Reading through Justin's struggles with school, relationships and just life in general took me back to my own school and growing up years. I recalled the good days when I seemed to fit in fine and the stress of projects and deadlines, try outs, sleep overs and the wondering about romance and the frustrations of bullies. Somehow he navigates through as I somehow did.
Curricular connections:
*Because the way it is written, it would be a great introduction to journal writing.
*This book would be terrific for a lunchtime book club read

Recommended Ages: Gr. 2-4

Plot Summary: Justin K. is starting 3rd grade, and thankfully, his best friend and second best friend are in his class. School is one week away and he's worried about Ms. Amara being nice. But on the first day of the school the principal tells him there was a mistake, and he's actually in a different class with a different teacher who is not nearly as nice as Ms. Amara. Now he's stuck in a class with a strict teacher and Xavier, who wants to be friends with Justin but Justin does not want to be friends with him. School gives him plenty of things to worry about, like whether he's ever going to get a superstar and what he should suggest for the class theme. He wants to do something with math and just can't come up with the right thing. Moments before his turn to suggest a theme to the class, he tries to rearrange the letters in superstar and came up with Rarest Pus. It didn't win, but it did cause his classmates to vote for him to be student council representative. Which just gives Justin another thing to worry about. Will Justin make it through the school year? Will he ever stop "no thank you" Xavier and Montana C? Will he earn superstars? Will he have to move to New Jersey from embarrassment?

Setting: somewhere near New Jersey

Characters:
Justin Krzeszewski - 3rd grade, named all of his stuffed animals and gives them personalities and stories, gets upset when the "leader" is missing, worries about everything, afraid of the boiler in the basement, not good at soccer but forced to be on the team anyways, really wants a dog and begs for one for a while but is very afraid of the dog they finally get and makes excuses about being afraid
Elizabeth - Justin's little sister, Kindergarten
Ms. Burns - Justin's would-be new teacher, new to the school this year, super nice, Noah's teacher
Ms. Amara - Elizabeth's kindergarten teacher, was Justin's teacher
Daisy - Justin's best friend, don't talk all year, doesn't invite Justin to her birthday party, not rude they just grow apart with a little more growing pains on Justin than Daisy
Noah - Justin's second best friend, "in love" with Ms. Burns
Gingy and Poopsie Jones - Justin's maternal grandparents who live in New Jersey
Xavier Schwartz - in Justin's class, gets in trouble all the time for not following rules like raising your hand, takes a VERY long time to get a superstar
Montana C. - in Justin's class, gets the most superstars and therefore causes Justin to not like her
Buckey - Montana's younger sibling, friends with Elizabeth in Kindergarten
Ms. Termini - Justin's teacher, has kids present suggestions for a theme for the year, chooses Xavier's theme of superstars, gives stars out to students when she sees them behaving well or when they do well academically
Mr. Calabrio - gym teacher
Ninny and Pop - Justin's paternal grandparents

Recurring Themes: school, friendship, family, anxiety, dog

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: As I write this a few months after reading the book, I don't really feel strongly one way or the other. It is obviously hard for me to explain what the book is about (based on my horrible summary above) but that's also because there are so many little problems to the book that it's hard to describe. It is well written and I would recommend it.

Genre: realistic fiction

Pacing: slow-medium - goes through an entire school year with lots of little problems but not major problem with a big suspenseful moment
Characters:
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: ( )

Need to remember what it's like to be a kid? Read this book. As a bonus, you'll get to laugh a lot.

I also recommend this to children who like chapter books a bit more advanced than Jigsaw Jones but not quite as 'old' as Origami Yoda. ( )

very funny ride with worrywart Justin as he navigates third grade would be a fun read-aloud too ( )

Retelling: Third-grader, Justin Case, achieved his nickname because of his ability to worry about anything. This book is arranged in the format of a diary, with one entry for each day in the year. Some entries are long and eventful, others are lists of worries, and still others are expressions of Justin's opinions.

Thoughts and Feelings: I found it very easy to relate to Justin. With great wisdom comes great responsibility, and with great responsibility comes a boatload of worry. Justin's adventures with his dog remind me of the age-old expression, "Be careful what you wish for." He put so much energy into persuading his parents to buy a dog, and then when it finally came, he was terrified of it.