About 4 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 9 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Sixth-grader Nate Wright welcomes the chance to show a new student around P.S. 38, until Breckenridge Puffington III turns out to prefer plants to Nate's ideas of fun and follows him everywhere. Their assigned friendship coincides with preparations for the school's hundredth birthday, despite a building that's falling apart. Nate has to decide how to treat a boy he would never have picked as a friend.
Reader notes
Nate tells the story himself, punctuating his version of school life with cartoons and his own drawings. The seventh Big Nate novel is a middle-grade school comedy about the awkward obligations of being someone's designated buddy.
How it reads
Writing style
Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct · Witty
Tone
Hopeful · Humorous · Playful · Warm
Structure
Linear
Driven by
Character · Plot · Relationships
Point of view
First person
Setting
School or campus
Reading complexity
Writing
1 / 5
Ideas
1 / 5
Structure
1 / 5
Background knowledge
1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
No, little prior knowledge is needed for this seventh Big Nate novel. The story centers on Nate's assignment to welcome a new student while his school prepares for its hundredth birthday.
Is it hard to read?
No, Nate tells the story in direct, conversational language, with plenty of dialogue, cartoons and his own drawings. The linear story moves briskly.
Who is it best suited to?
It suits middle-grade readers looking for a playful school comedy. Nate's account combines witty narration and drawings with the awkward responsibility of being someone's designated buddy.
What kind of friendship story is it?
The friendship begins as an obligation: Nate must show around a new student who prefers plants to Nate's ideas of fun. Their mismatch raises questions about belonging and how to treat someone you wouldn't choose as a friend.
How long is it?
224 pages in the Balzer + Bray 2021 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Balzer + Bray · 2021 · paperback. ISBN 9780063114081.
How long does it take to read Big Nate Lives It Up?
About 4 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 224-page Balzer + Bray edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Lincoln Peirce
Lincoln Peirce is an American cartoonist, author, and animator whose work finds abundant comedy in school routines, childhood rivalries, and the gap between confidence and competence. He is best known for creating Big Nate, a comic strip and series of illustrated novels centered on sixth-grader Nate Wright. Peirce builds scenes through brisk dialogue, expressive drawings, and problems that gather consequences faster than Nate can recognize them. His protagonist’s certainty that he is a misunderstood genius survives detentions, failed assignments, and the objections of friends, teachers, and teammates. In Big Nate in the Zone, an overdue history outline, a band performance, and a supposed lucky charm converge into one mounting school-day crisis. Big Nate Blasts Off similarly ties a crush and a mocking comic to gossip, bullying, discipline, and a threatened move. The shorter comic episodes favor rapid setups and reversals, while the novels extend Nate’s impulsive choices through plots involving friendship, competition, teamwork, and embarrassment. Peirce has also written animated shorts for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.
