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Warning!
Big Nate Flips Out features spoilers, so if you have not read/watched this, do not read this article
if you don't want it to be spoiled.

Big Nate Flips Out is the fifth installment of the Big Nate book series, released on February 5, 2013.


Synopsis[]

Nate gets Francis to co-edit the Chronicle (yearbook) so Gina will not screw it up. Things take a turn when Nate's sloppiness causes him to lose the camera for the Chronicle, getting Francis in trouble and breaking their friendship. Now, Teddy and Dee Dee get Teddy's Uncle Pedro to hypnotize Nate into becoming neater in order to reunite their friendship and to find the camera. But will it work, or cause Nate to flip out??

Book description[]

BIG NATE IS FLIPPING OUT!

Everyone knows N-A-T-E does NOT equal N-E-A-T!
And when Nate's sloppiness gets out of hand,
Francis gets in serious trouble.
Can Nate clean up his act,
or will he flip out first?

Plot[]

Nate is searching through his messy locker when Francis comes over and tells him he is the messiest kid at P.S. 38. Nate replies by telling him it is not his fault for being unorganized. He describes to the readers about his friendship with Francis and his "neat" personality. Nate, Francis, and their friend Teddy are walking down the corridor to science class. Mr. Galvin hands out the marked homework assignments. He tells Nate that his homework is the messiest out of all the other students and that it must be rewritten with no sloppy handwriting, no food stains, and no cartoons.

After Science, Nate and his friends stumble across a notice for the Chronicle meeting. They reminisce about how last year's chronicle went downhill because of Nick Blonsky, who was the editor of the Chronicle. They are shocked to find out that this year's chronicle editor is Nate's rival, Gina. Another description is made to the readers of Gina's obnoxiousness. To avoid Gina being made "queen of the yearbook", Nate nominates Francis as a co-editor, much to her dismay and Mrs. Hickson's approval. Nate is soon told off by Mrs. Hickson for ruining a book he took out from the library. After that fallout, Francis is seen alphabetizing the yearbook portraits (whereas Nate's is the funniest).

After the meeting, Nate suggests that the Chronicle should have more candids. Francis agrees, since last year's Chronicle went downhill with almost no candids. They argue with Nick on the subject, and then Nate decides to find Mrs. Godfrey. As she is the teacher in charge of the audiovisual room, he want to borrow a school camera so he can take photos for the Chronicle. Francis objects to this, due to Nate's sloppiness, but Nate secret swears that if Francis borrows the camera, he won't get him into any trouble. (This follows up to a view of the friendship pact.)

Once Francis hands it over to Nate, Randy, approaching with his posse, steals the camera and throws it high in the air. Luckily, Nate was able to retrieve it after Nick caught it.

Soon after, the camera is stolen by Nick. When Dee Dee asks Gina to jump rope with her, Nate thought he might get some good shots with the camera. However when he went inside his locker the camera disappeared. Francis says he knew he would lose it and called him a loser. Nate also got mad and revealed his secret "Butthurst" (Francis' Middle name) to half of P.S. 38.

Afterwards, while Nate was drawing a cartoon before school, he thought that Randy Betancourt was the camera thief. Dee Dee came along and asked about Randy. She wanted to spy on him with Nate, much to Nate's dismay. On the way to school, Dee Dee questions about Nate usually walking to school with Francis instead of her. Nate says that he'll probably never walk to school with Francis again, But Dee Dee comments that all he needs to do is get the camera back and he'll be fine. Then Teddy came and when the trio went to their lockers they heard Francis and Mrs. Godfrey arguing about the camera.

Afterwards, Nate decides to get hypnotized by Teddy’s Uncle Pedro to become Neat, which he finds uncomfortable. Being neat gets him better grades, but stops him from doing his favorite hobbies.

During lunch, when Nate sees Randy bullying Francis about his middle name again, he loses his temper and attacks Randy. Nate almost wins the fight, but Mrs. Czerwicki intervenes and sends Nate to the principal's office. After a lecture from Principal Nichols, Nate meets with Francis and shows him his clean locker before finding the camera inside. Nick then comes by and laughingly confesses that he stole the camera, which Dee Dee records on her phone, resulting in Nick getting suspended for a week. At Dee Dee's encouragement, Nate and Francis reconcile. When Dee Dee points out to Nate that he is dirty due to his fight with Randy and that he doesn't care, Nate realizes that the fight with Randy un-hypnotized him.

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A few days later, at the Trivia Slam, Nate takes the candids. Thanks to Nate's fear of cats, he correctly answers the winning question, and Francis' Factoids beats Gina's Geniuses. Francis talks to Nate and decides that he is better as a slob.

New Characters[]

Memorable Quotes[]

"At least I'm not you! At least I'm not a loser!"
―Francis to Nate after he seemingly lost the camera.


Trivia[]

  • This novel marks the first major appearance of Nick Blonsky and the second major appearance of Dee Dee.
  • It is also the first time Kim Cressly is shown outside of one of Nate's comics.
  • School Picture Guy also appears for the first time in any of the novels, but only in two of Nate's comics.
  • When Nate cleans and organizes his locker, one of the things he finds is the head of a lawn gnome. This is a reference to Big Nate On A Roll when he accidentally decapitates a lawn gnome when trying to earn money.
  • Nate introduces another new comic character, Luke Warm: Private Eye.
  • Uncle Pedro seems to have very many skills, ( Ex: small engine repairing, hypnosis, music lessons, and card tricks).
  • This book was more criticized than the others, for more clichéd humor, a rushed ending, predictable plot, etc.
  • Elements of the book were drawn from strips reprinted in Big Nate: Out Loud, including Francis and Nate's secrets, and the hypnosis plotline.
  • This is one of the few times fighting is a main part of the story.
  • This book seems to focus more on Nate and Francis.
  • The inventory Nate makes of his locker mentions "6 1/3 cups of dirt," which might mean Nate gets his hands dirty.
  • On page 105, Chad is seen eating a donut, but a sign behind him reads "NO FOOD OR DRINK IN HALLWAYS."

Gallery[]

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