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Big Nate Novels #3
Big Nate on a Roll
Nate's a big deal in his scout troop . . . until Artur—aka Mr. Perfect—joins. Now Nate's stuck in second place. And Artur means business. Will Nate take the grand prize? Or wipe out, big time?
224 pages, Library Binding
First published August 16, 2011
About the author
Lincoln Peirce
233 books1,027 followersLincoln Peirce is a cartoon artist from Portland, Maine. He lives with his wife and two children, and occasionally gives lectures to students about cartoon creating. Peirce writes the comic strip "Big Nate". Peirce's comic strip, Big Nate, is featured as an island on the famous children's website, Poptropica. Big Nate appears as the first cartoon on The Maine Sunday Telegram in the comics section.
He studied art at Colby College in Maine were he began cartooning. He also studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before teaching art and coaching basketball at a New York highschool for 3 years. He currently plays hockey with "an old men's league" and describes it as his best sport as a child. In an interview with the Washington Post, Peirce stated that his last name is pronounced "purse" and is not a misspelling of "pierce."
Lincoln Peirce was a member of the "Surviving as a Print Cartoonist" Panel at the Maine Comics Art Festival with fellow cartoonists Corey Pandolph (Barkeater Lake, Toby: Robot Satan, The Elderberries), Norm Feuri (Retail, Gill) and with Mike Lynch moderating. On the panel Lincoln revealed he is currently working with some animation and licensing projects including the addition of a Big Nate island to the online game Poptropica.
He studied art at Colby College in Maine were he began cartooning. He also studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before teaching art and coaching basketball at a New York highschool for 3 years. He currently plays hockey with "an old men's league" and describes it as his best sport as a child. In an interview with the Washington Post, Peirce stated that his last name is pronounced "purse" and is not a misspelling of "pierce."
Lincoln Peirce was a member of the "Surviving as a Print Cartoonist" Panel at the Maine Comics Art Festival with fellow cartoonists Corey Pandolph (Barkeater Lake, Toby: Robot Satan, The Elderberries), Norm Feuri (Retail, Gill) and with Mike Lynch moderating. On the panel Lincoln revealed he is currently working with some animation and licensing projects including the addition of a Big Nate island to the online game Poptropica.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 609 reviews
May 11, 2015
My 8 year old son begged to read this & I was hesitant. All I can say now is that we are BOTH very glad I took a chance and read it to him (and the rest of the series) before bed every night (he read on his own at other times).
Surprisingly, this was the first book (in a REALLY long time) that literally made me laugh out loud - repeatedly!! I WILL admit that Nate - the way he thinks, acts, and his imagination - is extremely similar to my son so, I'm sure that influenced how often I laughed.
Although Nate is disrespectful to his father and has a general disdain for school & education, the "tongue in cheek" writing style communicated that his attitude wasn't really ideal for yourself. Also, I didn't find anything in the books that was unrealistic for a school-aged child to think, feel, do, and experience. In fact, it reminded me of my own elementary and middle school "life".
Even though I didn't approve of Nate's attitude toward his dad, school, and adults in general, because my son my son identified with this character, I seized the opportunity to have discussions about the importance of education, respect, appropriate behavior, bullying, friendship, and a host of other topics.
If your child is in this stage of life and appreciates a good story and a good laugh - I confidently recommend these books. (BTW, my son is now 11 and STILL reads these books!)
Surprisingly, this was the first book (in a REALLY long time) that literally made me laugh out loud - repeatedly!! I WILL admit that Nate - the way he thinks, acts, and his imagination - is extremely similar to my son so, I'm sure that influenced how often I laughed.
Although Nate is disrespectful to his father and has a general disdain for school & education, the "tongue in cheek" writing style communicated that his attitude wasn't really ideal for yourself. Also, I didn't find anything in the books that was unrealistic for a school-aged child to think, feel, do, and experience. In fact, it reminded me of my own elementary and middle school "life".
Even though I didn't approve of Nate's attitude toward his dad, school, and adults in general, because my son my son identified with this character, I seized the opportunity to have discussions about the importance of education, respect, appropriate behavior, bullying, friendship, and a host of other topics.
If your child is in this stage of life and appreciates a good story and a good laugh - I confidently recommend these books. (BTW, my son is now 11 and STILL reads these books!)
October 2, 2011
Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce Nate is trying to win a skateboard in the timber scouts but Artur is ahead from Nate. Who ever wins he will get the skateboard. Will Nate ever get the skateboard or will Artur get it? I think Nate will get it.
April 27, 2015
I really like this book. It is really funny! It is about Nate and his friends trying to sell as many posters for Boy Scouts because who ever sells the most posters they will win the grand prize which is a skateboard that you design your self. I think this book is funny because it has good jokes and funny drawings. I recommend this book for everyone!
February 28, 2017
I enjoyed this book my than Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was crazy to think that the books were written by the same author because they were so different. It made me laugh very hard. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes humor.
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May 12, 2015This is an incredible book. I don't love it or hate it. It is in the middle. So I recommend this book to people who like comics or graphic novels. It is very funny.
February 26, 2015
This book is about a boy name Nate who is having a ruff time in school. He is always getting detentions and getting in trouble,and this girl name Gina is always snitching on him he just hates her,also there is this boy named artur who is quite of a Prince Charming but he just hates how he beats him at anything and the thing that bugs him the most is that he's dating Nate's big crush! But any who they are both timber scouts and there is this prize that whoever sells the most snuffies wins a skateboard and trust Nate needs a new board his flew down a bridge so they are going at it door to door,when Nate thought of a brilliant plan to buy them for himself! Well that didn't work out so he thought of making comic books so he could make money and buy the snuffies but that was a tuff challenge also, but when he looked and found out there was a precious Comic book that was going up to a thousand dollars to whoever had the book! So what do you know Nate just remembered that he had the book! But didn't get a thousand dollars because it was supposed to be in mint condition but he still got enough money to beat artur,and he did and when he recieved the award it was beautiful.
May 13, 2015
i like this book because Nate get in trouble alot and the story is about nate trying to get a new skateboard
October 3, 2016
This is a very cute and funny series.
June 10, 2019
My 12 Year old has loved the hell out of the Big Nate books for the last few years and tbh, I do too lol. Great fun.
Read
April 29, 2019it was good
July 17, 2017
It was great! Very funny.
December 16, 2019
I did not like this at all, because all the books are the same in every way so I have stopped reading the big Nate books because they are getting boring
March 3, 2017
There are a whole slew of books for boys now, Wimpy Kid probably being the most famous, made to look like doodle-filled journals written by primary school kids. I'm very grateful for them, as my nine-year-old son reads them over and over.
But of all the ones we've read so far Big Nate is the only one I've had a problem with. I may be projecting too much here, but even though the book is written from Nate's perspective he still comes across as intensely obnoxious.
Artur, a widely-liked boy with the 'comedy' diction of a non-native speaker, is Nate's nemesis, the kid he has to beat in everything. Relationships, for example: Nate likes Jenny, though he seems to barely speak to her. Artur is going out with Jenny. How does Nate deal with this? He decides his best option is to manipulate Artur into splitting up with Jenny by feeding him rumours that another girl likes him.
Nate and Artur are also both Timber Scouts, and the main story is that they have to sell fuzzy badges - the one who sells the most gets a skateboard. Artur, through being smart and working hard, sells more. Nate tries to catch up, he feels he's not a good enough of a salesman to do this so the best thing is to earn money by other means then buy a load of the badges himself - this is ok, I guess, lateral thinking and all.
You'd assume then that the story would be about the genius ways he made money and won the day. But no, his plans fail usually due to Nate being an unpleasant human being - for example, when trying to sell his comic through a comic shop, he mocks the owner then accuses him of being a shop-lifter not realising who he is. You can assume from Nate's character that if he did recognize the owner he'd suck up to him in some smarmy way.
In the end Nate does get the grand prize of the skateboard, but not through intelligence or hard work, but through blind luck. He discovers he owns a vintage comic that's worth money, flogs it and so has the cash to buy the most badges.
If there is a redeeming aspect to the story, it is that Artur is oblivious to all of Nate's machinations and still acts in a genuinely friendly way toward him (giving him brownies, being gracious in defeat after losing out on the skateboard etc). And in fairness it was crystal clear to my nine-year-old that all of the rivalry with Artur was only in Nate's head, and that a lot of the comedy in his failing schemes was that they deserved to fail.
Even so, as an adult reading along, to have to spend so much time looking at the world with such petty jealousy is wearing. And why does it make narrative sense that he should get the skateboard?
If you're looking for a book for a boy you're much better off with Tom Gates. My son has four of these now and we've read them repeatedly - Tom is a genuinely warm character; he takes shortcuts like all of us, torments his sister, but at the end of the day is a genuinely likeable person and when he comes out on top he deserves it. Unlike Nate's distant obsession with Jenny, Tom has a normal relationship with his classmate Amy. Tom has a some-time rivalry with Marcus who is the petty, disingenuous irritation in his life (much like Nate's character) - yet Tom is still decent enough to work with him, even when Marcus steals his ideas and otherwise tries to undermine Tom. And unlike Nate's charmless efforts at comics, Tom's are actually endearing and funny.
But of all the ones we've read so far Big Nate is the only one I've had a problem with. I may be projecting too much here, but even though the book is written from Nate's perspective he still comes across as intensely obnoxious.
Artur, a widely-liked boy with the 'comedy' diction of a non-native speaker, is Nate's nemesis, the kid he has to beat in everything. Relationships, for example: Nate likes Jenny, though he seems to barely speak to her. Artur is going out with Jenny. How does Nate deal with this? He decides his best option is to manipulate Artur into splitting up with Jenny by feeding him rumours that another girl likes him.
Nate and Artur are also both Timber Scouts, and the main story is that they have to sell fuzzy badges - the one who sells the most gets a skateboard. Artur, through being smart and working hard, sells more. Nate tries to catch up, he feels he's not a good enough of a salesman to do this so the best thing is to earn money by other means then buy a load of the badges himself - this is ok, I guess, lateral thinking and all.
You'd assume then that the story would be about the genius ways he made money and won the day. But no, his plans fail usually due to Nate being an unpleasant human being - for example, when trying to sell his comic through a comic shop, he mocks the owner then accuses him of being a shop-lifter not realising who he is. You can assume from Nate's character that if he did recognize the owner he'd suck up to him in some smarmy way.
In the end Nate does get the grand prize of the skateboard, but not through intelligence or hard work, but through blind luck. He discovers he owns a vintage comic that's worth money, flogs it and so has the cash to buy the most badges.
If there is a redeeming aspect to the story, it is that Artur is oblivious to all of Nate's machinations and still acts in a genuinely friendly way toward him (giving him brownies, being gracious in defeat after losing out on the skateboard etc). And in fairness it was crystal clear to my nine-year-old that all of the rivalry with Artur was only in Nate's head, and that a lot of the comedy in his failing schemes was that they deserved to fail.
Even so, as an adult reading along, to have to spend so much time looking at the world with such petty jealousy is wearing. And why does it make narrative sense that he should get the skateboard?
If you're looking for a book for a boy you're much better off with Tom Gates. My son has four of these now and we've read them repeatedly - Tom is a genuinely warm character; he takes shortcuts like all of us, torments his sister, but at the end of the day is a genuinely likeable person and when he comes out on top he deserves it. Unlike Nate's distant obsession with Jenny, Tom has a normal relationship with his classmate Amy. Tom has a some-time rivalry with Marcus who is the petty, disingenuous irritation in his life (much like Nate's character) - yet Tom is still decent enough to work with him, even when Marcus steals his ideas and otherwise tries to undermine Tom. And unlike Nate's charmless efforts at comics, Tom's are actually endearing and funny.
March 25, 2013
I finished reading a great book called Big Nate on a Roll by Lincoln Peirce. I really liked this book because it's a fiction book and it's fun for kids to read. Nate (the main character) has a arch enemy named Artur (aka Mr. Perfect) that has bugged him all his life. Nate was in detention and was missing a Timber Scout meeting. Once he got released from detention he rushed to his skateboard and started to his friend Teddy's house. On the way there a woman's dog jumped in front of him and made him lose his skateboard. Nate now had to walk to Teddy's house. When he arrived there the meeting was over and he didn't get any of the important information that was in it. He asked Teddy what happened and Teddy told him that Artur joined the Timber Scouts. Nate panicked. On the way to his house his friend Francis told him that they were going to sell wall hangings to the people in the neighborhood for a fund raiser. There were prizes. The third prize was a toy robot, second prize was a brand new telescope, and first prize was a customized skateboard. Nate knew he needed the skateboard. He went house to house selling them but Artur pulled ahead slowly. Nate finally started buying them himself to catch up. By the end of the competition there was a tie for first place. Nate and Artur. The way they were going to determine the winner was by flipping a coin. Nate had gotten super lucky and won. He liked this skateboard more than his old one and he went out riding it back to his house. If I were Nate I wouldn't try to get into detention as much because I would have a better chance of winning the competition. I pretty knew that Nate was going to win the skateboard because he wouldn't have another book with a customized skateboard in it. Overall the reason I gave this book five stars is because it was very well written, funny, and I had been looking forward to reading it.
August 3, 2019
A very good read for kids in grades 4/5/6, depending on their reading level. I can understand why my soon-to-enter-fifth grade nephews enjoy reading about a kid who is decidedly not perfect. The comic book format is not a favorite of mine as an adult reader, but I think it's genius to use it to get kids to learn words and about concepts to which they might not otherwise be exposed. (Same review for every Big Nate book, written because I find reviews helpful when looking for books for the children in my life and would like to give same sort of help to others.)
January 25, 2014
It's good. This book has a similarity with the Wimpy Kid although i havent read any of the Wimpy Kid series and i cant compare them, but they both have drawings in the book which makes it cool and enjoyable to read. This will be a big hit for kids and the kids at heart. Funny adventures of Nate Wright.
December 20, 2017
I thought that this book was good. It was very funny because it was about a kid who was competing with a kid who is always perfect to win a skateboard. I would recommend this book even if you have not read the other books.
February 26, 2020
When Nate loses his skateboard, he has to buy a new one but he's doing this thing for his Timber Scouts to raise money going door to door selling wall hangings. He has to beat Arthur to win first prize out of the whole city.
April 6, 2017
This book is the best!!!!!
December 8, 2017
I picked this up on a Saturday morning, and it was a nice little book to read in one sitting. I enjoyed the cartoonish feel of it all, and it was a good read. I felt this was nice to just sit there and just read this all in one go. I would have wished if they made the book a little longer then it was. I would also say have more action. Overall, I enjoyed the book.
August 23, 2018
When i read this book when i read the first page it was quite boring and after i started reading and reading i got better and better.
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October 29, 2020reread this book multiple times
May 8, 2021
I loved it so much.
February 10, 2023
This book is not very good it can be super boring in a lot of parts
July 6, 2024
A funny tale that will make anyone laugh out loud, especially if you had to sell 'warm fuzzies' or some other strange set of products for a group or school fundraiser. By the end of the book, Nate comes out on top, but is still confused over a simply human truth that I suppose he will learn in the couple of books.
Highly recommended for fans of the Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, or similar series for kids.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
Highly recommended for fans of the Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, or similar series for kids.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
September 12, 2024
Lololol
January 7, 2020
don't try to cheat just do your best
December 13, 2021
is SKAT BORD
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2019
This book relate to kids that are in school. That feel like they have to be the class crown. They have to be the center of everybody world.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2017
Big Nate: On a Roll by Lincoln Peirce is the story of Nate, who’s life is great. That is, until Artur comes along and steals all of the glory. Everyone thinks he is so perfect. Will Artur succeed again by selling “Warm Fuzzies”, or will Nate finally pull out a win and get the prize he just has to have?
I enjoyed this book a lot. The witty writing was wonderful, and I strongly recommend this to many others.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The witty writing was wonderful, and I strongly recommend this to many others.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 609 reviews