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The Homework Machine

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Table of Contents

About the book, about the author.

Dan Gutman hated to read when he was a kid. Then he grew up. Now he writes cool books like The Kid Who Ran for President ; Honus & Me ; The Million Dollar Shot ; Race for the Sky ; and The Edison Mystery: Qwerty Stevens, Back in Time . If you want to learn more about Dan or his books, stop by his website at DanGutman.com.

Product Details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (June 26, 2007)
• Length: 176 pages
• ISBN13: 9780689876790
• Grades: 3 - 7
• Ages: 8 - 12
• Fountas & Pinnell™ R These books have been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System

Browse Related Books

• Age 12 and Up
• Children's Fiction > Social Themes > Adolescence & Coming of Age
• Children's Fiction > Social Situations > Adolescence
• Children's Fiction > School & Education
• Children's Fiction > Humorous Stories

Awards and Honors

• ILA/CBC Children's Choices
• Maud Hart Lovelace Award Nominee (MN)
• Booklist Editors' Choice
• South Carolina Picture Book Award Nominee
• Iowa Children's Choice Award Nominee
• Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee (IN)
• Indian Paintbrush Book Award Nominee (WY)
• Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best
• Nutmeg Book Award Nominee (CT)
• Colorado Children's Book Award Master List
• Child Magazine's Guide to Top Books, Videos and Software of the Year
• Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award Master List
• Volunteer State Book Award Nominee (TN)
• Virginia Readers' Choice Award List
• Prairie Pasque Award Nominee (SD)
• Land of Enchantment RoadRunner Award Nominee (NM)
• Nene Award Nominee (HI)
• Sunshine State Young Readers' Award List (FL)
• Massachusetts Children's Book Award Nominee
• Golden Sower Award (NE)
• Sasquatch Book Award Nominee (WA)

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The Homework Machine

Buy from other retailers, what's this book about.

DOING HOMEWORK BECOMES A THING OF THE PAST The unlikely foursome made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher’s pet, and a slacker – Brenton, Sam Snick, Judy and Kelsey, respectively, – are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine. Because the machine, code named Belch, is doing their homework for them, they start spending a lot of time together, attracting a lot of attention. And attention is exactly what you don’t want when you are keeping a secret. Before long, members of the D Squad, as they are called at school are getting strange Instant Messages from a shady guy named Milner; their teacher, Miss Rasmussen, is calling private meetings with each of them and giving them pop tests that they are failing; and someone has leaked the possibility of a homework machine to the school newspaper. Just when the D Squad thinks things can’t get any more out of control, Belch becomes much more powerful than they ever imagined. Soon the kids are in a race against their own creation, and the loser could end up in jail…or worse!

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The Creative Behind the Book

Dan Gutman is the New York Times bestselling author of the Genius Files series; the Baseball Card Adventure series, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies around the world; and the My Weird School series, which has sold more than 12 million copies. Thanks to his many fans who voted in their classrooms, Dan has received nineteen state book awards and ninety-two state book award nominations. He lives in New York City with his wife, Nina. You can visit him online at www.dangutman.com.

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THE HOMEWORK MACHINE

March 1, 2006 Aladdin/Simon & Schuster ISBN: 9780689876783 Ages 8-12

Study Guide

ABOUT THE BOOK

The unlikely foursome made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher’s pet, and a slacker—Brenton, Sam, Judy and Kelsey, respectively—are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine. Because the machine, code named Belch, is doing their homework for them, they start spending a lot of time together, attracting a lot of attention. And attention is exactly what you don’t want when you are keeping a secret.

Before long, members of the D Squad, as they are called at school, are getting strange Instant Messages from a shady guy named Milner; their teacher, Miss Rasmussen, is calling private meetings with each of them and giving them pop tests that they are failing; and someone has leaked the possibility of a homework machine to the school newspaper. Just when the D Squad thinks things can’t get any more out of control, Belch becomes much more powerful than they ever imagined. Soon the kids are in a race against their own creation, and the loser could end up in jail…or worse!

The Homework Machine

50 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The Homework Machine , written by acclaimed American author Dan Gutman was first published in 2007 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and is the first of a two-book series. The second book, The Return of the Homework Machine , was published in 2011. Gutman is primarily a children’s fiction writer who has been nominated for and won numerous awards, including 18 for The Homework Machine alone. Gutman is best known for his humorous series, My Weird School , in which there are more than 70 books. He lives in New York City with his family.

The paperback edition used for this study guide was published by Simon & Schuster in 2007.

Plot Summary

The Homework Machine is told from the perspectives of multiple characters in the format of tape recordings for a police report.

The four main characters are fifth-grade students who are grouped at the same classroom table because their last names start with D: Sam Dawkins (Snik), Kelsey Donnelly , Judy Douglas , and Brenton Damagatchi . Other than sharing the same last initial, the students have nothing in common. Snik is the cool class smart aleck; Kelsey is laid back and doesn’t care about school; Judy is conscientious and in the gifted program; and Brenton is a loner and genius who designs software and studies psychology in his spare time. Snik pushes people’s buttons, and one day he pushes Brenton too far—implying that Brenton spends all his free time doing homework. Brenton retorts that he doesn’t spend any time doing homework and lets slip that he has invented a homework machine.

Snik calls Brenton a liar, so Brenton invites Snik, Judy, and Kelsey to his house to see for themselves. The group are stunned when Brenton’s machine prints out perfectly completed homework in Brenton’s handwriting. Brenton agrees to let Snik, Judy, and Kelsey join him after school to “do” their homework and even rewrites the software to accommodate their handwriting. The unlikely foursome spends every afternoon together, but they insist that they are not friends and that the only reason they tolerate each other is to use the homework machine, which they name Belch. Judy feels guilty about cheating but enjoys getting A’s and uses the extra time to take up ballet. Kelsey’s vastly improved grades earn her privileges, such as a belly-button piercing, from her mother. As the weeks pass, the D Squad becomes addicted to using Belch and the boundaries between their various social identities begin to blur. Snik shows an interest in “boring” chess, which Brenton plays, and Judy tries to be complimentary about Kelsey’s piercings (while finding them disgusting). Everything seems to be going well. However, things start to rapidly fall apart halfway through the year. Judy and Kelsey’s other friends resent their new associations and “unfriend” them, and their teacher, Miss Rasmussen , suspects that they are cheating.

In addition, a strange man has been stalking the group ever since Brenton designed software to instigate a hugely successful social media-driven “red socks day” that spread across America. Miss Rasmussen springs a surprise test on the class to see whether the D Squad really knows their schoolwork. Sure enough—Kelsey and Snik fail, and Judy gets a C, confirming Miss Rasmussen’s suspicions. Before Miss Rasmussen can report them, Snik’s father, who is in the military, is killed in the Middle East. This tragic event diverts Miss Rasmussen’s attention from the cheating, which seems trivial in comparison. The bond between the D Squad strengthens as the stress of keeping Belch secret increases.

Together they decide to shut Belch down, only to discover that Belch has taken on a life of its own and will not power off. They throw Belch into the Grand Canyon and feel relief as they watch it disappear. However, when backpackers find computer pieces at the bottom of the canyon, the D Squad is called into the sheriff’s office where they confess to everything. The case is closed, but their unlikely friendships continue to strengthen and grow. The stalker turns out to be someone scouting Brenton to offer him a job as an influencer for his company. The company’s clients want to market their products to kids. Brenton simply offers him an idea he would like to influence kids with: “Do your homework” (146).

Related Titles

By Dan Gutman

The Kid Who Ran for President

The Million Dollar Shot

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The Homework Machine

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The Homework Machine

by Dan Gutman (Author)

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The Homework Machine Hardcover – March 1, 2006

• Book 1 of 2 The Homework Machine
• Print length 160 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 3 - 7
• Lexile measure 680L
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.25 inches
• Publisher Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date March 1, 2006
• ISBN-10 0689876785
• ISBN-13 978-0689876783
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

From school library journal, from booklist, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., the homework machine, simon & schuster children's publishing.

Continues... Excerpted from The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman Copyright ©2006 by Dan Gutman. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Repackage edition (March 1, 2006)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0689876785
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0689876783
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 11 years, from customers
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 680L
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.25 inches
• #4,151 in Children's Values Books
• #8,833 in Children's School Issues
• #19,492 in Children's Friendship Books

About the author

I was born in a log cabin in Illinois and used to write by candlelight with a piece of chalk on a shovel. Oh, wait a minute. That was Abraham Lincoln.

Actually, I’m a children's book author. I’ve written more than 170 books for kids from kindergarten up to middle school.

For the little ones, I write picture books like "Rappy the Raptor," about a rapping raptor named Rappy, who raps.

For beginning readers, I write "My Weird School," about some kids who go to a school in which all the grownups are crazy. Thirty-one million copies have been sold. I also write “Wait! WHAT?” a series of biographies that focus on the unusual aspects of people like Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Muhammad Ali, and Teddy Roosevelt.

For middle-graders, I write the baseball card adventure series, about a boy who has the power to travel through time using a baseball card like a time machine. He goes on adventures with players like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and others.

For advanced readers, I write "The Genius Files," "Flashback Four,” “Houdini and Me” and others.

If you’d like to find out more, visit my web site (www.dangutman.com), my Facebook fan page, and follow me on Twitter and Instagram @dangutmanbooks.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 77% 12% 6% 3% 2% 77%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 77% 12% 6% 3% 2% 12%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 77% 12% 6% 3% 2% 6%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 77% 12% 6% 3% 2% 3%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 77% 12% 6% 3% 2% 2%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

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Customers say

Customers find the storyline entertaining, cool, and great. They also say the book style is easy to read, as it's written in short.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the storyline entertaining, fun, and bring happiness to readers. They also say the book has mystery and excitement, and is a great book that kids could relate to. Readers also mention that the book teaches a valuable lesson and has a really great ending.

"...Beyond the central plotline of this fun and thought-provoking story , Dan Gutman has also folded into the mix a whole series of kid-relevant issues..." Read more

"Nice read for my grandson's 5th grade class. The book kept the reader's attention . It was fun and memorable...." Read more

"...He liked the book and found it interesting , but disliked the fact that so many people got away with wrongdoing...." Read more

"I loved the book it was fun and interesting I especially liked the suspense peaple who gave it a one two and three stars review are crazy I liked..." Read more

Customers find the book style easy to read, and set up perfectly for team reading. They also like the format, saying it's written at the police.

"...How cool is that. The book style is easy to read since it is written in short snippets from each of the 4 students involved in this diabolical..." Read more

"Read this with my son. Great and easy read ." Read more

"My sixth graders loved this book! It was a quick read aloud ." Read more

"...This book is set up perfectly for team reading with different characters "titled" above their thoughts.Great book!" Read more

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