Secrets According to Humphrey
Written by Betty G. Birney
Reviewed by Theo R. (age 8)
In the book, Secrets According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney, Humphrey is a smart and helpful class pet in Room 26. While the class is studying Egypt, he finds out that there are so many secrets that he doesn’t know and then he becomes very eager to find out every single one. The one secret that Humphrey dreads the most is that a student is leaving. He can’t possibly think of a student leaving because all of the students are really nice to him and, he doesn’t want any of them leave. After a while of searching for clues, he finds out a girl is leaving. Now Humphrey knows that he’s in BIG BIG trouble because the girls are the nicest to him. The next thing he knows is that there are secret clubs. Now, you can think of how tempting that was for Humphrey. After a little while Humphrey joins a secret club. Now Humphrey knows the secret game, the secret code, and everything else in the club. If you want to find out the student who’s leaving, or the secrets of the secret clubs you’ll have to read the book!
I like this book because you can’t wait to find out all the secrets. I think it’s different because it has many problems. For example, one problem is that a student is leaving and another example is that Joey can’t find a good book that he likes. I don’t think you need the character Og the frog because all he really does is say BOING-BOING-BOING (but I still like the book). I also thought this book was funny because the author had special names for the kids like “Stop Giggling Gail.” I also like this book because it’s very comfortable to read.
I would recommend all ages should read this book because its characters are very nice and kind. For example, when somebody drops something, “Helpful Holly” (or any other student) will pick it up. As I said, most people would like this story, but if you have a big interest in secrets, you would really love this book…ENJOY!