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Macdonald Hall is the name of a series of young adult novels by author Gordon Korman. The series was formerly named Bruno and Boots.
The series is set in a Canadian boarding school for boys called Macdonald Hall (named for John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada), located somewhere north of the city of Toronto along Highway 48 and seven miles south of the fictitious town of Chutney.[1] The school's enrollment is around 700 students.[2]
The lead characters are Bruno Walton and Melvin "Boots" O'Neal, Macdonald Hall students who have a well-earned reputation for mischief. For all their troublemaking, however, the pair have a deep loyalty to the school and many of the books have them and their friends going to great lengths to support it. It is unknown how old they are, but they are too young to shave.[3]
The school's headmaster is William R. Sturgeon, also known as "The Fish" by the students. This unwanted nickname comes not only from his name, but also from his bespectacled fish-like appearance when he glares disapprovingly at his students. While he is a firm disciplinarian with a carefully cultivated authoritative image, he also cares deeply for his school and the children under his care. His wife cares just as much for the students, and whenever Bruno and Boots come by, she offers them cookies and milk. Mrs. Sturgeon isn't as strict as her husband and has, on a number of occasions, defended their pranks.
Across the street is another school, Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies. However, despite the obtuse headmistress's best efforts, the girls there are even more rambunctious than the boys of Macdonald Hall, and are always ready for whatever fun that Bruno and Boots have in mind. Miss Scrimmage happens to own a shotgun which she uses to threaten anyone who disturbs the peace or comes by her school, but she has poor control of it and is prone to accidental shootings in random directions. Miss Scrimmage uses her shotgun whenever she finds the boys on her property (usually after lights out) resulting in Mr. Sturgeon wishing her to have it taken away.
At times, the two schools have joined forces, such as in The Wizzle War, wherein Mr. Sturgeon gains a new assistant principal, Mr. Wizzle, who is a firm believer in categorizing and "computerizing" Macdonald Hall. Meanwhile, Miss Scrimmage hires a former drill instructor as her assistant; afterward, the two student bodies team up to send the new staff "as far as they can afford to send them" before the school board decides that keeping them at the school is a good idea.
Several of the novels have been adapted for YTV as the television film series Bruno & Boots.[4] To date, the adapted books have been Go Jump in the Pool in 2016, and This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall and The War with Mr. Wizzle in 2017.
- ^ Korman, Gordon (1986). "Room 13". Beware the Fish!. Macdonald Hall. Scholastic. p. 48. ISBN 0-590-40354-0.
- ^ Korman, Gordon (1988). The Zucchini Warriors. Markham, Ont.: Scholastic Canada. p. 4. ISBN 059041335X.
- ^ Korman, Gordon (1978). This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall. Markham, Ont.: Scholastic Canada. p. 8. ISBN 0439974291.
- ^ "Bruno & Boots MOWs go to camera". Playback, August 25, 2016.