Nancy Cavanaugh

This was one of those books that I breezed through quickly, thought about the appeal to readers (which is definitely there), but several things left a sour taste in my mouth. Also, you may mark this in your journals as one of the rare times I agree with a Kirkus review.

Abigail is excited to start sixth grade. She's got two best friends and they're absolutely sure they're going to be Pom Pom girls. If they don't, their lives will be over. But right away, things start going wrong. Abigail show more isn't in the same homeroom as her friends, who get a dreamy male teacher. She's stuck with Mrs. Hawke, who taught her mom and gives lectures on "kids these days" and is tough and is making them write letters to each other. Guess who Abigail got? Flabby Gabby, the biggest loser in school. When she doesn't get onto the Pom Pom squad, her life is officially over. Even getting to read to the kindergarteners for extra credit and the discovery that Gabby is actually kind of fun, can't make up for her disappointment, not to mention she doesn't want her erstwhile friends to see her around a loser - it will finish off any possibility of that friendship. When her dream comes true and she gets on the squad, is it really what she wants?

This is written in lists "five reasons my life will be over if I don't get on the squad", "three reasons Gabby is a loser" kind of thing. It appears to be heavily illustrated, but as I read it in ebook format on my kindle, I didn't see anything but the basic text. It's not exactly a graphic novel, but in the style of Jennifer Holm's Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf.

Girls will eat this up. The drama of friendship, the angst and embarrassment of middle school, the quick read aspect, the lists, all of it. I swallowed it down in half an hour and it was a quick, light read. Ms. Yingling says it's "pitch perfect middle school voice." But, and it's hard to tell how much of this is reading it as an adult, several things really bugged me. Abigail's family feels remarkably absent. They do little things for her, ask her how her day was, but there's no point where they really talk about what's going on. Some families are like that, of course, and presumably her parents think she should be handling herself in middle school, but it didn't seem to fit in well with the family lives of middle class suburbanites that I know.

The format of the book doesn't allow for a lot of character development, and Abigail is supposed to be a shallow, self-centered girl "a follower" as Gabby says, but to me she and the other characters were just too black and white. Sure, middle schoolers are self-centered, but even Abigail's epiphany at the end is about what she wants and likes to do and how guilty she feels about how mean she's been. Maybe this is me as an adult, wanting to say "you know, it's NOT all about you" to the kids but still...it bugged me. Gabby is so good she's unbelievable. She's a type of character that particularly bugs me; the ethnic character there to show how tolerant and broad-minded the main character is, the impoverished girl with the awful life to teach gratitude to the middle class, suburban girl. I cannot believe Gabby's goodness. Even when she finally loses her temper, it's only to deliver a very adult lecture to Abigail and walk away. All the Pom Pom squad girls, including Abigail's friends, are super nasty and irredeemable; the only thing she can ultimately do is walk away. The adults are totally oblivious to the nastiness and I can believe that about the subtle things, but not about everything they do. I also don't believe social services would allow Gabby to be in the custody of her brother, who can't be more than 18 at the most and a high school dropout, no matter what his motives are.

I'm also skeptical about the school. Now, I have, admittedly, limited experience with schools. But I can't see a teacher who's been in the game for over twenty years ignoring Abigail tackling and knocking over Gabby, accepting their lame excuses, or, and most importantly, being so blind to the girls' friendship drama. Choosing to ignore it and let them work it out on their own, sure, oblivious to it, no. I also don't see her being allowed to still be teaching after twenty years with such an eccentric curriculum. Do they have no tests, no state standards to meet? It sounds like no sixth grade language arts class I've heard about from teachers or students.

Abigail's innocence and naivety (in addition to her complete self-centeredness) was possibly the most realistic thing about her; she has no idea what her more sophisticated friends are getting at with their nasty comments about her friendship with Gabby, and she's thrilled that the eighth grade boy would invite her to a party and appear to be interested in her to the point of maybe even kissing her (omg please, please, please let there be chaperones at that party). As an adult, that whole thread of the plot just made me want to scream at the parents to at least try to teach their daughter some basic safety rules and how to deal with attention from an older boy.

Verdict: This is supposed to be a light, fun read and I can't grudge the kids that - I read plenty of fluff myself. But there are so many other books that will meet kids' desire for friendship angst and middle school drama, I find it hard to choose to spend my budget on this one with such stereotyped characters. So, it would definitely be popular. Girls will gobble it down. I do have lots of similar fluff series like Cupcake Diaries. But I'd rather spend my budget on books with similar appeal but a little more substance. I'd recommend Michele Hurwitz' The Summer I Saved the World, Calli be Gold, Tara Altebrando's The Battle of Darcy Lane, Wendy Mass, Lauren Myracle, Raina Telgemeier, Leslie Margolis, and for books that feature diverse characters (yes, I know Gabby isn't necessarily a minority character, but I'm thinking of her circumstances) as protagonists of their own stories, Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez and The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods.

ISBN: 9781402293030; Published August by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky; E-ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley. show less

This is about three young Asian girls who were adopted to the same parents. They were from the same orphanage. Two of the "sisters" get along like sisters and embrace their Chinese heritage. The third sister pretends to hate Chinese food, culture, and sometimes even feel envious of her sisters.

This is a wonderful book by Nancy J. Cavanaugh, who says that this book is about finding your place in the world. I believe that most young adult readers can relate to that. But, Ms. Cavanaugh chose show more this particular subject to bring the message to the forefront. Is it better to deny who you are to fit in with other people or to accept who you are from, even though you cannot relate to that group? This is an excellent story for any kid trying to find their niche in this world, adopted or not.

Thank you Ms. Cavanaugh, SOURSEBOOKS Jabber Rocky, and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book to read and give my honest review. show less

// Received an advance readers copy in exchange for a fair review //

"Now that I had experience being a hero, as good as it felt, it didn't seem all that important to be one anymore."


WooOOAaaAHHhh!!!!

I am amazed at this book.


First of all, the theme and the moral of this book is my favorite thing here. It's mostly about being yourself and fitting in, in a world that pushes you to do otherwise. It's about finding yourself, finding a place (or a person) to call home, hope and friendship.

The plot show more may not be for me but I have to commend it because it is very unique, which also makes it very intriguing. It would be a very good read for middle grade readers, and as well as for people who are looking for a young, easy, unique read.


The character depth and the character development are uh-mai-zing. You can see just how Elsie Mae's view and perspective of everything changed from the very first page.

This made reading the last few chapters a bit nostalgic feeling.


I have to keep saying unique because that is what this is. It just really is so very unique.


This book is something that I needed in my life right now and I definitely recommend to every teenager out there in the world who could possibly be reading this.



P.S.
Henry and Huch show less

I liked this book so much I wrote a blog post about it. I’ve been studying Karl Iglesias’ insightful and practical WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT while reading Nancy J. Cavanaugh‘s funny, charming, and warm THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET for Middle Grade readers.

When I went back over my notes, I realized that THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET uses all six of Karl Iglesias’ ways to reveal character on the page. The strong characterization kept me reading, even though the story has a show more potentially challenging structure: Ratchet’s handwritten language arts assignments. The story is so well constructed, I stopped noticing the writing assignments. show less