the book:[1]
- Nate Wright - The main protagonist.
- Francis Pope - Nate's highly intelligent best friend.
- Teddy Ortiz - Nate's comedic and jokester best friend.
- Artur Pashkov - Nate's nemesis and Jenny's boyfriend; a Belarusian exchange student, who is mild-mannered and unassuming, and without realizing, annoys Nate by his superiority at everything and his great luck. In the book, he is the "main antagonist" (on Nate's side, at least), as Nate is trying to win the grand prize (a new skateboard) on his scout troop and has to beat Artur (as he is sure Artur will win), by selling Warm Fuzzies door-to-door. Nate tries to sabotage Artur, by using many attempts that backfire (such as his attempt to get Artur to be attracted to Gina, which results in Artur muffling it up into Nate is attracted to Gina). Though in the end, Artur wins the second place prize (a telescope), and congratulates Nate on winning the skateboard.
- Chad Applewhite - One of Nate's friends; a chubby, red-haired, freckled boy. Like the previous books, he plays a minor role in the book.
- Marty Wright - Nate's divorced, middle-aged father.
- Ellen Wright - Nate's older sister.
- Gordie - Ellen's boyfriend. He works at the comics store, Klassic Komix, where Nate tried to sell his comic book, Nate's Komix Krack-Up, but was unsuccessful.
- Don Eustis - Nate's middle-aged bachelor neighbour, who owns the idiotic and pathetic dog, Spitsy. In the book, he plays a minor role; asking Nate to walk Spitsy, ending Nate in horrible pain.
- Spitsy - The moronic and pathetic pet dog of Nate's next-door neighbour, Mr. Eustis. In the book, like his owner, he plays a minor role, where Nate agrees to walk him, causing him serious pain.
- Jenny Jenkins - Nate's crush and Artur's girlfriend.
- Gina Hemphill-Toms - Nate's other nemesis who has a very high IQ and brags about it. Nate and Gina hate each other and they are both mad when Artur says that Nate has a crush on Gina.
Reception
The book has received positive acclaim. School Library Journal praised the book that the main character Nate "delivers what fans come to expect", and Kirkus Reviews called the book the "slickest of the series". As of June 2020, 96% of google users liked the book. The book website Goodreads.com rated it a 4.5/5. The online bookstore Barnes & Noble rated it 4.2/5.