Miss Daisy Is Crazy!
Miss Daisy Is Crazy! by Dan Gutman takes about 58.5 minutes to read aloud (6,420 words, about 4 sentences a page), and it lands best with children aged 6-8.
Measured read-aloud timeabout 58.5 minutes
- Words
- 6,420
- Sentences a page
- 4
- Re-read tolerance
- 3/5holds up
- Vocabulary
- 3/5a few new words
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The useful verdict
Why Miss Daisy Is Crazy! works
A.J. hates school; his teacher claims she cannot read, write or add, so the class teaches her. Every chapter ends on a one-line gag and the class chants the title back on cue, which gives a newly independent reader a refrain to land on. There are 21 books in the first series, so a child who likes one has a year of reading queued up.
Before you buy it
ATOS 4.3 - harder than the cartoon cover suggests, and harder than Big Nate. The humour is broad and the title uses 'crazy' as an insult throughout, which some families will not want repeated.
Themes: school, teachers, silly, friendship.
Same shape, new story
Books like Miss Daisy Is Crazy!
Matched by length, refrain, sentence density, and listener—not just subject.
Big Nate: In a Class by Himselfabout 125.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Busabout 59.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Diary of a Wimpy Kidabout 180 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Ivy and Beanabout 71 minutes · 4/5 re-read
The Adventures of Captain Underpantsabout 52 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journalabout 148 minutes · 3/5 re-read
Bad Kitty Gets a Bathabout 27 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Straight answers
Questions parents ask about Miss Daisy Is Crazy!
- How long does it take to read Miss Daisy Is Crazy! aloud?
- About 58.5 minutes at an unhurried pace, from a word count of 6,420. Reading it fast shaves perhaps a third off; stopping for questions on every page can double it.
- What age is Miss Daisy Is Crazy! actually for?
- Ages 6-8 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 4 sentences a page and vocabulary at 3 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
- Does Miss Daisy Is Crazy! survive being read on repeat?
- Yes, reasonably. It stays bearable through the repeat-request phase without becoming a favourite forever.
- Is Miss Daisy Is Crazy! a good book for a child who will not sit still?
- It helps that it has a refrain a child can join in with. Those three features are what keep a wriggling toddler listening, far more than the subject matter does.