Attack of the Chicken Nugget Man: A Georgia CRCT Adventure

Silver medal: Reading skills/Literacy: 2010 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards.

This laugh-out-loud children's book prepares students for the CRCT and is aligned with the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) for language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. It's an exciting story that teaches and references second through fifth grade skills, and even though it's 100% correlated to the third grade Georgia curriculum, it works well for third, fourth, and fifth grade students in all states!

This breakthrough educational book tells the story of a struggling third-grader (Chris Robb) who desperately wants to pass the third grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). Chris's school is a crazy place and his teacher has the strangest name he has ever heard: Ms. Bubblebrain. Every character in the book has a unique personality trait. Smelly Sam stuffs random objects up his nose (sushi, socks, etc), the bus driver waves around his stinky shoe to get the kids to settle down, and the principal harbors an incomprehensible infatuation with strawberry milk. Meanwhile, rumor has it that the Chicken Nugget Man has been sneaking into schools and causing all kinds of chaos. A task force is created to capture this mysterious creature. The country's smartest children will be chosen to join the effort because for some reason, no adult has ever seen the Chicken Nugget Man. Chris, who can barely remember his teacher's name, has the odds stacked against him when it comes to passing the CRCT, but as the reader discovers, he might have a little help, and a little hope, after all.

The book has built-in Bloom's Taxonomy higher-order critical thinking questions that are written in kid-friendly language. A strong emphasis is placed on character education in the book and every time a character makes a poor choice, the narrator reminds readers of the consequences, encouraging them to suggest more responsible choices.

This delightful comedy makes learning fun and helps students in all states prepare for standardized tests. It's great for fourth and fifth grade remediation, gifted second graders, after school tutoring, guided reading, literature circles, read-aloud, and family reading nights!