Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Drake Know-It-All | 2001 | Andrew Clements | Buy |
| 2 | Jake Drake, Bully Buster | 2001 | Andrew Clements | Buy |
| 3 | Jake Drake, Teacher’s Pet | 2001 | Andrew Clements | Buy |
| 4 | Jake Drake, Class Clown | 2002 | Andrew Clements | Buy |
Jake Drake is the kind of kid who pays close attention to how things work around him, especially at school. Each book in the series puts him in a different situation: facing down the school bully, competing in a science fair against a class full of know-it-alls, accidentally becoming the teacher’s pet, and trying to get a humorless student teacher to crack a smile. The books are short and fast-moving, part of Simon and Schuster’s Ready-for-Chapters line, designed for readers making the jump from early chapter books to longer fiction.
Andrew Clements drew on his own years in the classroom to build these stories. Jake is not a superhero or a genius. He is just a thoughtful kid who figures things out by watching and thinking carefully. That quality makes him easy to root for, and it gives each book a quiet message about patience and perspective without ever feeling preachy.
The four titles, Jake Drake Bully Buster, Jake Drake Know-It-All, Jake Drake Teacher’s Pet, and Jake Drake Class Clown, can be read in any order, though they follow Jake through third and fourth grade. Teachers and librarians have found them useful for classroom discussions about school dynamics, and their manageable length makes them popular picks for reluctant readers.