Roxie and the Hooligans

By: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

One night Uncle Dangerfoot came to see his nine year old niece Roxie Warbler (the main character) so everything had to be perfect. Roxie is a girl with long ears and has red marks on her cheeks because the hooligans taped her ears with duct tape. Her clothes were dull and that is how she felt inside. Roxie lives in Chin-in-Hand where people don't care. Things were hard there and they had more things to worry about. A lot of other cities have polite children like Swiss-on-Rye, Hamburger-on-Bun, and Hasty Pudding. In Hasty Pudding, children were kind, in Hamburger on bun, children were well mannered, last but not least Swiss on Rye children are friendly. But at Roxie's school, Helvetia and the hooligans were the meanest kids in school building #37.

Uncle Dangerfoot is Mrs. Warbler's brother and he had a handle bar mustache. He didn't give Roxie very much attention, but she still looked forward to his visit. He had a long slender cane which could turn into a harpoon, a gun, an umbrella, or a walking stick. It just depended on the weather or the circumstances. Uncle Dangerfoot travelled all over the world with Lord Thistlebottom, (from London) the author of Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them.

Roxie asked her teacher if she could dust the erasers in the morning and empty the wastebaskets in the afternoon, so she could get away from the hooligans.  Her teacher said, "Of course." She went to school early but they waited for her after school to hang their book bags on her ears. Helvetia's hooligans chose Roxie Warbler to tease and torment and to make her miserable. One day, they ended up in a garbage bin that gets dumped in the ocean and they had to swim to an island. Roxie used what she learned from the book to help herself on the island.   For example, when one of them attacked her on her leg, she remembered the part of Lord Thistlebottom's book that said when a crocodile attacks you, cover its eyes, walk on its back, and do not panic. Roxie was able to come up with a plan to borrow some water and food from some robbers that were also on the island. Step by step, she crept into their tent to get the food and water. She was able to help everyone survive until the rescue helicopter came for them.

I liked the book because of the weird city names.   The funniest part of the book was when everyone got dumped into the ocean.  My favorite character was Lord Thistlebottom, because of the book he wrote and the adventures he had.  I liked reading his advice.  I would recommend this book to kids who are being bullied so they can learn how to defend themselves. Roxie was picked on at the beginning of the book, but she was a hero at the end of the book. She remembered Lord Thistlebottoms book to help her on the island with the hooligans. In the end the hooligans respected her.