The Looney Experiment

Atticus Hobart couldn't feel lower. He s in love with a girl who doesn't know he exists, he is the class bully's personal punching bag, and to top it all off, his dad has just left the family. Into this drama steps Mr. Looney, a 77-year-old substitute English teacher with uncanny insight and a most unconventional approach to teaching. But Atticus soon discovers there's more to Mr. Looney's methods than he'd first thought. And as Atticus begins to unlock the truths within his own name, he finds that his hyper-imagination can help him forge his own voice, and maybe just maybe discover that the power to face his problems was inside him all along.

My Review

I was looking forward to reading this book because I was in the mood to laugh. I did not find laughs with this book. In fact, I had to check about three times to the back of the book on the reference for the age group/category that this book was listed for. It is listed as Juvenile Fiction/Social Issues/Adolescence. This is a good thing as there was the use of swear words and lots of bullying. With the current issues of bullying in the world I would suggest only older, mature readers read this book.

Although again, I have to say that for me, I did not find anything funny about this book or the characters that interesting. I stuck it out to about half way because I wanted to see how Mr. Looney lesson to teach Atticus would relate to the book, How to Kill a Mockingbird. however between the swearing and my lack of connection with the characters I could not finish this book.