Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood facts for kids
First US edition
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| Author | Gordon Korman |
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| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Series | Macdonald Hall Series |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Publisher | Scholastic Canada Ltd. |
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Publication date
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1991, 2003, 2014 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 217 |
| Preceded by | The Zucchini Warriors |
| Followed by | Something Fishy At Macdonald Hall |
Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood is the sixth book in Gordon Korman's popular Bruno and Boots series. It tells the funny adventures of Bruno Walton and his best friend Boots O'Neal. They live at a pretend boarding school called Macdonald Hall in the town of Chutney, Ontario. This book was first published in 1991. Later, in 2003, its title was changed to Lights, Camera, Disaster.
Contents
Story Summary
A movie crew from Hollywood comes to Macdonald Hall. They want to use the school as a background for their film, Academy Blues. Bruno Walton, one of the main characters, really wants to be in the movie. He tries many times to get the director, Seth Dinkman, to let him be an extra. But Dinkman thinks Bruno is too flashy and keeps saying no.
Bruno is desperate to join the movie. He tries to sneak in by using different disguises. However, Dinkman always catches him. The director complains to Mr. Sturgeon, the headmaster. As a punishment, Bruno is told he cannot be involved with the movie at all.
Bruno starts to dislike Jordie Jones, the movie's teenage star. This is mainly because all the girls from Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School go crazy for Jordie. Bruno decides to play a prank on Jordie. He plans to hide fireworks around Jordie's trailer and set them off on his birthday. This would give Jordie a big scare.
But when Bruno and Boots are setting up the prank, they find Jordie crying. He is sad because he feels lonely and no one remembered his birthday. Feeling bad for him, Bruno cancels the fireworks prank. Instead, they decide to throw Jordie a surprise birthday party the next night. Boots agrees to sleep in Jordie's trailer to trick the security guards.
The next night, the girls from Miss Scrimmage's school decide to "capture" Jordie. They sneak into his trailer and wrap the body inside a blanket. They don't know it's actually Boots, not Jordie! They carry Boots back to their school. When they unwrap the blanket, Boots is revealed. The girls are angry and leave Boots stranded there. Miss Scrimmage catches Boots. She thinks he was sneaking into her school. She marches him back to Macdonald Hall, holding him at gunpoint.
Eventually, Bruno finds out Boots is in trouble. He wakes up Mr. Sturgeon, who then breaks Miss Scrimmage's shotgun. Jordie is very thankful. He tells Mr. Sturgeon what happened and explains about the party. Because of this, Mr. Sturgeon changes his mind about punishing Bruno and Boots.
Jordie is so grateful for the birthday party. He talks director Dinkman into giving Bruno another chance to be in the movie. But Bruno messes up again. Later, the Macdonald Hall hockey team practices for their big game against York Academy. They hear that Jordie also plays hockey. They invite him to play with them. To keep Jordie's identity a secret from Coach Flynn, they make him play goalie so he can wear a mask.
Later, the boys go to a dance at Miss Scrimmage’s school. Jordie is excited to go. He is disguised as a prince from a foreign country. But at the dance, Calvin Fihzgart's strong cologne makes Jordie sneeze loudly. This blows his cover! Chaos breaks out. The girls desperately try to reach Jordie. The boys try to protect him. Jordie is in danger from his fans.
Miss Scrimmage, Dinkman, and Jordie’s very protective manager, Goose Golden, are very upset. Mrs. Sturgeon invites them all to dinner to sort things out. Mr. Sturgeon tells Dinkman that Jordie is too protected. Dinkman agrees to let Jordie socialize with students openly. So, Jordie can now help the team practice hockey every day after school. Jordie also talks Dinkman into giving Bruno one last chance for the movie. But Bruno messes up yet again.
Later, the team plays the hockey game against York Academy. Jordie watches from the stands. When their goalie, Pete Anderson, gets hurt, the team needs a backup. Jordie volunteers and goes into the game. They end up winning! But Jordie gets a black eye after his mask falls off and he gets hit by the puck.
Because of Jordie’s black eye, the movie team cannot film anymore. Jordie is forced to promote the movie non-stop with interviews. Meanwhile, Bruno has to get ready for a five-day camping trip to Algonquin Park. The day before the trip, Bruno tries one last time to get into the movie. He gets Boots to distract the stuntman for a scene. Bruno, disguised as the stuntman, successfully does the stunt. But he gets rejected when his wig falls off and Dinkman sees who he really is.
Bruno and the boys go on the camping trip. To their surprise, Jordie sneaks along! He feels trapped by all the interviews. When the teachers, Mr. Flynn and Mr. Fudge, find Jordie, they try to send him back. Mr. Fudge tries to find a way back to the highway. But he gets lost. So, they try to get rescued by building an S.O.S. raft.
Back at Macdonald Hall, Goose Golden is the first to find out Jordie is missing. Dinkman told him to keep it a secret, but Golden accidentally tells everyone. This turns the school into a media circus. Hundreds of news reporters arrive, demanding answers. Mr. Sturgeon is annoyed. He decides to drive to Algonquin Park himself to bring Jordie back. Meanwhile, Cathy Burton, a student at Scrimmage’s, realizes Jordie is on the camping trip. Miss Scrimmage is supposed to take Cathy and the Baking Club to Montreal the next day. But Cathy, knowing Miss Scrimmage uses printed directions, swaps them with directions to Algonquin Park.
Mr. Sturgeon drives to Algonquin Park the next morning. After Goose Golden begs, Mr. Sturgeon reluctantly takes Golden with him. As soon as they arrive, Golden regrets it. He came totally unprepared. Meanwhile, Miss Scrimmage also drives the girls to Algonquin Park, thinking she's going to Montreal. Eventually, Miss Scrimmage notices something is wrong with the road. But the girls convince her to go on the camping trip. So, they hike into the forest to find Jordie. Cathy is so excited to meet Jordie that she starts shrieking loudly.
Bruno and the boys on the camping trip hear the shrieks. But Elmer Drimsdale, the school genius, insists it's a leopard. They decide to climb onto the S.O.S. raft, knowing leopards are afraid of water. At first, Mr. Flynn doesn't believe Elmer. But as the shrieks get louder, everyone becomes convinced. Mr. Sturgeon and Goose Golden find them and also climb onto the raft. Just as the shrieks are loudest, everyone realizes they came from Cathy. Soon after, a helicopter lands with Seth Dinkman inside. Everyone is rescued safely.
The movie crew returns to Macdonald Hall. They need to film two more scenes. One is the final scene where they blow up a model of the school building. The other is the bicycle stunt scene that Bruno took over. But they connect the wrong wires. This sets off a firework that Bruno forgot to remove earlier. The firework destroys the emergency brakes for Jordie’s trailer (with Goose Golden inside). The trailer rolls down a hill and crashes into the school model. The stuntman who was supposed to do the bicycle stunt gets hurt trying to escape the trailer. This means Bruno finally gets his dream of being in the movie!
Characters
Macdonald Hall Students
- Bruno Walton - A student who desperately tries to get into the movie. He dislikes Jordie Jones at first but becomes his friend. He often causes mischief to help Jordie fit in.
- Melvin "Boots" O'Neal - Bruno's best friend and the captain of the hockey team. He tries to keep Bruno out of trouble. But Bruno usually convinces him to help with his plans.
- Mark Davies - A student making a documentary about the movie. A funny running joke is Mark adding too many extra scenes to his film.
- Larry Wilson - The school's office messenger. He often knows news before other students and shares it.
- Wilbur Hackenschleimer - An overweight student and amateur weightlifter. He is always worried about food.
- Pete Anderson - A kind but not-so-smart student. He doesn't realize when Jordie Jones is in disguise.
- Elmer Drimsdale - The smartest student in the school. He is good at identifying animal sounds, but he makes a mistake about a leopard at the end.
- Sidney Rampulsky - The school's clumsy student. He is always careless. At Jordie's birthday party, he thought fireworks were candles.
- Calvin Fihzgart - The school's show-off. He claims to be good at camping but proves he isn't.
Macdonald Hall Staff
- Mr. William "The Fish" Sturgeon - The headmaster of Macdonald Hall. He often argues with Miss Scrimmage, who thinks his boys bother her girls.
- Mrs. Mildred Sturgeon - Mr. Sturgeon's wife. She often thinks Mr. Sturgeon is too strict with the boys.
- Mr. Alex Flynn - The coach for the hockey team and a supervisor for the camping trip.
- Mr. Dave Fudge - The housemaster for Dormitory 3 and a supervisor for the camping trip.
Scrimmage's Finishing School
- Miss Scrimmage - The headmistress of Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School. She often blames Mr. Sturgeon's students for bothering her girls.
- Cathy Burton - A clever student who makes many plans. She plans Jordie's surprise party and tricks Miss Scrimmage into driving to Algonquin Park.
- Diane Grant - Cathy's best friend.
- Ruth Sidwell, Vanessa Robinson, Wilma Dorf - Girls who help with Jordie's birthday party. They are also in the baking club and go to Algonquin Park to find Jordie.
Movie Crew
- Jordie Jones - The teenage star of the movie. At first, he feels lonely because he can't socialize with students his age. Bruno helps him make friends. He was a child actor known for diaper commercials.
- Seth Dinkman - The director of the movie. He often gets annoyed by Bruno messing up the movie and Goose Golden being too protective of Jordie.
- Goose Golden - Jordie's very protective manager. He has trouble sleeping (insomnia) and worries a lot about Jordie. He might have obsessive–compulsive disorder because he over-thinks non-existent problems for Jordie. It's not clear if "Goose" is his real name.
