Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

Keep in mind, the following concerning content is spread over a relatively small book, especially given the fact that the drawings take up much of each page. Morality – On the cover it shows a teacher on both sides of Nate, one saying “yak, yak, yak…” the other saying, “blah, blah, blah…”. This type of disrespect towards adults continues throughout the entire book. Nate draws on the desk even though he knows it is wrong, then makes it 100x worse by justifying it as ok. The book ends on a “positive” note with Nate celebrating that he has passed all those before him… by getting the most detention slips in a single day than ever before. Nate decides to be nice to his friend only because he wants to share his lunch with him. Sneaks out of class, involving a friend to distract. Nate mocks and ignores a lecture when in trouble. He blames a teacher in order to avoid personal responsibility. Wants a yearbook only to see bad haircuts and goofy looking kids”. There is an inappropriate joke about pulling down jeans/genes. Laughs at his teacher when her shirt gets ruined. Insults other people’s art. School – School is held up as pointless and awful in many ways. Nate says, “no real need to memorize useless facts” and believes he is destined for greater things (implying school is not needed for someone “like him”). Mentions that certain types of field trips are lame and suggests coming up with an excuse if given an assignment to show what you learned on the trip. When Nate’s class notes are shown they are all unrelated doodles. He spends a good bit of time thinking up lies/excuses to get out of a test. During a science experiment he picks up a squid and pretends it is a giant booger. Says nothing good ever happens in science. Makes rude jokes over the reading of the announcements. Throws food at a classmate. At one point he says, “That’s the way it is with new kids. You sort of check them out from a distance to see if they are cool or not. You don’t want to be all Joe Friendly to them right away because what if they turn out to be total losers?”. Calls math totally boring and completely useless, calling it a place to nap. When he gets in trouble he decides to go ahead and “get his moneys worth” and does more. One classmate he particularly doesn’t get along with, he calls a dork, says he hates her and screams for her to “shut her big fat mouth”. Another classmate he is jealous of causes him to gag. Teachers: Nate is extremely rude about his teachers, especially his main teacher. He says she is “like a dog. A big, ugly, nasty, dog.” These rude views of his teachers are typically accompanied by a rude drawing from his notebook. Also compares her to a “big fat queen bee”. Says she is “the size of a planet. She’s huge, round and gassy. Says she reminds everyone of a cow, especially when she is eating. Provides a list of other rude nicknames. Looking back he throws in, “back then she only had 2 chins”. He has his friend teach him how to say, “Mr. Godfrey is fat” in Spanish. Another teacher is called old and balding. Calls inexperienced substitutes clueless, not very bright and gullible, showing examples of lying to one to deceive them. He gets excited about a teacher who has checked out and doesn’t actually teach. Says, “Teaches are just dopes sometimes., and by sometimes II mean always. Family – Dad is described by Nate as “kind of clueless” and is shown “rambling on” (a common worldly stereotype of men/fathers). He also says, “Once you go bald you commonly lose your ability to relate to anyone under 31”. Nates sister is described as “nastier than summer school”. He also says that sisters are born obnoxious and says you can’t shut her up. He goes on to list her top 5 most annoying things (a mean list). He says, “kill me now” about her singing. Things Said: Uses the terms “smell you later”, “Goody Two-Shoes”, moron, geek (at one point justifying it is ok to call a friend this because you are friends – also used to describe anyone who would enjoy school), “clueless grownups”, control freaks, suck up, old lady, maggots, psycho, Rip Van Dorkle, loser, horrible teachers, obnoxious classmates, puke, shut up, stupid, captain obvious, holy cow, total dork, super wedgie, weird girl, noogie. Other – Strikes his friends with books. Says he loves (and believes in) getting his fortune from a fortune cookie and then brings up horoscopes. Mentions romance novels in passing (something that we are seeing more and more) and includes titles “Flames of Longing” and “Pounding the Surf”. Nate wears a cheerleader outfit at one point in an image as a joke. Nate mentions “checking out girls”. It shows a couple making out in a drawing.