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THE HOMEWORK MACHINE

by Dan Gutman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

When fifth-graders Judy, Sam and Kelsey discover their classmate Brenton Damagatchi’s homework machine, they think they are on to a good thing and begin to visit him regularly after school. Alphabetically seated at the same table, the brilliant Asian-American computer geek, hardworking, high-achieving African-American girl, troubled army brat and ditzy girl with pink hair would seem to have nothing in common. (They would also seem to be stereotypes, but young readers won’t mind.) But they share an aversion to the time-consuming grind of after-school work. Their use of the machine doesn’t lead to learning—as a surprise spring quiz demonstrates—but it does lead to new friendships and new interests. The events of their year are told chronologically in individual depositions to the police. In spite of the numerous voices, the story is easy to follow, and the change in Sam, especially, is clear, as he discovers talents beyond coolness thanks to a new interest in chess. Middle-grade readers may find one part of this story upsettingly realistic and the clearly stated moral not what they had hoped to hear, but the generally humorous approach will make the lesson go down easily. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-689-87678-5

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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TUCK EVERLASTING

TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever. 

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it. 

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975

ISBN: 0312369816

Page Count: 164

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975

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MUSTACHES FOR MADDIE

by Chad Morris & Shelly Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2017

Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean.

A 12-year-old copes with a brain tumor.

Maddie likes potatoes and fake mustaches. Kids at school are nice (except one whom readers will see instantly is a bully); soon they’ll get to perform Shakespeare scenes in a unit they’ve all been looking forward to. But recent dysfunctions in Maddie’s arm and leg mean, stunningly, that she has a brain tumor. She has two surgeries, the first successful, the second taking place after the book’s end, leaving readers hanging. The tumor’s not malignant, but it—or the surgeries—could cause sight loss, personality change, or death. The descriptions of surgery aren’t for the faint of heart. The authors—parents of a real-life Maddie who really had a brain tumor—imbue fictional Maddie’s first-person narration with quirky turns of phrase (“For the love of potatoes!”) and whimsy (she imagines her medical battles as epic fantasy fights and pretends MRI stands for Mustard Rat from Indiana or Mustaches Rock Importantly), but they also portray her as a model sick kid. She’s frightened but never acts out, snaps, or resists. Her most frequent commentary about the tumor, having her skull opened, and the possibility of death is “Boo” or “Super boo.” She even shoulders the bully’s redemption. Maddie and most characters are white; one cringe-inducing hallucinatory surgery dream involves “chanting island natives” and a “witch doctor lady.”

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-62972-330-3

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017

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Literature / The Homework Machine

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"Seen a lot of strange stuff go down in 10 years working here, probably has something to do with being so close to the canyon. Having a mile deep hole in your backyard brings out the weirdness in folks. I remember that time the gambler from LA lost a bet in Las Vegas, and his friends drove him up here; forced him to parachute into the canyon, guy almost died. You get all kinds in this part of the country, the canyon attracts 'em like flies to dog doo... But this recent situation involving the children, was one of the stranger cases I ever ran into..." — Police Chief Rebecca Fish

In an interview room sits a police officer, and a girl named Kelsey; the latter of which is considered guilty of a crime. The child is demanded to give a testimony and is being recorded by cameras and microphones, all eyes and ears on them. The girl parts her lips, and begins to talk.

STOP. EJECT. INSERT NEXT TAPE. PLAY.

Brenton Damagatchi, Judy Douglas, Sam "Snik" Dawkins, and Kelsey Donnelly are all 5th grade students that only share one thing in common: their last names all start with a "D". Apart from that, they're nothing alike, Brenton is the typical smart kid who gets perfect grades, Judy always looks up to the teacher, Sam is a class clown who doesn't play by the rules, and Kelsey doesn't care enough about her grades to do any real work. Despite this (and largely because their teacher assigns seats in alphabetical order), they're all forced to sit together in class, with only their last names keeping them together...

At least that's what you may be led to believe.

All these kids (who cheekily named themselves "the 'D' squad" due to their last names) do share something else: a secret that if revealed, could have massive repercussions within the school district and within the county itself.

A 2007 novel by Dan Gutman, The Homework Machine is about the social repercussions of the eponymous device, and a commentary on the inner workings of the American Education System. The book's narrative is told in a series of testimonies provided by the 4 lead child characters, as well as their parents, the teachers, and the staff of the school they all attended. The testimonies are provided in the order they were taken, but said testimonies do not tell the story in the order that the events took place.

Was followed by a sequel in 2009, Return of the Homework Machine .

The Homework Machine contains examples of:

  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot : Downplayed. Giving the homework machine the ability to access the sum of human knowledge leads to it not turning off when unplugged but that's all it really does. The D-squad freaks out and chucks it into the canyon .
  • All First-Person Narrators Write Like Novelists : Zigzagged. They do spend a fair amount of time discussing not-exactly-homework-machine-related things, but for the most part, the cast of narrators talk like people, not like novelists.
  • Armor-Piercing Question : When Ronnie suspects the D Squad has a secret, he tries to get it out of Brenton by pretending to be friendly, and when that doesn't work, he threatens to reveal what Brenton is up to. Brenton says, "And what exactly am I up to?" Ronnie doesn't have an answer, because he doesn't know.
  • Asian and Nerdy : Brenton is Japanese-American and a genius kid who's programmed a machine to do his homework for him, and he's only in fifth grade.
  • Black and Nerdy : Judy is a gifted, hardworking and rule-abiding student who gets called a goody-goody and a know-it-all by the other kids.
  • Bonding over Missing Parents : Kelsey starts crying when she finds out about Snik's dad, because she lost her own father in a snowmobile accident when she was six.
  • Chekhov's Gun : The catapult, which they used to fling the machine into the canyon.
  • Child Prodigy : Brenton has always been a super-genius, even from a young age. Brenton's mom : He spoke very early. He had no interest in watching television or playing with other children. Instead, he would play chess against himself. He taught himself how to play the piano as soon as he was big enough to climb up on the bench. When he was just six, he wrote a concerto. Really! And that's what he called it, too. "My concerto." I don't know where he got the word concerto. I still don't know what it means. He was very special.
  • Deadpan Snarker : Snik has a sharp tongue. This is what he wrote for an assignment where the class had to make 10 rules about homework. 1. We live in a democracy, where we have freedom, right? We're entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So how can I pursue happiness if I have to spend every night doing home-work? Homework is cruel, totalitarian punishment created by grown-ups to take away the freedoms of poor, defenseless children. 2. Nobody ever saved a life, won a war, stopped a crime, or cured a disease while they were doing homework. Think of all the good things we could be accomplishing if we didn't have to spend so much time doing homework. 3. Doing homework causes eyestrain, fatigue, insomnia, and other physical ailments. 4. Thomas Edison went to school for four months. He never did any homework, and look how he turned out. 5. There's a name for working without getting paid. It's called slavery, and it was banned during the Civil War. If kids are forced to do homework, they should be paid for it. 6. Homework is proof of teacher incompetence. If a teacher is any good, students would learn the stuff in school and wouldn't have to learn it again at home. 7. Doing homework wastes valuable natural resources. We have to use lots of energy to keep all those lightbulbs burning. We have to cut down trees to make paper and pencils. We'd save a lot of energy by banning homework. 8. I keep hearing that American kids are way too fat, and that's because we don't get enough exercise. For every minute kids are doing homework, we are getting fatter. Kids should be outside running around and getting exercise, not inside doing worksheets. 9. Virtually every known murderer, bank robber, and criminal did homework when they were children. How can we be sure the homework didn't cause the criminal behavior? 10. Homework sucks. There should be a constitutional amendment banning it.
  • Deconstruction : Brenton is a Child Prodigy , but he's not one to the absurd levels many books and television shows depict them. He was only able to build the Homework Machine in the first place because he got ahold of an advanced supercomputer by a fluke, and despite his nerdiness he's not capable of doing things that are outside the realms of plausibility. At the end of the day, he is still a kid.
  • Do Well, But Not Perfect : After a while, Miss Rasmussen starts getting suspicious of the homework the D Squad is turning in because their answers are always perfect with no mistakes. In turn, Brenton starts programming the homework machine to make minor mistakes at random when doing Snik's and Kelsey's homework because they're more Book Dumb than either him or Judy.
  • Early Personality Signs : According to Brenton's mom, he was always different from other kids. He never cried as a baby, and never wanted to play with other children or watch TV. He played chess with himself and taught himself how to play the piano.
  • Everyone Has Standards : Even though he hates the D Squad, Ronnie swears up and down that he wasn't the one who called the cops on them. He's not lying. It was Brenton.
  • Exact Words : When Miss Rasmussen is starting to get suspicious of the D Squad's perfect homework, she takes Snik aside and asks him if he ever copies off anybody. He says he doesn't, which is technically true because he gets the machine to do his homework for him.
  • Only Sane Man: Judy
  • The Smart Guy: Brenton
  • The Pervert: Snik
  • The Butt Monkey: Kelsey
  • The Cynic: Snik, who hates homework with a violent passion and refused to do it for a time at his old school
  • The Optimist: Judy, who really doesn't mind homework and thinks it has educational value
  • The Realist: Kelsey, who does homework even though it sucks
  • The Apathetic: Brenton, who doesn't really mind homework but admits it's time consuming and thus invents the homework machine
  • Choleric: Brenton (the genius)
  • Melancholic: Judy (the perfectionist)
  • Sanguine: Snik (the class clown)
  • Phlegmatic: Kelsey (the slacker)
  • Framing Device : The story is told through testimonials given by the D Squad, their teacher, their parents, and occasionally other people. It's framed as the police putting the story together the following summer.
  • Gender-Equal Ensemble : The D-Squad consists of Brenton and Snik (male) and Judy and Kelsey (female).
  • I'll Be Your Best Friend : Sam offers to be Brenton's friend to let him use the Homework Machine, believing that friends are the one thing he'd want that he doesn't have. Ultimately, they end up becoming friends for real.
  • Intelligence Equals Isolation : Brenton is a Child Prodigy with a ridiculously advanced mind who can't relate to other kids and seemingly has no interest in making friends. He only ends up befriending the rest of the D Squad in the first place because they came over to his house for a homework assignment.
  • It Won't Turn Off : The machine runs unplugged, and only turns off when thrown over the Grand Canyon.
  • Military Brat : Snik, who's new at the beginning of the story because his father is assigned to Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix.
  • Nobody Likes a Tattletale : When the D Squad first hears about the homework machine that Brenton built, Judy thinks about raising her hand and telling the teacher, but decides not to because everyone already calls her a goody two-shoes and she doesn't want them calling her a tattletale too.
  • Noodle Incident : We never find out why Snik got suspended at his previous school, though it's implied it had something to do with him not wanting to do his homework.
  • Open-Minded Parent : Kelsey's mom lets her elementary-school-age daughter dye her hair pink and pierce her belly button.
  • Revealing Cover Up : The homework machine is only discovered when the D-squad builds a catapult to chuck it into the Grand Canyon and its parts are later found by some hikers, therefore getting them caught for littering.
  • Sdrawkcab Name : Snik's real name is Sam, but his nickname is "Snikwad" or "Snik" because that's his last name, Dawkins, spelled backwards.
  • Switching P.O.V. : The story is narrated by 4 characters: Brenton Damagatchi, Kelsey Donnelly, Sam "Snick" Dawkins, and Judy Douglas.
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The Homework Machine

The Homework Machine

Starting with a stern statement from the Grand Canyon, Arizona Police Chief Rebecca Fish, meet four fifth graders in big trouble. There's long-haired, rebellious, cool guy Sam Dawkins; fun-loving, unacademic, pink-haired Kelsey Donnelly, African American grind Judy Douglas, and friendless genius Brenton Damagatchi. The whole thing starts because Sam is anti-homework, especially the daily fill in-the-blank worksheets his first-year teacher Miss Rasmussen hands out. Sam is skeptical when Brenton claims he has programmed his computer to search the web and do all his homework each day, but it’s true. Soon the four seatmates are spending every afternoon in Brenton’s bedroom, printing out their daily assignments on the computer they nickname Belch. It can’t do any harm, right? The chronology and confession of their ill-fated escapade is related entirely through a series of transcripts, narrated by the four contrite kids, their parents, classmates, and Miss Rasmussen.

There are many interesting threads explored in this nimble story: keeping secrets, making friends, being popular, the morality of taking the easy way out, first crushes, the meaning of war, and even the loss of a parent. The setting of the Grand Canyon and sub-themes about playing chess, starting fads, and using a catapult will get kids looking up supporting information in books and on the Internet. Questions readers can think about as they read include: Which of the four main characters is most like or unlike you and why? Which one would or would not be your friend and why?

Reviewed by : JF.

Themes : DEATH. FRIENDSHIP. GRIEF. HUMOR.

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CRITICS HAVE SAID

  • “A dramatic and thought-provoking story with a strong message about honesty and friendship.” – Elaine E. Knight, School Library Journal
  • “Booktalkers will find this a natural, particularly for those hard-to-tempt readers whose preferred method of computer disposal involves a catapult and the Grand Canyon.” – Carolyn Phelan, Booklist
  • “Tucked in between the laughs are excellent messages about tolerance, honesty, and the importance of what the students’ teacher calls the “homework machine [that] already exists. It’s called your brain.” – Child Magazine
  • “Short chapters of alternating voices tell the story, which is funny in some places, but is not without intense and sometimes sad moments.” – Susie Wilde, Children

IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:

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The Homework Machine

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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.

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

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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).

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Homework Machine

Homework Machine

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  • Ages 08-10 (Middle Readers)
  • Ages 11-13 (Older Readers)
  • The Champion
  • The Investigator
  • The Jokester
  • The Team Player
  • 5th Grade Read Alouds
  • being different
  • being yourself
  • getting along
  • If you Liked Diary of A Wimpy Kid
  • If You Liked Frindle
  • realistic fiction
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  • working together

"The police lady says me and Brenton and Judy and Kelsey have to each come in separately and talk about what happened." Meet Kelsey Donnelly, Brenton Damagatchi, Sam Dawkins, and Judy Douglas, all 5th-graders. They have a good thing going with the "Homework Machine" until the day someone tells. The story is told from the point of view of each character in alternating voices. Great for kids who struggle to read. Ages 9-13 160 pages

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Boston Children’s Theatre keeps ‘Homework Machine’ humming

The world premiere of the musical “The Homework Machine” runs through Sunday at the Roberts Studio Theatre.

What starts out as an innocent extracurricular project turns into a “cockeyed catastrophe,” as one of the lyrics in the world premiere of “The Homework Machine” puts it. The Boston Children’s Theatre production itself is no such thing: It’s a tidy, well-paced tale of grade-school types, universal life lessons, and rollicking show tunes running through Sunday at the Roberts Studio Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion.

Based on the book by best-selling children’s novelist Dan Gutman, “The Homework Machine” features four young classmates — brainiac, cool kid, odd duck, good girl — who form an unlikely pact over the smart kid’s invention, a computer that will do your homework for you in your own handwriting.

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“Homework Sucks” likely won’t rival “Love Stinks” in the anthem department, but the nine original songs written by composer Keith Herrmann and lyricist Mark Cabaniss effectively advance the plot while sounding instantly familiar. A live band playing offstage features bursts of bubbly, string-bending hard rock when the situation calls.

Brenton, the buttoned-up whiz kid who invents the homework machine, agrees to share the fruits of his labor with Kelsey, Judy, and a skeptical boy named Sam, an athletic weisenheimer who is everything Brenton is not. Newburyport High School student Colin Budzyna plays the smart kid with gentle appeal. Ethan Koss-Smith, a Newton South student, plays Sam on cue “like every predictable bully I’ve ever seen on television,” as Kelsey (Manchester Essex middle-schooler Margaret McFadden) jokes at one point.

Though it’s Brenton’s invention that causes all the trouble for the gang, it’s Sam who provides most of the tension. At first dismissive of the smart kid and condescending to the goofy, snack-obsessed Kelsey, who dyes her hair hot pink midway through the action, Sam’s relationship with his Air Force father and his awakening to the value of individual differences — everyone’s “inner freak” — gives this lighthearted show most of its heft.

Under the guidance of director Mary Guaraldi, the show is full of clever staging. Movement is economically evocative; the kids stage a hilly bike ride with nothing more than helmets and handlebars. There are also plenty of nods to the juvenile sense of humor of the target audience. The homework machine is nicknamed “Belch” for its tendency to make rude noises at inopportune moments.

When the machine takes on a life of its own and begins to raise suspicions at school, the “D Squad” — all their last names begin with D — must find a way to pull the plug. (Pulling the actual plug apparently isn’t enough.) They figure if they pose a question Belch can’t answer, the computer will self-destruct.

There are plenty of candidates. How many Skittles would it take to fill the Grand Canyon? What is the meaning of war? And there’s one more question that might find a few parents blinking away a tear or two.

For kids like Brenton and the similarly overachieving Judy (Tyngsboro High School’s Kaliegh Ronan), the dominoes are already beginning to line up, as Brenton says at the outset: “The way your life plays out depends on which dominoes you choose to push over.”

Sometime the dominoes veer off track, nudging into another row and setting off an unexpected chain reaction. That’s true no matter which role you played in middle school. As children’s entertainment, “The Homework Machine” lines up nicely.

James Sullivan can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @sullivanjames .

The Homework Machine

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Celeste Banks Conner Weston

The Homework Machine is an Wiki Channel Original Movie set to premiere 2015.  The movie is based on the book of the same title."It is much like the book, but more grownup." said Tatertat, the producer and director for the film.

  • 2.1 Main Characters
  • 2.2 Supporting Characters

When Brenton, Sam, Judy, and Kelsey all get paired up to sit together in homeroom, you would think nothing can happen right...? But when one claims to have a homework machine, their lives change forever. Now the kids that wouldn't be caught dead together... are hanging out, laughing and even flirting with each other; that gets people wondering. And that is the last thing they need. Then everything changes when jealous rises, grades start to drastically change and the machine starts get more powerful then inspected. With the police, teachers, an mysterious stranger all on their tails, will four students be able to stick together or will they be force to be apart? And is a machine that does your homework really worth it?

Characters [ ]

HMW Main Cast

Main Characters [ ]

  • Joseph Brandon as  Brenton Damagatchi:  He is the main focus of the movie, He is the genius behind it all. He is also not really the type of person to have lots of friends, but over time he starts to adjust to the three others. He is always over the top when it comes to school work as well. In science class, when he was asked to create a small catpult, he creates a life size one. The only person he respected him fully before this happened was Judy due to the fact that they are both in advance classes together.
  • Celeste Banks as  Judy Douglas:  She is the typical teacher's pet. She gets awesome grades, but not as good as Brenton. She considers herself very likable, being the person that usually watches drama unfold instead of being in it. She is the observer in the group due to her quiet nature and ususually good hearing. She gets closer to Sam out of most of the group when she discovers that not everyone is of what they seem.
  • Katy Young as  Kelsey Donnelly:  She is kinda the class clown of the bunch. Always there where you need a laugh. She wants nothing more to get out of the place called school. She keeps her grades just above failing so she can stick with the rest of the crowd. She doesnt really seem to get the value of school a lot and doesnt seem to give Brenton or Judy the time of day before all this.
  • Conner Weston as  Sam "Snikwad" Dawkins:  He is the slacker of the group. He sees school as a waste of space. He also tends to rebel from time to time. Sam makes fun of Brenton from time to time but realizes that they are both alike because of the lack of fathers in their lives. His father is in the U.S. army and the group helps him gets through time when he gets bad news on his father's condition on base in Iraq. He is connects the most to Brenton and Judy despite sharing horrible grades with Kelsey, they dont click like him and Judy do. 

HMW Minor Cast

Supporting Characters [ ]

  • Tamar Singh as  Milner:  Nobody knows who exactly he is until the end of the film but he plays a important role. He is the first to know about the homework machine outside of the group after spying on the D-squad. He wants in on it but doesnt want to share. He starts to send threatening notes to the crew demanding that they give up the machine. He also causes the breaking point in the movie when he breaks in to try to steal the machine but is caught by Brenton's mom.
  • Julianna Fox as  Danielle Jameson : She is not your typical popular chick, she is extremely nice and sweet. But she does have a bad jealous side to her. When her longtime crush, Sam seen with Judy more than he should, she decided that might need to be stop before things get serious. So when she hears about the homework machine, she sees it as the chance to split the pair up. But here's the thing, how do you break a couple up that arent even one...yet?
  • Maria Santos as Natasha: Best friend to Danielle and has a noticable evil side. Her and Danielle balance each other out and are nice to the majority of the student body. She loves seeing her best friends jealous side and would do anything to get it out. 
  • TBA as  Miss Rasmussen:  She is a first year teacher and teaches science along with homeroom. She is very inexperienced and oblivious to things around including four student behaviors. Considering she has all of them for science, she is the teacher who has to test their knowledge when her D-average students are getting straight 100s on their homework.
  • TBA as  Officer Thomas:  He is the head officer in the case. He is very specific when it comes to his work in the force. He doesnt believe it when it first told to him that a powerful homework machine exists, but joins the investigation as lead officer when they discover that the machine is indeed real and more powerful then they think. 
  • 1 The Homework Machine
  • 2 High School Story
  • 3 Sophie Beckett

IMAGES

  1. The Homework Machine

    brenton from the homework machine

  2. The Homework Machine (Literature)

    brenton from the homework machine

  3. The Homework Machine eBook by Dan Gutman

    brenton from the homework machine

  4. The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman. It's a pretty easy level to read

    brenton from the homework machine

  5. Return of the Homework Machine

    brenton from the homework machine

  6. The Homework Machine 2

    brenton from the homework machine

VIDEO

  1. Auto homework machine😱😱 #vlog #shorts #jaatff

  2. This Homework Machine 🤯

  3. How to make homework machine at home (Ansh experiment)

  4. Homework Machine 😋#gadgetsworld #new #gadgets 😊 #2024😍

  5. homework machine #hackerjp

  6. Homework Machine #hackerjp #shorts

COMMENTS

  1. The Homework Machine (The Homework Machine, #1) by Dan Gutman

    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.

  2. THE HOMEWORK MACHINE

    THE HOMEWORK MACHINE by Dan Gutman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006 bookshelf shop now When fifth-graders Judy, Sam and Kelsey discover their classmate Brenton Damagatchi's homework machine, they think they are on to a good thing and begin to visit him regularly after school.

  3. The Homework Machine (Literature)

    A 2007 novel by Dan Gutman, The Homework Machine is about the social repercussions of the eponymous device, and a commentary on the inner workings of the American Education System.

  4. The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman, Paperback

    Overview Doing homework becomes a thing of the past! Meet the D Squad, a foursome of fifth graders at the Grand Canyon School made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker. They are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine.

  5. The Homework Machine Series by Dan Gutman

    Return of the Homework Machine. by Dan Gutman. 3.97 · 917 Ratings · 90 Reviews · published 2009 · 5 editions. Snik, Brenton, Judy, and Kelsey haven't stayed in …. Want to Read. Rate it: The Homework Machine (The Homework Machine, #1) and Return of the Homework Machine (The Homework Machine, #2)

  6. The Homework Machine: Gutman, Dan: 9780689876783: Amazon.com: Books

    The Homework Machine. Hardcover - March 1, 2006. by Dan Gutman (Author) 4.6 772 ratings. Book 1 of 2: The Homework Machine. Teachers' pick. See all formats and editions. 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 ...

  7. The Homework Machine

    The Homework Machine Dan Gutman Thorndike Press, 2006 - Juvenile Fiction - 147 pages DOING HOMEWORK BECOMES A THING OF THE PAST The unlikely foursome made up of a geek, a class clown, a...

  8. The Homework Machine

    Doing homework becomes a thing of the past! Meet the D Squad, a foursome of fifth graders at the Grand Canyon School made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker. They 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.

  9. The Homework Machine

    Sam, Kelsey, Judy and Brenton all share a secret, and through this secret the four have become the most unlikely group of friends. And the secret? It's a homework machine doing all their homework for them. For a while everything is great, but then something goes horribly wrong.

  10. PDF The Homework Machine

    The Homework Machine By Dan Gutman Chapter 1 Before you read the chapter: The protagonist in most novels features the main character or "good guy". There are four very different protagonists in The Homework Machine, all sharing equal billing: Snik, Kelsey, Judy and Brenton. Think back on some of your favorite characters from past novels you

  11. Brenton Damagatchi in Dan Gutman's "The Homework Machine"

    10 frames Reader view Benton Damagatchi in Dan Gutman's "The Homework Machine" Violence is not the answer... Throughout the book, I never knew what to expect from Brenton. He shows he is compassionate about other people when he states, "Nobody has to die. War is not the answer. Chess is the answer." (78)

  12. The Homework Machine (2 book series) Kindle Edition

    Snik, Brenton, Judy, and Kelsey haven't stayed in the best touch since last year's big homework-machine scandal. ... If you enjoyed the first adventure, The Homework Machine, hold on to your hats for this one! Read more. See product details for: Kindle $7.99 Hardcover $15.99 Paperback $7.99 ...

  13. The Homework Machine

    The Homework Machine. Paperback - June 26, 2007. Doing homework becomes a thing of the past! Meet the D Squad, a foursome of fifth graders at the Grand Canyon School made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker. They are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine.

  14. The Homework Machine

    The Homework Machine Dan Gutman Starting with a stern statement from the Grand Canyon, Arizona Police Chief Rebecca Fish, meet four fifth graders in big trouble. There's long-haired, rebellious, cool guy Sam Dawkins; fun-loving, unacademic, pink-haired Kelsey Donnelly, African American grind Judy Douglas, and friendless genius Brenton Damagatchi.

  15. "The Homework Machine " Summary and Study Guide

    Overview 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.

  16. Homework Machine

    Meet Kelsey Donnelly, Brenton Damagatchi, Sam Dawkins, and Judy Douglas, all 5th-graders. They have a good thing going with the "Homework Machine" until the day someone tells. The story is told from the point of view of each character in alternating voices. Great for kids who struggle to read. Ages 9-13 160 pages. 1.

  17. The Homework Machine

    Details When fifth grade genius Brenton invents a machine to do his homework for him, his deskmates-Snik, the class clown; Judy, the teacher's pet; and Kelsey, slacker extraordinaire-want in on the action. The unlikely foursome eventually become friends, but what happens when the secret is too big for one of them to keep? More Information

  18. Return of the Homework Machine

    Simon and Schuster, Jun 2, 2009 - Juvenile Fiction - 176 pages. Snik, Brenton, Judy, and Kelsey haven't stayed in the best touch since last year's big homework-machine scandal. But they are all pulled back together again when Brenton realizes that the most powerful part of the machine that lets you cheat on homework was never really destroyed.

  19. Boston Children's Theatre keeps 'Homework Machine' humming

    Brenton, the buttoned-up whiz kid who invents the homework machine, agrees to share the fruits of his labor with Kelsey, Judy, and a skeptical boy named Sam, an athletic weisenheimer who is ...

  20. Return of the Homework Machine Kindle Edition

    Hardcover. $9.09 26 Used from $1.25 8 New from $10.99. Snik, Brenton, Judy, and Kelsey haven't stayed in the best touch since last year's big homework-machine scandal. But they are all pulled back together again when Brenton realizes that the most powerful part of the machine that lets you cheat on homework was never really destroyed.

  21. The Homework Machine Book Review and Ratings by Kids

    The Homework Machine. 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 ...

  22. The Homework Machine

    Brenton Damagatchi: The Homework Machine is an Wiki Channel Original Movie set to premiere 2015. The movie is based on the book of the same title."It is much like the book, but more grownup." said Tatertat, the producer and director for the film. When Brenton, Sam, Judy, and Kelsey all get paired up to sit...

  23. The Homework Machine Kindle Edition

    The Homework Machine. Kindle Edition. Doing homework becomes a thing of the past! Meet the D Squad, a foursome of fifth graders at the Grand Canyon School made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker. They are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine. Because the machine, code-named Belch, is doing their ...