Mark did not ask to move to New Hampshire, or to go to a "hick School" like Hardy Elementary. He certainly did not request Mr. Maxwell as his teacher.

Mr. Maxwell does not like rich kids, or slackers, or know-it-alls, and he decided that Mark is all of those things. Now the entire fifth grade class is headed out for a week of camping in the woods. At first in sounded dumb Mark, but then he begin to open up to life in the country, and he decided it might be okay to learn something new. It might even be fun. Things started to go wrong for Mark.

The Week in the Woods was not what was planned. Especially not what Mr. Maxwell had in mind.