Bruno and Boots
Encyclopedia
Bruno and Boots is the name of a series of young adult
novel
s by author Gordon Korman
.
The series is set in a Canadian
boarding school
for boys called Macdonald Hall (named after John A. Macdonald
, the first Prime Minister of Canada), located near the city of Toronto
along Highway 48
and seven miles south of the fictitious town of Chutney.
The lead characters are Bruno Walton and Melvin "Boots" O'Neal, MacDonald Hall students who have a well earned reputation for mischief. For all their troublemaking, however, the pair have a deep loyalty to the school and many of the books have them and their friends going to great lengths to support it. It is unknown how old they are, but it is safe to assume they are around 13 or 14.
The school's headmaster is William R. Sturgeon, also known as "The Fish" by the students. This unwanted nickname comes not only from his name, but also from his bespectacled fish-like appearance when he glares disapprovingly at his students. While he is a firm disciplinarian with a carefully cultivated authoritative image, he also cares deeply for his school and the children under his care. His wife cares just as much for the students, and whenever Bruno and Boots come by, she offers them cookies and milk. She isn't as strict as her husband.
Across the street is another school, Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies. However, despite the obtuse headmistress's best efforts, the girls there are even more rambunctious than the boys of Macdonald Hall, and are always ready for whatever fun that Bruno and Boots have in mind. Miss Scrimmage happens to own a shotgun
which she uses to threaten anyone who disturbs the peace or comes by her school, but she has poor control of it and is prone to accidental shootings in random directions.
At times, the two schools have joined forces, such as in The War with Mr. Wizzle, wherein Mr. Sturgeon gains a new assistant principal, Mr. Wizzle, who is a firm believer in categorizing and "computerizing" MacDonald Hall. Meanwhile, Miss Scrimmage hires a former drill instructor as her assistant; afterward, the two student bodies team up to send the new staff "as far as they can afford to send them" before the school board decides that keeping them at the school is a good idea.
The first book in the series was written when Korman was in Grade Seven. The briefest of the series, the book introduces the school and its boys. Bruno and Boots are separated as roommates after committing three pranks at the hockey match against their arch-rival, York Academy; Bruno moves in with Elmer Drimsdale, the school genius, whereas Boots moves in with the school financial genius and resident hypochondriac, George Wexford-Smyth III. The boys scheme to convince Mr. Sturgeon ("The Fish"), the headmaster, to allow them to move back to Room 306.
York Academy has a pool; Macdonald Hall does not. While annoying, this has never bothered the Macdonald Hall students much...until some of the boys report that their parents believe that the richer sports opportunities available at York will prompt them to transfer their sons to Macdonald Hall's biggest rival. The boys scheme to get a pool...a better pool than York Academy.
Macdonald Hall is closing! Their school is in jeopardy and the best way to save it, according to Bruno, is to get the word out about how great their school is. Bruno leads a scheme to get the name of Macdonald Hall known all over Canada. To blow off steam, Bruno starts playing with one of Elmer Drimsdale's inventions and starts a police investigation into the activities of the operative known as "The Fish."
Macdonald Hall is inefficient. Miss Scrimmage's school is out-of-shape. Enter Walter C. Wizzle and his computer to improve the Hall, and Miss Peabody, the new girls' physical education coach. The schools team up to get rid of Wizzle and Peabody.
Hank Carson, a millionaire former football player, now makes his money in the zucchini stick business. A former student at Macdonald Hall, he wants a winning football team at his alma mater, so the boys try to make him happy by "eating" his horrible zucchini sticks and making the best plays possible. In order to succeed, the pair scheme to create the zucchini disposal squad and disguise their quarterback, who comes from Miss Scrimmage's!
Jordie Jones, a superstar Hollywood actor, is shooting a movie at Macdonald Hall, and also wants to spend some time with the boys to get a feel for life in the school. Unfortunately, Bruno hates him. And if Bruno doesn't like someone, Bruno will scheme to get rid of him!
Boots' little brother, Edward, has arrived to start his first year at Macdonald Hall. Bruno can't wait to teach him all he knows, but there is such a thing as going "too far," and generally Bruno and Boots do a good job of keeping their pranks funny, and backing off when prudent. They pride themselves on being totally honest with the headmaster. But someone is pranking at the hall, and he isn't stopping! Bruno and Boots have to clear their name or they risk expulsion!
Elmer Drimsdale - The school's genius. He has various projects which threaten to take over his room including: ants, plants, He wakes up at 6:00 a.m. each day to tend to these various projects before breakfast. He lives in Dormitory 2.
Calvin "The Beast" Fitzgart - Nicknamed himself "The Beast" to improve his football image, he uprooted a small shrub to show what he would do to the other team. He tried to get pulled out of a game due to what the nurse pronounced "a bruise," however, so his actual football skill is questionable.
Wilbur Hackenschleimer - A large boy, he is known for having a voracious appetite. He is a weight lifter, and talented at woodworking and metal shop. He lives in Dormitory 1.
Melvin "Boots" O'Neal - A studious brown-haired boy who enjoys swimming, he has a younger brother, Edward.
Sydney Rampulsky - He is well-known for his clumsiness.
Chris Talbot - He lives in Dormitory 1 and is also known for his art and makes some posters to advertise Bruno's schemes.
Bruno Walton - Full of schemes, he is the one who spearheads the organization of the plots. Like Boots, he is honest, and if asked by the headmaster about his participation in a given scheme, will admit to what he has done. He was not a Jordie Jones fan. .
George Wexford-Smythe III - A financial genius who is obsessed with the stock market, he also keeps his bathroom stocked with medicines. He also sanitizes his room every second day, washing everything in his room, including the ceiling and the walls, to prevent illness. He lives in Dormitory 1.
Larry Wilson - He works in the office, and delivers messages.
Mr. Fudge - The housemaster in charge of Dormitory 3. He sleeps fairly soundly.
Mr. Lautrec - The industrial arts teacher
James (Jim) R. Snow - The chairman of the Board of Directors of Macdonald Hall.
Mr. Stratton - A math teacher
Mildred Sturgeon - The headmaster's wife who frequently reminds him to be less strict.
William Sturgeon aka "The Fish" - The Headmaster. He and his wife live on the school grounds in their own home. His nickname comes from the cold, fishy stare, he can use on his students.
Mr. Walter C. Wizzle - A modernization expert sent, with his computer, to improve the school's efficiency in "The War With Mr. Wizzle."
Mrs. Davis - The school secretary
Cathy Burton - The Bruno-equivalent, Cathy is good at football and can even play quarterback, though she played under Elmer's name so she could join the team at Macdonald Hall. She has dark hair.
Diane Grant - The Boots-equivalent, Diane has blonde hair, and is more timid about Cathy's schemes. She has a pet skunk called Petunia.
Miss Gloria Peabody - Miss Scrimmage's assistant headmistress during "The War With Mr. Wizzle." She previously worked at a Marine training center in Seattle, WA.
Young adult literature
Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s by author Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman is a Canadian author, primarily of novels for children and young adults. He lives in Long Island's Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three children....
.
The series is set in a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for boys called Macdonald Hall (named after John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
, the first Prime Minister of Canada), located near the city of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
along Highway 48
Ontario Highway 48
King's Highway 48, also known as Highway 48, is a provincially-maintained highway in southern Ontario that extends from Major Mackenzie Drive in Markham, through Whitchurch-Stouffville, to Highway 12 south-east of Beaverton, Ontario. Prior to 1998, Highway 48 extended from Highway 401 in Toronto to...
and seven miles south of the fictitious town of Chutney.
The lead characters are Bruno Walton and Melvin "Boots" O'Neal, MacDonald Hall students who have a well earned reputation for mischief. For all their troublemaking, however, the pair have a deep loyalty to the school and many of the books have them and their friends going to great lengths to support it. It is unknown how old they are, but it is safe to assume they are around 13 or 14.
The school's headmaster is William R. Sturgeon, also known as "The Fish" by the students. This unwanted nickname comes not only from his name, but also from his bespectacled fish-like appearance when he glares disapprovingly at his students. While he is a firm disciplinarian with a carefully cultivated authoritative image, he also cares deeply for his school and the children under his care. His wife cares just as much for the students, and whenever Bruno and Boots come by, she offers them cookies and milk. She isn't as strict as her husband.
Across the street is another school, Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies. However, despite the obtuse headmistress's best efforts, the girls there are even more rambunctious than the boys of Macdonald Hall, and are always ready for whatever fun that Bruno and Boots have in mind. Miss Scrimmage happens to own a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
which she uses to threaten anyone who disturbs the peace or comes by her school, but she has poor control of it and is prone to accidental shootings in random directions.
At times, the two schools have joined forces, such as in The War with Mr. Wizzle, wherein Mr. Sturgeon gains a new assistant principal, Mr. Wizzle, who is a firm believer in categorizing and "computerizing" MacDonald Hall. Meanwhile, Miss Scrimmage hires a former drill instructor as her assistant; afterward, the two student bodies team up to send the new staff "as far as they can afford to send them" before the school board decides that keeping them at the school is a good idea.
Bruno and Boots/Macdonald Hall Books
- This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald HallThis Can't Be Happening at Macdonald HallThis Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall is a 1978 novel by Gordon Korman. It is the first installment of the Macdonald Hall series, and was the first written work of Korman. It is dedicated to his English teacher, Mr. Hamilton....
(1978, recently renamed This Can't Be Happening)
The first book in the series was written when Korman was in Grade Seven. The briefest of the series, the book introduces the school and its boys. Bruno and Boots are separated as roommates after committing three pranks at the hockey match against their arch-rival, York Academy; Bruno moves in with Elmer Drimsdale, the school genius, whereas Boots moves in with the school financial genius and resident hypochondriac, George Wexford-Smyth III. The boys scheme to convince Mr. Sturgeon ("The Fish"), the headmaster, to allow them to move back to Room 306.
- Go Jump in the PoolGo Jump in the PoolGo Jump in the Pool! is a 1979 children's novel by Canadian author Gordon Korman. This is the second novel in the Macdonald Hall series. It continues the plights and adventures of Bruno Walton and Boots O'Neal. The book was republished in 2003; the text was updated to appeal to today's generation...
(1979)
York Academy has a pool; Macdonald Hall does not. While annoying, this has never bothered the Macdonald Hall students much...until some of the boys report that their parents believe that the richer sports opportunities available at York will prompt them to transfer their sons to Macdonald Hall's biggest rival. The boys scheme to get a pool...a better pool than York Academy.
- Beware the Fish!Beware the FishBeware The Fish! is the third installment in the Macdonald Hall Series, and it continues to follow the two main characters Bruno and Boots along with the ensemble students of Macdonald Hall. This, along with The Zucchini Warriors, is one of the few titles in the series which didn't have a title...
(1980)
Macdonald Hall is closing! Their school is in jeopardy and the best way to save it, according to Bruno, is to get the word out about how great their school is. Bruno leads a scheme to get the name of Macdonald Hall known all over Canada. To blow off steam, Bruno starts playing with one of Elmer Drimsdale's inventions and starts a police investigation into the activities of the operative known as "The Fish."
- The War With Mr. WizzleThe War With Mr. WizzleThe War With Mr. Wizzle is the fourth installment in the Macdonald Hall Series. Like all the other books, this one was republished in 2003 with new cover art and title . However, because the book deals largely with technological advancements and talks about computers and software, it had to be...
(1982, recently retitled The Wizzle War)
Macdonald Hall is inefficient. Miss Scrimmage's school is out-of-shape. Enter Walter C. Wizzle and his computer to improve the Hall, and Miss Peabody, the new girls' physical education coach. The schools team up to get rid of Wizzle and Peabody.
- The Zucchini Warriors (1988)
Hank Carson, a millionaire former football player, now makes his money in the zucchini stick business. A former student at Macdonald Hall, he wants a winning football team at his alma mater, so the boys try to make him happy by "eating" his horrible zucchini sticks and making the best plays possible. In order to succeed, the pair scheme to create the zucchini disposal squad and disguise their quarterback, who comes from Miss Scrimmage's!
- Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood (1991, recently renamed Lights, Camera, Disaster!)
Jordie Jones, a superstar Hollywood actor, is shooting a movie at Macdonald Hall, and also wants to spend some time with the boys to get a feel for life in the school. Unfortunately, Bruno hates him. And if Bruno doesn't like someone, Bruno will scheme to get rid of him!
- Something Fishy At Macdonald Hall (1995, recently renamed The Joke's On Us)
Boots' little brother, Edward, has arrived to start his first year at Macdonald Hall. Bruno can't wait to teach him all he knows, but there is such a thing as going "too far," and generally Bruno and Boots do a good job of keeping their pranks funny, and backing off when prudent. They pride themselves on being totally honest with the headmaster. But someone is pranking at the hall, and he isn't stopping! Bruno and Boots have to clear their name or they risk expulsion!
Macdonald Hall Students
Mark Davies - The school newspaper editor. He lives in Dormitory 2.Elmer Drimsdale - The school's genius. He has various projects which threaten to take over his room including: ants, plants, He wakes up at 6:00 a.m. each day to tend to these various projects before breakfast. He lives in Dormitory 2.
Calvin "The Beast" Fitzgart - Nicknamed himself "The Beast" to improve his football image, he uprooted a small shrub to show what he would do to the other team. He tried to get pulled out of a game due to what the nurse pronounced "a bruise," however, so his actual football skill is questionable.
Wilbur Hackenschleimer - A large boy, he is known for having a voracious appetite. He is a weight lifter, and talented at woodworking and metal shop. He lives in Dormitory 1.
Melvin "Boots" O'Neal - A studious brown-haired boy who enjoys swimming, he has a younger brother, Edward.
Sydney Rampulsky - He is well-known for his clumsiness.
Chris Talbot - He lives in Dormitory 1 and is also known for his art and makes some posters to advertise Bruno's schemes.
Bruno Walton - Full of schemes, he is the one who spearheads the organization of the plots. Like Boots, he is honest, and if asked by the headmaster about his participation in a given scheme, will admit to what he has done. He was not a Jordie Jones fan. .
George Wexford-Smythe III - A financial genius who is obsessed with the stock market, he also keeps his bathroom stocked with medicines. He also sanitizes his room every second day, washing everything in his room, including the ceiling and the walls, to prevent illness. He lives in Dormitory 1.
Larry Wilson - He works in the office, and delivers messages.
Macdonald Hall Staff
Mr. Alex (Coach) Flynn - The phy. ed teacher and coach.Mr. Fudge - The housemaster in charge of Dormitory 3. He sleeps fairly soundly.
Mr. Lautrec - The industrial arts teacher
James (Jim) R. Snow - The chairman of the Board of Directors of Macdonald Hall.
Mr. Stratton - A math teacher
Mildred Sturgeon - The headmaster's wife who frequently reminds him to be less strict.
William Sturgeon aka "The Fish" - The Headmaster. He and his wife live on the school grounds in their own home. His nickname comes from the cold, fishy stare, he can use on his students.
Mr. Walter C. Wizzle - A modernization expert sent, with his computer, to improve the school's efficiency in "The War With Mr. Wizzle."
Mrs. Davis - The school secretary
Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies
Miss Scrimmage - The headmistress. She owns a shotgun to protect her young ladies, and fires it in the air whenever the school is being 'invaded' by the Macdonald Hall boys. Her school was ranked as 217th, in contrast to Macdonald Hall's number one spot.Cathy Burton - The Bruno-equivalent, Cathy is good at football and can even play quarterback, though she played under Elmer's name so she could join the team at Macdonald Hall. She has dark hair.
Diane Grant - The Boots-equivalent, Diane has blonde hair, and is more timid about Cathy's schemes. She has a pet skunk called Petunia.
Miss Gloria Peabody - Miss Scrimmage's assistant headmistress during "The War With Mr. Wizzle." She previously worked at a Marine training center in Seattle, WA.