What's up with the malcolm books?

I was wondering if anybody has read them. Are the similar to the show? Or just something cheesy?

The books are mostly based on episodes of the show. It would be like reading a book based on a movie (or the other way around).

http://www.scholastic.ca/titles/malcolm/ has sample chapters of "Life Is Unfair" and "Water Park".

"My Class Project" is a scrapbook about Malcolm and his family, including pictures and quotes from the show. I once saw screencaps of the pages online, though that was back in 2001 and the site I found them at no longer has them. It's stuff we already know from watching the show.

Thanks for the link amigo. I checked it out and it looked pretty cool. Maybe if I find them cheap enough (like yard sale or something) I'll pick one up.

Thanks again

You're welcome

Did you know *this site* is recommended by Scholastic?!

I picked up on this Malcolm books thread, because I'd just ordered the Scholastic 'Krelboyne Picnic' tie-in book. It's great nostalgic fun reading the story as a comic strip with screen shots, doing a bit of a quiz and reading the "Fact Files", even though it's at an obvious starter level.

Here are some sample pages from the official site:

http://www.link2english.com/book_pdf_links/malcolm_ff.pdf

http://maryglasgowmagazines.com/teacher_resources/27318/derivatives/188907

Now, here's the ultracool bit. If you download the "Free Resource for Teachers" going with this book, it says:

MEDIA LINKS
DVD: The first series of Malcolm in the Middle is available
(Twentieth Century Fox).
Internet: Good sites include www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk,
www.bbc.co.uk/cult/malcolm and www.fox.com/Malcolm.

http://maryglasgowmagazines.com/teacher_resources/28202/derivatives/196466

So this site is given first!

I thought you ought to know this!

Rich

Wow thats cool. News to me.

I didnt know anyone had produced learning tool associated with episodes. We have had users in the past who where teachers who used MITM but this is the first I have heard of something official.

tjpeople said:

Wow thats cool. News to me.

I didnt know anyone had produced learning tool associated with episodes. We have had users in the past who where teachers who used MITM but this is the first I have heard of something official.

Click to expand...

Yeh, I didn't know of anything official but Malcolm in the Middle can be one of the examples in the sitcom unit of GSCE media studies. We used it as an example of a unconventional sitcom last year referring to the episode 'Grandma Sues'. I liked the fact that it was referenced against 'Friends' although it was wierd writing about it in essay format but I got an A* so I was happy

This is to let you know I just received two official MITM books from Amazon. "My Class Project" is the best of these by far. It has lots of unique, rare quality pictures that don't appear elsewhere (not even on our site), very funny texts, great graphic design on glossy paper. For instance, the hilarious description of 'The Dewey' is a gem! See attachment.

MITM_My_Class_Project_book_cover_MITMVC_.jpg

"101 Ways To Get Away With Anything" is just text, not always funny at that, no pictures or graphics, and poor paper quality.

New copies of these are still available for just a few bucks. If they don't ship them abroad (because of sellers and resellers), you can try Amazon.co.uk (Britain) or Amazon.de (German), because these use the same registration details provided you use an internationally valid credit card.

The problem I have with the episode-based readers, such as "Water Park" and "Krelboyne Picnic" is that they are comic strip retellings with low-grade screencaps, and that the language is extremely simplified to starter level (300 headwords). They still make nice souvenirs though!

P.S. Just an example of how language simplification can spoil the effect of comical dialogues, from Krelboyne Picnic:

Original screenplay:

Dorene: So I understand that Malcolm has quite the vocabulary.
Lois: Yeah, he's just yap, yap, yap, yap all day long.
Dorene: Well, that's not the vocabulary I meant. It seems he's taught several of the children the 'R' word.
Lois: The 'R' word?
Dorene: It's just something he picked up off the street, certainly not at home.
Lois: Yeah, well, 'R' you, lady.

Book version:

Dorene: Well, Malcolm's teaching his friends lots of new words at school.
Lois: Yeah, he loves talking.
Dorene: I don't mean that. He's teaching them bad words. Where does he learn them?

Rich

I was wondering where you got that super HQ Class Project scan from, great work scanning it.

I've got a few cool things to scan when I get round to it.

tjpeople said:

I was wondering where you got that super HQ Class Project scan from, great work scanning it.

I've got a few cool things to scan when I get round to it.

Click to expand...

Yes, and it should be in the Merchandise section, you're right!

Rich