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* ''The War With Mr.Wizzle/The Wizzle War'': An obnoxious man, Mr. Wizzle, takes charge at Macdonald Hall, instituting a dress code and generally annoying everybody. Even the Headmaster doesn't like the guy. Naturally, Bruno tries to find a way to get rid of him.
* ''The Zucchini Warriors'': Macdonald Hall acquires a football stadium and starts a football team.
* ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood/Lights! Camera! Disaster!'': A film is being shot at Macdonald Hall, and Bruno is determined to be in it.
* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's on Us'': There's a practical joker, but it's not Bruno and Boots. They try to find the real joker before they end up expelled.
* ''The Zucchini Warriors'': Macdonald Hall acquires a football stadium and starts a football team.
* ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood/Lights! Camera! Disaster!'': A film is being shot at Macdonald Hall, and Bruno is determined to be in it.
* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's on Us'': There's a practical joker, but it's not Bruno and Boots. They try to find the real joker before they end up expelled.
to:
* ''The War With Mr.Wizzle/The Wizzle War'': An obnoxious man, New student adviser Mr. Wizzle, takes Wizzle and his cutting-edge computer program take charge at Macdonald Hall, instituting a dress code code, forcing the students to write lines for punishment and generally annoying everybody.everyone. Even the Headmaster doesn't like the guy. Naturally, Bruno tries to find a way to get rid of him.
him... and as it happens, Miss Scrimmage has just hired a new female advisor that her students are equally desperate to be rid of.
* ''The Zucchini Warriors'': Macdonald Hall acquires a football stadium as a gift from a local fried zucchini-stick millionaire and duly starts a footballteam.
team -- with a rather unorthodox quarterback.
* ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood/Lights! Camera! Disaster!'':A Teen sensation Jordie Jones' latest film is being shot at Macdonald Hall, and Bruno is determined to be in it.
* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's on Us'': There's a practicaljoker, joker abroad at Macdonald Hall, but for once it's not Bruno and Boots. Boots... too bad the Fish isn't convinced. They try to must find the real joker before they end up expelled.
* ''The Zucchini Warriors'': Macdonald Hall acquires a football stadium as a gift from a local fried zucchini-stick millionaire and duly starts a football
* ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood/Lights! Camera! Disaster!'':
* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's on Us'': There's a practical
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Bruno Walton and Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal are roommates at a prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.
to:
Bruno Walton and Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal are roommates at a prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more More cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.
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A series of novels written by Creator/GordonKorman about CrazyAwesome Bruno and his best friend [[OnlySaneMan Boots]].
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A series of novels written by Creator/GordonKorman about -- the first when he was a seventeen-year-old high-school English student --about CrazyAwesome Bruno and his best friend [[OnlySaneMan Boots]].
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* ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall/This Can't Be Happening!'': The Headmaster declares that Bruno is a bad influence on Boots and therefore they can't be roommates any more. Bruno tries to convince the Headmaster to let them room together again.
* ''Go Jump In the Pool!'': Bruno is irritated that Macdonald Hall has no pool, unlike its rival York Academy. Even worse, some of the students' parents are thinking of pulling their kids from the Hall due to the poor athletic program. Bruno decides to solve this by raising money to buy a pool.
* ''Go Jump In the Pool!'': Bruno is irritated that Macdonald Hall has no pool, unlike its rival York Academy. Even worse, some of the students' parents are thinking of pulling their kids from the Hall due to the poor athletic program. Bruno decides to solve this by raising money to buy a pool.
to:
* ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall/This Can't Be Happening!'': The Headmaster Fish declares that Bruno is a bad influence on Boots and therefore they can't be roommates any more. Bruno tries Cue determined scheming to convince the Headmaster be allowed to let them room together again.
again, up to and including framing their new roommates as even worse influences.
* ''Go JumpIn in the Pool!'': Bruno is irritated that Macdonald Hall has no pool, unlike its rival York Academy. Even worse, In fact, some of the students' parents are thinking of pulling their kids from the Hall due to the poor athletic program. Bruno decides to solve this by raising money to buy a pool.
* ''Go Jump
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* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's On Us'': There's a practical joker, but it's not Bruno and Boots. They try to find the real joker before they end up expelled.
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* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's On on Us'': There's a practical joker, but it's not Bruno and Boots. They try to find the real joker before they end up expelled.
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Bruno Walton and Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal are roommates prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.
to:
Bruno Walton and Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal are roommates at a prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.
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Bruno Walton and his best buddy Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal attend a prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the go-getting, enthusiastic, completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.
to:
Bruno Walton and his best buddy Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal attend a are roommates prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the go-getting, enthusiastic, completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.
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Bruno and Boots attend a boarding school called Macdonald Hall. Generally, the books feature Bruno trying to achieve some goal using some crazy plan, often getting the entire student body involved as well. Boots will usually try to keep his friend in check, but it rarely has much of an effect. HilarityEnsues.
to:
Bruno Walton and Boots his best buddy Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal attend a prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall. Generally, the Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the go-getting, enthusiastic, completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal using some via a series of increasingly crazy plan, plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. The more cautious Boots will usually try spends much of his time trying to keep his friend friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect. HilarityEnsues.
effect.
HilarityEnsues. Quite a lot of it, actually.
HilarityEnsues. Quite a lot of it, actually.
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* CanadaEh: The books are proudly set near the (fictional) town of Chutney, Ontario, just a relatively short distance from {{Toronto}}.
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* CanadaEh: The books are proudly set near the (fictional) town of Chutney, Ontario, just a relatively short distance from {{Toronto}}.UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}.
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** It's also a bad idea to force Bruno Walton to put on a tie, make him get up before 9am, and insult the school in his hearing. Also, York Academy. And don't make fun of his lucky penny if you know what's good for you.
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** It's also a bad idea to force Bruno Walton to put on a tie, make him get up before 9am, and insult the school in his hearing. Also, York Academy. And don't make fun of his lucky penny if you know what's good for you.or you'll be sorry.
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* PushoverParents: Miss Scrimmage is a non-biological example of this. Whenever there's a riot or some other kind of disturbance involving students from both schools, she always insists (despite all evidence to the contrary) that her girls are totally blameless and that the boys had been "terrorizing" them.
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* PushoverParents: Miss Scrimmage is a non-biological example of this. Whenever there's a riot or some other kind of disturbance involving students from both schools, she always insists (despite all evidence to the contrary) that her girls are totally blameless and that the boys had have been "terrorizing" them.
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* PushoverParents: Miss Scrimmage is a non-biological example of this. Whenever there's a riot or some other kind of disturbance involving students from both schools, she always insists (despite all evidence to the contrary) that her girls are totally blameless and that the boys had been "terrorizing" them.
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* Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Elmer often speaks this way because he's a genius with a very large vocabulary.
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* Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Elmer often speaks this way because he's a genius with a very large vocabulary.
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* Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Elmer often speaks this way because he's a genius with a very large vocabulary.
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* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: The York Academy swim team at the beginning of ''Go Jump In The Pool!'' They win the tournament by a wide margin and then refuse to shake hands with the MacDonald Hall team as sports etiquette dictates.
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* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: The York Academy swim team at the beginning of ''Go Jump In The Pool!'' They win the tournament by a wide margin and then refuse to shake hands with the MacDonald Hall team as sports etiquette dictates.dictates they should.
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* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: The York Academy swim team at the beginning of ''Go Jump In The Pool!'' They win the tournament by a wide margin and then refuse to shake hands with the MacDonald Hall team as sports etiquette dictates.
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* PrideBeforeAFall: This is a RunningGag in the series. Bruno confidently assures Boots that they won't get caught sneaking out of school, or that Mr. Sturgeon has no idea what mischief they've been up to. This practically guarantees that in the next few pages, Bruno and Boots ''will'' be caught sneaking out of school, or Mr. Sturgeon will summon them to his office because he knows ''exactly'' what mischief they've been up to.
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** It's also a bad idea to force Bruno Walton to put on a tie, make him get up before 9am, and insult the school in his hearing. Also, York Academy.
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** It's also a bad idea to force Bruno Walton to put on a tie, make him get up before 9am, and insult the school in his hearing. Also, York Academy. And don't make fun of his lucky penny if you know what's good for you.
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* BrickJoke: In the first chapter of the first book, Bruno and Boots replace the school's Canadian flag with the flag of Malbonia, which is confiscated by Mr. Sturgeon. Towards the end of the book, the Malbonian ambassador arrives at MacDonald Hall after [[spoiler: Bruno and Boots rescue his son from a runaway hot air balloon]]. He wants to have a ceremony to reward them, but he's forgotten to bring a Malbonian flag. Fortunately, Mr. Sturgeon just happens to have one in his desk.
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* BrickJoke: In the first chapter of the first book, Bruno and Boots replace the school's Canadian flag with the flag of Malbonia, which is confiscated by Mr. Sturgeon. Towards the end of the book, the Malbonian ambassador arrives at MacDonald Macdonald Hall after [[spoiler: Bruno and Boots rescue his son from a runaway hot air balloon]]. He wants to have a ceremony to reward them, but he's forgotten to bring a Malbonian flag. Fortunately, Mr. Sturgeon just happens to have one in his desk.
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* BrickJoke: In the first chapter of the first book, Bruno and Boots replace the school's Canadian flag with the flag of Malbonia, which is confiscated by Mr. Sturgeon. Towards the end of the book, the Malbonian ambassador arrives at MacDonald Hall after [[spoiler: Bruno and Boots rescue his son from a runaway hot air balloon]]. He wants to have a ceremony to reward them, but he's forgotten to bring a Malbonian flag. Fortunately, Mr. Sturgeon just happens to have one in his desk.
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* WorkOffTheDebt: Happens to Bruno and Boots when their schemes to be reunited in ''This Can't be Happening!'' start costing the school money. It also happens many times in the successive novels. In ''Something Fishy At Macdonald Hall'', a kitchen employee says that he loves when Bruno and Boots get dish-washing duty because they're highly skilled at it thanks to all their experience.
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* WorkOffTheDebt: Happens to Bruno and Boots when their schemes to be reunited in ''This Can't be Happening!'' start costing the school money. It also happens many times in the successive subsequent novels. In ''Something Fishy At Macdonald Hall'', a kitchen employee says that he loves when Bruno and Boots get dish-washing duty because they're highly skilled at it thanks to all their experience.
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* WorkOffTheDebt: Happens to Bruno and Boots when their schemes to be reunited in ''This Can't be Happening!'' start costing the school money.
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* WorkOffTheDebt: Happens to Bruno and Boots when their schemes to be reunited in ''This Can't be Happening!'' start costing the school money. It also happens many times in the successive novels. In ''Something Fishy At Macdonald Hall'', a kitchen employee says that he loves when Bruno and Boots get dish-washing duty because they're highly skilled at it thanks to all their experience.
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* YouAreGrounded: Happens to Bruno and Boots a lot.
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* YouAreGrounded: Happens to Bruno and Boots a lot. It's not a terribly effective form of discipline, though; Bruno and Boots usually manage to sneak out of school while they're grounded.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Mr. Sturgeon usually turns into one of these when he's forced to deal with the ever-frustrating Miss Scrimmage.
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* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: As noted above, Myron Blankenship is constantly spreading gossip about his fellow students, such as who has dandruff and who writes love poems to a teacher at Miss Scrimmage's. Bruno gets revenge by announcing over the PA system that Myron sleeps with a stuffed hyena named Arnold.
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* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Bruno and Boots to each other, let's face it.
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* RousingSpeech: Bruno has a knack for these ([[CatchPhrase "Our world is crumbling around us!"]])
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* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Boots, to everyone but George, who insists that "nicknames are vulgar".
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** Also means that they're a classic, albeit mild example of VitriolicBestBuds.
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** Also means that they're makes them a classic, albeit mild mild, example of VitriolicBestBuds.
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** Also means that they're a classic, albeit mild example of VitriolicBestBuds.
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A series of novels written by Creator/GordonKorman about CrazyAwesome Bruno and his best friend [[OnlySaneMan Boots]].
Bruno and Boots attend a boarding school called Macdonald Hall. Generally, the books feature Bruno trying to achieve some goal using some crazy plan, often getting the entire student body involved as well. Boots will usually try to keep his friend in check, but it rarely has much of an effect. HilarityEnsues.
Books written in this series are as follows. The first is the original title (published in the late seventies/early eighties), the second is the republished title (published in the 2000s):
* ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall/This Can't Be Happening!'': The Headmaster declares that Bruno is a bad influence on Boots and therefore they can't be roommates any more. Bruno tries to convince the Headmaster to let them room together again.
* ''Go Jump In the Pool!'': Bruno is irritated that Macdonald Hall has no pool, unlike its rival York Academy. Even worse, some of the students' parents are thinking of pulling their kids from the Hall due to the poor athletic program. Bruno decides to solve this by raising money to buy a pool.
* ''Beware the Fish!'': Due to budget problems, Macdonald Hall is in danger of closing down. Bruno's plan is to do something that will gain the Hall publicity.
* ''The War With Mr.Wizzle/The Wizzle War'': An obnoxious man, Mr. Wizzle, takes charge at Macdonald Hall, instituting a dress code and generally annoying everybody. Even the Headmaster doesn't like the guy. Naturally, Bruno tries to find a way to get rid of him.
* ''The Zucchini Warriors'': Macdonald Hall acquires a football stadium and starts a football team.
* ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood/Lights! Camera! Disaster!'': A film is being shot at Macdonald Hall, and Bruno is determined to be in it.
* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's On Us'': There's a practical joker, but it's not Bruno and Boots. They try to find the real joker before they end up expelled.
Despite the similar sounding name, there's no connection between this and ''MacHall'' the webcomic.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* ActionGirl: Cathy Burton. "The riot squad is afraid to come back here! We're ''SOMEBODY!''"
* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: What happens to Elmer in ''The Zucchini Warriors.''
** [[spoiler: Don't worry, finding the Manchurian Bush Hamsters [[ResetButton changes him back to normal]].]]
* [[spoiler: ArrangedMarriage]]: The solution to ''The Wizzle War.''
* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: Mr. Sturgeon.
* BerserkButton: Mr. Wizzle from ''The Wizzle War'' seem to be good at pushing these.
** Don't shorten Wilbur's last name or take away his food.
** Leave [[TeenGenius Elmer's]] science experiments alone if you know what's good for you.
** It's not a good idea to switch Chris out of his art courses.
** Mark is the ''only'' one that touches the printing press.
** It's also a bad idea to force Bruno Walton to put on a tie, make him get up before 9am, and insult the school in his hearing. Also, York Academy.
** For a non-Wizzle example: Do not, under ANY circumstances, threaten the [[BadassDamsel innocent young girls]] of [[NeverMessWithGranny Miss Scrimmage]]'s Finishing School for Young Ladies.
-->'''Miss Scrimmage:''' "What do you mean coming over here in the middle of the night and frightening my sweet, innocent young girls?
-->'''Police Officer:''' "Lady, ''GODZILLA'' couldn't frighten these girls!"
* BigEater: Wilbur Hackenschleimer
* [[BlueBlood Blue Blood]]: While not exactly royalty, George Wexford-Smyth III definitely comes off as this.
* BoardingSchool: Where the story takes place.
** OneGenderSchool: Macdonald Hall for the boys and one across the street called Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for [[GirlNextDoor girls.]]
* CanadaEh: The books are proudly set near the (fictional) town of Chutney, Ontario, just a relatively short distance from {{Toronto}}.
* [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin Can't Get Away With Nuthin']]: At the end of the day, after all the madness is said and done, Bruno and Boots usually get in trouble for their actions.
* CannotKeepASecret: Myron "The Blabbermouth" Blankenship in ''The Zucchini Warriors.'' If he's not revealing embarrassing personal information about his fellow students, he's telling Mr. Sturgeon the details of whatever zany scheme is going on at the time. He eventually promises to stop being a blabbermouth. Then he gets hold of the scoreboard controls at a football game and starts using them to tell more secrets.
--> '''Boots''': We made him promise not to blab stuff; but we never said he couldn't spell it out in lights!
* CaptainOblivious: Mr. Fudge, the housemaster of Bruno and Boots' dorm.
* CelebrityStar: Jordie in ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood.''
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In ''This Can't Be Happening!'', Boots enthusiastically goes along with Bruno's mad schemes. In later books, he's the OnlySaneMan trying to talk Bruno out of his latest ZanyScheme.
* [[ChekhovsGunman Chekhov's Gunman]]: George Wexford-Smyth III plays a some-what important rule in the first book, but only appears in the second to comment on how 'vulgar' their events are (not knowing what is going on) [[spoiler: He manages to invest all the money Bruno and Boots made beforehand into one of the richest Canadian mining companies, Lorelei Mining, giving them more than enough (around 2 million in the old copy of the book or around 65 thousand in the 2003 version) to build a pool)]]
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Mr. Sturgeon and Gloria Peabody
* DeanBitterman: Averted. Mr. Sturgeon cares deeply about his students.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Peabody
* DistaffCounterpart: Cathy and Diane at Miss Scrimmage's, to Bruno and Boots.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Gloria Peabody
* EarthquakeMachine: Naturally, Elmer has a minor one already built to stick in Wizzle's home to freak him out.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Boots' real name is Melvin.
* FictionalCountry: The flag of "Malbonia" is mentioned in the first book.
* FundraiserCarnival
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Bruno and Boots, naturally.
* InducedHypochondria: Boots does this to George in the first book. (Note that George is already a hypochondriac; Boots just takes advantage of it.)
* IntoxicationEnsues: In the first book, there's a description of Miss Scrimmage accidentally drinking spiked punch at a dance, which caused her to drag Mr. Sturgeon onto the dance floor and dance the funky chicken with him. In ''Beware The Fish!'', Elmer invents a cure for the common cold. Bruno and Boots slip it into Coach Flynn's sports drink when he has a cold; unfortunately, the combination of ingredients has an intoxicating effect. HilarityEnsues.
* InventedIndividual - In ''The War with Mr. Wizzle'', the protagonists create a fictitious student named Gavin Gunhold to mess with the school's new administration. The name becomes a running gag in many of Korman's later books. Gavin Gunhold (sometimes G. Gavin Gunhold) is mentioned, usually in passing, always as an incidental character who never actually appears (unless you count [[TheRealRemingtonSteele imposters posing as him]]).
* TheJinx: Bruno, to Perry Elbert.
* TheKlutz: Sidney Rampulsky. Especially in a tie.
* LargeHam: Bruno and Cathy
* LoopholeAbuse: After Cathy is discovered moonlighting in the football team in ''The Zucchini Warriors'', they attempt to argue that there Ain't No Rule saying girls can't play. The referee points out that there ''is'' a rule saying that all the players in the school team have to be students at the school.
* MeaningfulName: Miss Scrimmage. Comes in handy in ''The Zucchini Warriors'' when the cheerleaders use the name "The Line Of Scrimmage."
* MistakenIdentity: Bruno and Boots try to force this by pretending to be George Wexford-Smyth III and Elmer Drimsdale in order to frame them for a panty-raid at Scrimmage's, in a ploy to get back together as roommates in ''This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall!'' Mr. Sturgeon is not fooled.
** Played completely straight in ''Go Jump In the Pool'' when Wilbur sells Miss Scrimmage's shotgun at the garage sale, and she gets arrested for armed robbery later than night.
* {{Nerd}}: Elmer Drimsdale and Mr. Wizzle.
* NotMeThisTime: The premise for ''Something Fishy''- there's a prankster loose on campus, and it's obvious to everyone that it's Bruno and Boots again. Except it's not them.
* OnlySaneMan: Boots
* OppositesAttract: There's never any explanation to how Bruno and Boots became such good friends amid driving each other crazy at times.
* PantyThief: Bruno and Boots try to frame Elmer and George as this.
* RichBitch: George Wexford-Smyth is a male version of this, occasionally developing more depth and then going back to being mostly a jerk.
* SaveOurTeam: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: Coach Hank doesn't work miracles on a bunch of sports-apathetic Canadian boys, the girl from the school next door does.
** Arguably, [[spoiler:Kevin Klapper]] plays this trope straight.
* SchoolForScheming: Local law enforcement suspects Macdonald Hall of being this in ''Beware The Fish''.
* SeriousBusiness: The war games Miss Scrimmages' held in ''The Wizzle War'' had fortresses, traps, (water) guns, and (water) balloons. Even the pouring rain and fog didn't keep these games from being played.
* SignsOfDisrepair: In ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!'', Miss Scrimmage accidentally shoots the sign outside her school that reads, "Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies", changing the word "Finishing" to "Fishing".
* SleepLearning: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the girl students try to change the behaviour of teacher Gloria Peabody by playing tapes telling her to be nice while she sleeps. Unfortunately they just make Peabody even crankier because she's not sleeping properly.
* StopOrIWillShoot: Miss Scrimmage and her shotgun.
* SweetPollyOliver: Cathy does this in order to join the football team in ''The Zucchini Warriors.''
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Cathy and Diane, though Cathy is more of TheLadette.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Zucchini sticks in ''The Zucchini Warriors'', but ''only'' for [[spoiler: the Manchurian bush hamsters. Everyone else, including Hank the guy who owns the zucchini stick company, hates to eat them.]]
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Mr. Wizzle
* WorkOffTheDebt: Happens to Bruno and Boots when their schemes to be reunited in ''This Can't be Happening!'' start costing the school money.
* WritingLines: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the new PointyHairedBoss of an assistant principal introduces lines as a standardized universal punishment. The students retaliate by picking a handful to write everybody's lines for them, giving the other students time to sabotage Wizzle's computer, make an InventedIndividual, and so on. (The kids who get picked to do lines soon begin to resent the ones who got assigned to the fun stuff, but they prevail anyway.) By contrast, the Headmaster, Mr. Sturgeon, whose power the students respect, disapproves of lines and prefers to impose lengthy essays as punishment.
* YouAreGrounded: Happens to Bruno and Boots a lot.
* YouGoGirl: Cathy in ''The Zucchini Warriors''
* ZanyScheme: Bruno is a big fan.
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Bruno and Boots attend a boarding school called Macdonald Hall. Generally, the books feature Bruno trying to achieve some goal using some crazy plan, often getting the entire student body involved as well. Boots will usually try to keep his friend in check, but it rarely has much of an effect. HilarityEnsues.
Books written in this series are as follows. The first is the original title (published in the late seventies/early eighties), the second is the republished title (published in the 2000s):
* ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall/This Can't Be Happening!'': The Headmaster declares that Bruno is a bad influence on Boots and therefore they can't be roommates any more. Bruno tries to convince the Headmaster to let them room together again.
* ''Go Jump In the Pool!'': Bruno is irritated that Macdonald Hall has no pool, unlike its rival York Academy. Even worse, some of the students' parents are thinking of pulling their kids from the Hall due to the poor athletic program. Bruno decides to solve this by raising money to buy a pool.
* ''Beware the Fish!'': Due to budget problems, Macdonald Hall is in danger of closing down. Bruno's plan is to do something that will gain the Hall publicity.
* ''The War With Mr.Wizzle/The Wizzle War'': An obnoxious man, Mr. Wizzle, takes charge at Macdonald Hall, instituting a dress code and generally annoying everybody. Even the Headmaster doesn't like the guy. Naturally, Bruno tries to find a way to get rid of him.
* ''The Zucchini Warriors'': Macdonald Hall acquires a football stadium and starts a football team.
* ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood/Lights! Camera! Disaster!'': A film is being shot at Macdonald Hall, and Bruno is determined to be in it.
* ''Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall/The Joke's On Us'': There's a practical joker, but it's not Bruno and Boots. They try to find the real joker before they end up expelled.
Despite the similar sounding name, there's no connection between this and ''MacHall'' the webcomic.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* ActionGirl: Cathy Burton. "The riot squad is afraid to come back here! We're ''SOMEBODY!''"
* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: What happens to Elmer in ''The Zucchini Warriors.''
** [[spoiler: Don't worry, finding the Manchurian Bush Hamsters [[ResetButton changes him back to normal]].]]
* [[spoiler: ArrangedMarriage]]: The solution to ''The Wizzle War.''
* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: Mr. Sturgeon.
* BerserkButton: Mr. Wizzle from ''The Wizzle War'' seem to be good at pushing these.
** Don't shorten Wilbur's last name or take away his food.
** Leave [[TeenGenius Elmer's]] science experiments alone if you know what's good for you.
** It's not a good idea to switch Chris out of his art courses.
** Mark is the ''only'' one that touches the printing press.
** It's also a bad idea to force Bruno Walton to put on a tie, make him get up before 9am, and insult the school in his hearing. Also, York Academy.
** For a non-Wizzle example: Do not, under ANY circumstances, threaten the [[BadassDamsel innocent young girls]] of [[NeverMessWithGranny Miss Scrimmage]]'s Finishing School for Young Ladies.
-->'''Miss Scrimmage:''' "What do you mean coming over here in the middle of the night and frightening my sweet, innocent young girls?
-->'''Police Officer:''' "Lady, ''GODZILLA'' couldn't frighten these girls!"
* BigEater: Wilbur Hackenschleimer
* [[BlueBlood Blue Blood]]: While not exactly royalty, George Wexford-Smyth III definitely comes off as this.
* BoardingSchool: Where the story takes place.
** OneGenderSchool: Macdonald Hall for the boys and one across the street called Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for [[GirlNextDoor girls.]]
* CanadaEh: The books are proudly set near the (fictional) town of Chutney, Ontario, just a relatively short distance from {{Toronto}}.
* [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin Can't Get Away With Nuthin']]: At the end of the day, after all the madness is said and done, Bruno and Boots usually get in trouble for their actions.
* CannotKeepASecret: Myron "The Blabbermouth" Blankenship in ''The Zucchini Warriors.'' If he's not revealing embarrassing personal information about his fellow students, he's telling Mr. Sturgeon the details of whatever zany scheme is going on at the time. He eventually promises to stop being a blabbermouth. Then he gets hold of the scoreboard controls at a football game and starts using them to tell more secrets.
--> '''Boots''': We made him promise not to blab stuff; but we never said he couldn't spell it out in lights!
* CaptainOblivious: Mr. Fudge, the housemaster of Bruno and Boots' dorm.
* CelebrityStar: Jordie in ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood.''
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In ''This Can't Be Happening!'', Boots enthusiastically goes along with Bruno's mad schemes. In later books, he's the OnlySaneMan trying to talk Bruno out of his latest ZanyScheme.
* [[ChekhovsGunman Chekhov's Gunman]]: George Wexford-Smyth III plays a some-what important rule in the first book, but only appears in the second to comment on how 'vulgar' their events are (not knowing what is going on) [[spoiler: He manages to invest all the money Bruno and Boots made beforehand into one of the richest Canadian mining companies, Lorelei Mining, giving them more than enough (around 2 million in the old copy of the book or around 65 thousand in the 2003 version) to build a pool)]]
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Mr. Sturgeon and Gloria Peabody
* DeanBitterman: Averted. Mr. Sturgeon cares deeply about his students.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Peabody
* DistaffCounterpart: Cathy and Diane at Miss Scrimmage's, to Bruno and Boots.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Gloria Peabody
* EarthquakeMachine: Naturally, Elmer has a minor one already built to stick in Wizzle's home to freak him out.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Boots' real name is Melvin.
* FictionalCountry: The flag of "Malbonia" is mentioned in the first book.
* FundraiserCarnival
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Bruno and Boots, naturally.
* InducedHypochondria: Boots does this to George in the first book. (Note that George is already a hypochondriac; Boots just takes advantage of it.)
* IntoxicationEnsues: In the first book, there's a description of Miss Scrimmage accidentally drinking spiked punch at a dance, which caused her to drag Mr. Sturgeon onto the dance floor and dance the funky chicken with him. In ''Beware The Fish!'', Elmer invents a cure for the common cold. Bruno and Boots slip it into Coach Flynn's sports drink when he has a cold; unfortunately, the combination of ingredients has an intoxicating effect. HilarityEnsues.
* InventedIndividual - In ''The War with Mr. Wizzle'', the protagonists create a fictitious student named Gavin Gunhold to mess with the school's new administration. The name becomes a running gag in many of Korman's later books. Gavin Gunhold (sometimes G. Gavin Gunhold) is mentioned, usually in passing, always as an incidental character who never actually appears (unless you count [[TheRealRemingtonSteele imposters posing as him]]).
* TheJinx: Bruno, to Perry Elbert.
* TheKlutz: Sidney Rampulsky. Especially in a tie.
* LargeHam: Bruno and Cathy
* LoopholeAbuse: After Cathy is discovered moonlighting in the football team in ''The Zucchini Warriors'', they attempt to argue that there Ain't No Rule saying girls can't play. The referee points out that there ''is'' a rule saying that all the players in the school team have to be students at the school.
* MeaningfulName: Miss Scrimmage. Comes in handy in ''The Zucchini Warriors'' when the cheerleaders use the name "The Line Of Scrimmage."
* MistakenIdentity: Bruno and Boots try to force this by pretending to be George Wexford-Smyth III and Elmer Drimsdale in order to frame them for a panty-raid at Scrimmage's, in a ploy to get back together as roommates in ''This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall!'' Mr. Sturgeon is not fooled.
** Played completely straight in ''Go Jump In the Pool'' when Wilbur sells Miss Scrimmage's shotgun at the garage sale, and she gets arrested for armed robbery later than night.
* {{Nerd}}: Elmer Drimsdale and Mr. Wizzle.
* NotMeThisTime: The premise for ''Something Fishy''- there's a prankster loose on campus, and it's obvious to everyone that it's Bruno and Boots again. Except it's not them.
* OnlySaneMan: Boots
* OppositesAttract: There's never any explanation to how Bruno and Boots became such good friends amid driving each other crazy at times.
* PantyThief: Bruno and Boots try to frame Elmer and George as this.
* RichBitch: George Wexford-Smyth is a male version of this, occasionally developing more depth and then going back to being mostly a jerk.
* SaveOurTeam: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: Coach Hank doesn't work miracles on a bunch of sports-apathetic Canadian boys, the girl from the school next door does.
** Arguably, [[spoiler:Kevin Klapper]] plays this trope straight.
* SchoolForScheming: Local law enforcement suspects Macdonald Hall of being this in ''Beware The Fish''.
* SeriousBusiness: The war games Miss Scrimmages' held in ''The Wizzle War'' had fortresses, traps, (water) guns, and (water) balloons. Even the pouring rain and fog didn't keep these games from being played.
* SignsOfDisrepair: In ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!'', Miss Scrimmage accidentally shoots the sign outside her school that reads, "Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies", changing the word "Finishing" to "Fishing".
* SleepLearning: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the girl students try to change the behaviour of teacher Gloria Peabody by playing tapes telling her to be nice while she sleeps. Unfortunately they just make Peabody even crankier because she's not sleeping properly.
* StopOrIWillShoot: Miss Scrimmage and her shotgun.
* SweetPollyOliver: Cathy does this in order to join the football team in ''The Zucchini Warriors.''
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Cathy and Diane, though Cathy is more of TheLadette.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Zucchini sticks in ''The Zucchini Warriors'', but ''only'' for [[spoiler: the Manchurian bush hamsters. Everyone else, including Hank the guy who owns the zucchini stick company, hates to eat them.]]
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Mr. Wizzle
* WorkOffTheDebt: Happens to Bruno and Boots when their schemes to be reunited in ''This Can't be Happening!'' start costing the school money.
* WritingLines: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the new PointyHairedBoss of an assistant principal introduces lines as a standardized universal punishment. The students retaliate by picking a handful to write everybody's lines for them, giving the other students time to sabotage Wizzle's computer, make an InventedIndividual, and so on. (The kids who get picked to do lines soon begin to resent the ones who got assigned to the fun stuff, but they prevail anyway.) By contrast, the Headmaster, Mr. Sturgeon, whose power the students respect, disapproves of lines and prefers to impose lengthy essays as punishment.
* YouAreGrounded: Happens to Bruno and Boots a lot.
* YouGoGirl: Cathy in ''The Zucchini Warriors''
* ZanyScheme: Bruno is a big fan.
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