Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child by Maria T. Lennon

Pages: 288

Genre:  Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

Source: I purchased

From Goodreads:

It's Mean Girls for tweens in the tradition of Paula Danziger's Cat That Ate My Gymsuit and Judy Blume! Watch out, world: here comes Charlie C. Cooper-computer whiz, reformed bully, and so-called middle child-in this seriously funny debut tween novel from screenwriter Maria T. Lennon.

Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child stars the hilariously cheeky reformed bully and tween hacker Charlie Cooper as she tries to ditch her middle-child reputation and make cool friends at her new school in Los Angeles. But being cool isn't as easy as it looks. Charlie has to face down the mean girls and decide between right and wrong once and for all when she learns the terrible truth behind Marta the Farta's bad attitude and loner status. And Charlie has to do it all in outfits meant for the runways!

Maria T. Lennon has created a fresh and fun story that brings Mean Girls to the tween level, peppered with snarky asides, major attitude, and advice to spare from Charlie-whether you asked for it or not.

My Thoughts:

Charlie comes from a family where money is no problem.  That is the problem.  She often thinks she is above getting in trouble. That is until she pulls a prank and she gets kicked out of school.  The prank was so bad her parents send her to counseling.  She hates going to the psychiatrist.  He gives her an out.  Since she has to go to a new school, she needs to find the girl who is most bullied and become her friend. 

Charlie wants to hang out with the type of kids she hung out with at her old school.  To ditch her psychiatrist she has to be come with Marta the Farta.  She will do it because she wants out of counseling.  What she learns is that Marta is not that bad.  She sees Trixie, who was just like her old friends for who she truly is. Trixie has it in for Marta and she wants Charlie to help her, even if it means she will blackmail Charlie because of her past.

This type of thing truly does go on in middle schools.  Just turn on the news and you will hear new extreme cases of teens bullying each other.  This is definitely one I will recommend to my fellow teachers and one I will recommend to my students.

Student Saturday: Dork Diaries - Rachel Renee Russell

Student Reviewer: Angela S.

Dork Diaries was a book about a girl who moved schools and is having a really bad time. She then finds two friends and they are absolutely crazy. They want to get tattoos for the trip they want to win.  But, their parents won't let them. She then starts making fake tattoos on them and popular kids want some for an exchange of donated books for the library. It all gets out of hand when they start making more for other kids.  She works non-stop and their friendship ends. Then it was the day of the art competition and her art work gets ruined. She can't attend, but her crush brings her inside out of the rain. She goes to the office and gets changed. Secretly her crush and friends help her out by taking pictures of the tattoos she created and make it into an art piece for the art show. She won first place and her former friends are now best friends. I think that I couldn't have held it all and would have cried for days. I recommend reading Dork Diaries  to people that have moved to a different school and are having a hard time.

How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks

Pages:  320

Genre:  Middle Grade Fantasy

Source:  I received a copy to review. The opinions expressed here are my own. I was not compensated in anyway for my review.

From Goodreads:

If ever a chill entered her soul, or the hope suddenly drained from her heart, she knew a bogle was to blame. Birdie McAdam, a ten-year-old orphan, is tougher than she looks. She's proud of her job as apprentice to Alfred the Bogler, a man who catches monsters for a living. Birdie lures the bogles out of their lairs with her sweet songs, and Alfred kills them before they kill her. On the mean streets of Victorian England, hunting bogles is actually less dangerous work than mudlarking for scraps along the vile river Thames. (See glossary!) Or so it seems—until the orphans of London start to disappear .

My Thoughts:

This reminds me of Grimm's Fairytales because they are dark.  This is a dark story that takes place in Victorian London. During that time period you had the poor and the wealthy.  The wealthy did not associate with the poor unless they needed them to do work for them. The wealthy did not believe in Bogles, monsters who ate children.  These were tales the poor people told their children to keep them obedient.  If you were not lucky enough to have parents then you often found yourself working in a workhouse.  Lots of long hours, hard work and very little food.  A lot of kids starved to death.  Birdie McAdam is an orphan.  She is a lucky one though.  She is the apprentice to Alfred Bunce a Bogle killer.  Birdie’s job is simple she needs to sing.  Singing lures the Bogles out so that Bunce can kill them.  She considers the risk well worth it compared to working in a workhouse.  However, there seems to be more children disappearing.  After all, children are a Bogle’s favorite dish.  Tag along with Birdie and Bunce on this first adventure into the world of the Bogles.  The second book in the trilogy, A Plague of Bogles, will be out in the fall of 2014.  Afraid you might not understand the language from the Victorian era?  There is a handy glossary in the back.  This is a book you definitely need to check out.