How to Survive Middle School

Full confession: I have been recommending this book for years as a funny read without ever having read it. However, having chosen it for my new book club, Book Explosion, and our inaugural genre of humor, I felt that I must read it. Whereupon, I made a discovery. I didn't think it was funny. I actually got a bit teary-eyed at one point.

David Greenberg has plans for the best summer before middle school ever. Hanging out with his best friend, making funny utube videos like his idol, Jon Stewart, and not thinking about how his mom left. But then his best friend has changed and not only is summer ruined, they have a big fight right before school. David manages to make a new friend, Sophie, and suddenly his videos are popular! But with his show more mom gone, bullies on his case, his old best friend being mean to him, and his sister trying to kill him, will David ever survive middle school?

So, just so you know, the hamster dies. Seriously. David makes funny videos with the hamster, the last thing his mom got for him before she succumbed to her crippling agorophobia and ran away to live with a beet farmer. And the hamster dies. His best friend has a crush on a girl and ditches him for the whole summer and then hangs out with the school bully who has beat them both up in the past. Sophie was previously homeschooled and her mom is still taking out her own anxieties about being left by her husband on hovering over Sophie. David's dad writes an advice column. I'm like...how is this funny?

And yet.... it kind of is, if you like the realistic, "my life sucks but I'm going to deal with it through humor" kind of thing. I've definitely had plenty of 5th and 6th graders tell me they thought this book was hilarious. So I think I'm going to chalk this one up to not being a good fit for me as a reader (I'm going to have trouble recommending it as a funny book now that I know the hamster dies though).

Verdict: A fun book to recommend for kids who want something about the angst, drama and general misery of middle school. The references to Jon Stewart are going to eventually date it though, if they haven't already, so this one has a shelf-life. I wouldn't purchase it new at this point, but I wouldn't weed it either.

ISBN: 9780385737937; Published 2010 by Delacorte; Purchased for the library show less

Liked it and would have given four stars except for falling into a pet peeve of mine where the bullied person bullies the bully (or threatens to) in the resolution.

Recommended Ages: Gr. 5-7 (based on subject matter, but easily could be interesting to 8th as well)

Plot Summary: David is just like any other kid who is about to start middle school--scared. Unfortunately for him, his best friend becomes friends with a bully, leaving David feeling lonely, especially at lunch. The only thing he has going for himself are the humorous videos he makes and uploads. Thankfully, his new crush and only friend Sophie enjoys them as well, so much so that she passes them on to all of her homeschool friends. Suddenly, newspapers and radio stations are asking to interview him. David has a hard time being happy about his online life when his real life is so difficult. He is seriously scared that Tommy is going to show more hurt him bad and can't fathom why he is the target of his bullying. Will life ever get better for David?

Setting: Harman Middle School, Bensalem, PA, modern day

Characters:
David Todd Greenberg - 6th grade, shortest one in his grade, voice cracks often
Hammy - the hamster David's mom gave to him a few days before she left because he looked lonely in the store
Elliot Isaac Berger - 6th grade, best friends with David until he becomes obsessed with a girl then becomes friends with Tommy, sensitive about the fact his dad left them, live in an apartment building, doesn't have much money for clothes, gets into a fight with David on the first day of school after he and Tommy told David to wear t-shirts instead of the required collared shirt
Sophie Meyers - has soft curly red hair, only other 6th grader in David's math class (rest are 7th graders plus 8th grader Tommy), makes friends with Sophie, is David's first crush, tries to cheer up David when he is sad about his hamster dying but the cupcake she gives him ends up giving David more problems because Tommy thinks it's his birthday, David's science partner and they choose to make a video about Albert Einstein, was previously homeschooled and has most items in her house labeled in Spanish, is annoyed her mom has become more controlling after their dad left, impressed by David's videos and sends them to her homeschool friends which starts significantly increasing the number of hits
Lindsay Greenberg - 14 y/o, freshman, doesn't write to her mother
Alan Greenberg - AKA Dad, David's dad, used to play in a band but now plays Rock Band with his two friends named Alan, writes the advice column Alan's Answers
Anita Greenberg - David's mom who left them 2 years ago after she told Dad he was suffocating her (not physically), moved to Maine and lives with a beet farmer in a house with not phone or internet, probably agoraphobic, used to play the tuba but now it sits in the middle of the family room as a reminder of her abandonment
Tommy Murphy - 8th graders, lives in same apartment building as Elliot, a huge bully and gives David a really hard time with no obvious motivation, becomes friends with Elliot and turns him against David as well, makes David dread school
Bubbe - David's grandma, lives in apartment attached to house, does all of the cooking for the Greenberg household, is a typical Jewish mother trying to get others to eat
Cara Epstein - girl who signed her name with two hearts in everyone's yearbook, but Elliot thinks it was just him cuz she likes him so Elliot changes David's summer plans and they go to the mall 24 times in hopes they run into her
Amy - 15 y/o, David's cousin, hangs out with Lindsay with baby oil next to their pool
Rachel - 6 y/o, David's cousin
Jack - David's older cousin who smokes while sitting on the roof of his car, tries to give advice on middle school to David and scares him (foreshadowing)
Aunt Sherry - David's aunt
Ms. Lovely - David's first period teacher, can be strict, very old, gives Tommy many detentions but it doesn't stop him from bullying
Mr. Carp - 6th grade assistant principal

Recurring Themes: Daily Show, Jon Stewart, talk show host, Judaism, height (short), dress code, advice column, Rock Band, humor, friendship, family, bullying, single parents

Controversial Issues:
pg 13 "I can't believe I've spent my entire summer cruising past Victoria's Secret with Elliot...He likes looking at the underwear on the mannequins. Get a catalog, perv!"
pg 19 cousin Jack smokes (don't know how old he is)
pg 18 David's dad is drinking a beer by the side of the pool

Personal Thoughts: I really enjoyed this story! I thought it was funny, and I really liked David and his whole family. David was very authentic and I felt his pain and enjoyed his humor. I completely disagree with fighting but I was rooting for David when he started to beat up his ex-best friend Elliot. I thought the characterization of all of the characters was perfect.

Genre: realistic fiction, humor

Pacing: medium-fast
Characters:
Frame: David edits his own videos and loads them to a website that allows comments, but he never calls it YouTube
Storyline:

Activity: create your own video show less

Authors don't always have to imagine; sometimes they just need to possess keen recall of that timeless adolescent anxiety over appearance, the opposite sex, rate of physical maturity, and the need to belong. Although the adolescent world has changed to include emails and youtube, the fear of swirlies is alive and well thanks to bullies who flush the heads of their prey in school toilets.

David's sixth grade year peaks and plummets like a roller coaster. He is developing a close friendship with a nice girl at school but struggles with the absence of his mother who has moved away and never visits. He has become a star on youtube as a talk show host of sorts, but fights to remain invisible at school to avoid the bully who throws oranges at show more his head and flushes his head in the school toilet.

David captures the reader's heart, and everyone can identify with his plight and cheer for him when the news publishes a story about his youtube fame. A very realistic portrayal of David's survival in middle school. show less

David is having a tough time starting middle school. His best friend has joined forces against him with the school bully, he's having trouble making friends with anyone except the girl in his accelerated math class, and his mom skipped town with a beet-farmer, leaving David to adjust to a new family dynamic with his father, sister and grandma. As unpopular as he is at school, the internet videos he posts featuring his pet hamster and his sister's daily acne forecast have made him an online sensation. If only he had this many fans in real life.

Gephart creates well-developed characters and a convincing portrayal of adolescent angst.

From the looks of the cover, I thought this book would be funny, but it's not. It's filled with some really intense emotions and a lot of issues that are pretty realistic and believable. The main character, David, is a kid that's just starting middle school, and dealing with the fact that his mom left the family to live out a ridiculously selfish fantasy life with some organic farmer in another part of the country. Meanwhile, David's best friend, Elliot, won't talk to him because of a fight they a few days before school starts. They were supposed to figure out middle school together, but instead, Elliot is hanging out with their long time worst enemy, who's a typical meat-head bully.

David is a Youtuber...he and Elliot used to make show more videos together, but they never got many views, comments or likes. David dreams of hosting a real comedy talk show, like his idol John Stewart. A shake-up in his routine brings him more views than usual, and things start to snowball. show less

David Greenberg plans to be the next Jon Stewart but he first has to figure out how to survive Harman Middle School.

David produces his own show TalkTime and posts the videos on YouTube. His best friend Elliott used to help him with the show, but they had a falling out. Now David has to figure out a way to deal with:
6. Middle school (much scarier than it sounds!)
5. His best friend gone girl-crazy
4. A runaway mom who has no phone!
3. The threat of a swirlie on his birthday
2. A terrifying cousin
1. His # 1 fan, Bubbe (his Jewish grandmother)
1/2. And Hammy, the hamster who’s determined to break David’s heart

David makes a new friend, the peppermint-smelling Sophie, while dealing with all of his issues. She loves David’s show more videos and shares them with a few friends, who share them with a few more friends. Before David knows it, TalkTime has gone viral and David is an internet superstar! You’d think he’d be thrilled, but instead he finds himself asking “What good does it to be famous online when in real life, I go to a school where all I am is ‘Lameberg’?”

Read How to Survive Middle School, and then join us at the January meeting of Cover2Cover to talk about the book and balancing an online life with a real life. show less