Here's a fact: My new friend Calvin Waffle is 100% Weird Danny Cohen and Calvin Waffle are two very different kids. Danny likes playing baseball; Calvin enjoys strange experiments. Danny follows the rules at school; Calvin tries to drive his teacher crazy. Danny and Calvin decide to team up for the big jelly bean experiment. Will it lead to trouble? Maybe. Will they have fun trying? You can count on it. Gr 1–3—Danny and his new neighbor, Calvin, must navigate Mrs. Cakel's strict fourth-grade class. Danny becomes the subject of the new boy's jellybean experiment. After devising a hypothesis and a control, Calvin fills Danny's pockets with the candy to see if it attracts friends. This experiment, his reluctance to socialize with classmates or play baseball, and his stories about his father "the spy," make Calvin an outcast. It is with Danny's help that Calvin learns to make friends. The doodles throughout the book are silly and engaging--providing a nice complement to the colorful characters. A great read for children who are ready for short chapter books, this title could also be used as an introduction to a unit on the scientific method.—Erica Thorsen Payne, Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA The author of the Cam Jansen books has created a new series about two unusual friends. After Calvin Waffles moves into the neighborhood, Danny Cohen starts walking to school with him. Oddball Calvin likes to conduct experiments and purposefully annoy their teacher, Mrs. Cake. Danny is an easygoing kid who mostly goes along with Calvin’s ideas—then Calvin starts an experiment that involves Danny stuffing his pockets with jelly beans. This experiments lead to a way for Calvin to fit in at school, and when Danny and his friends discover Calvin’s secret talent for reading people, Calvin becomes the star of the baseball team without ever touching a bat. Although Danny is the narrator, Calvin is the real focal point here. His difficulties at school and a subplot about his father are treated with sensitivity. This duo is sure to please fans of humorous books like the My Weird School series by Dan Gutman. With plenty of laughs and heart, this is a series to watch. Grades 3-5. --Tiffany Erickson "Award-winning nonfiction author and creator of Cam Jansen, Adler starts a new series of gently humorous stories aimed at those just starting chapter books. The first-person narration, realistic characters and occasional line-drawing "doodles" will keep pages turning. Young readers will easily see themselves in Danny and his compatriots." ― Kirkus Reviews "Adler again displays his versatility with this empathic first book in the Danny’s Doodles illustrated chapter book series. Adler also tempers the story’s humor with some poignant moments. . The novel delivers laughs as well as a clear message about friendship and acceptance, even when one’s friend is "100% weird." ― Publishers Weekly "Adler adds some depth to the befriend-the-new-kid story with inventive phrasing, humorous characterization, and a gentle backstory about Calvin’s absent father. . . Danny and Calvin are classic non-superhero chapter book protagonists, and they’re remarkably easy to relate to." ― Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books "The doodles throughout the book are silly and engaging--providing a nice complement to the colorful characters. A great read for children who are ready for short chapter books." ― School Library Journal "With plenty of laughs and heart, this is a series to watch." ― Booklist David A. Adler, a former math teacher and editor, is the author of more than two hundred books for young readers including the Cam Jansen Mysteries, the entire Picture Book Biography series and Don't Talk To Me About the War. He lives in New York. Chapter 1 Monday and the Jelly Beans I am the subject of Calvin Waffle's experiment. Last week at school he followed me everywhere. He didn't stay close, but he was there. Lurking. He made a list of everyone who walked up to me, everyone who spoke to me. He listed their names and how long we talked. "What's with all the names and numbers?" I asked. "I need them for my experiment," Calvin told me. "They're statistics, the backbone of science." No, they're not, I thought. The backbones of science are test tubes and microscopes and jars of chemicals, stinky chemicals that make your hands turn colors. I know what statistics are. They're the backbone of sports. I know baseball batting averages, football passing and rushing records, and basketball shooting percentages. Here's a statistic: My new friend Calvin Waffle is 100% weird. All last week he followed me and lurked. Now it's Monday. We're on our way to school and he has that list. It's in his shirt pocket. It's folded and sticking up a bit like a fancy handkerchief. "Are you going to keep watching who talks to me?" Calvin shakes his head way up and down. He's nodding, telling me he'll keep watching. "Last week was the control," he says.