A vanilla-flavored depiction of middle school for kids who aren’t there yet.
Exuberant Emma, back after series opener Ask Emma (2018), is determined to be one of her middle school’s representatives to the National Student Congress.
But first, she has to prove to her principal that she can keep her (strong) opinions to herself for a full 48 hours, not easy for a person who thrives on dishing out advice. Although Emma manages to succeed—barely—in the process she alienates her two best friends by not taking sides to settle an argument and then posting an ill-conceived message about them on her popular blog. The girls retaliate by immediately beginning to exclude her from their three-way friendship. Some pithy advice from her mom helps Emma regroup and restore the peace, and she’s off to the stress-filled Student Congress in D.C., where she and her favorite boy, Jackson, must debate in front of a huge crowd. Her spontaneity and enthusiasm prove essential, of course. The white-default young teens model lots of problem-solving skills as they navigate common if rather trivial issues of their age group. Characters suffer from a lack of depth, overreacting to minor provocations but then being just as easily placated by equally minor interventions, reducing most of the conflict to insignificance. A long chapter of advice on how to start a mother-daughter book club follows the tale.
A vanilla-flavored depiction of middle school for kids who aren’t there yet. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0648-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Yellow Jacket
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers.
First volume of a planned three, this edited version of an ongoing online serial records a middle-school everykid’s triumphs and (more often) tribulations through the course of a school year.
Largely through his own fault, mishaps seem to plague Greg at every turn, from the minor freak-outs of finding himself permanently seated in class between two pierced stoners and then being saddled with his mom for a substitute teacher, to being forced to wrestle in gym with a weird classmate who has invited him to view his “secret freckle.” Presented in a mix of legible “hand-lettered” text and lots of simple cartoon illustrations with the punch lines often in dialogue balloons, Greg’s escapades, unwavering self-interest and sardonic commentary are a hoot and a half.
Certain to elicit both gales of giggles and winces of sympathy (not to mention recognition) from young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8109-9313-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean.
A 12-year-old copes with a brain tumor.
Maddie likes potatoes and fake mustaches. Kids at school are nice (except one whom readers will see instantly is a bully); soon they’ll get to perform Shakespeare scenes in a unit they’ve all been looking forward to. But recent dysfunctions in Maddie’s arm and leg mean, stunningly, that she has a brain tumor. She has two surgeries, the first successful, the second taking place after the book’s end, leaving readers hanging. The tumor’s not malignant, but it—or the surgeries—could cause sight loss, personality change, or death. The descriptions of surgery aren’t for the faint of heart. The authors—parents of a real-life Maddie who really had a brain tumor—imbue fictional Maddie’s first-person narration with quirky turns of phrase (“For the love of potatoes!”) and whimsy (she imagines her medical battles as epic fantasy fights and pretends MRI stands for Mustard Rat from Indiana or Mustaches Rock Importantly), but they also portray her as a model sick kid. She’s frightened but never acts out, snaps, or resists. Her most frequent commentary about the tumor, having her skull opened, and the possibility of death is “Boo” or “Super boo.” She even shoulders the bully’s redemption. Maddie and most characters are white; one cringe-inducing hallucinatory surgery dream involves “chanting island natives” and a “witch doctor lady.”
Medically, both squicky and hopeful; emotionally, unbelievably squeaky-clean. (authors’ note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62972-330-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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