My Diary from the Edge of the World by Jodi Lynn Anderson

11 and Up

Gracie Lockwood is a twelve-year-old spirited girl, living in a world where sasquatches, dragons, giants and mermaids are common. When a Dark Cloud comes looking for her little brother, her parents pack the family into a used Winnebago and set out on an epic search for a safe place that most people say doesn’t exist: the Extraordinary World, a world very similar to our world.

This book answers the question “What would the world be like if everything magical and mythical were real?” This world is so full of wonder and amazing creatures, a world that people would dream of going to in most books but to the people in this book it’s all just normal.

This author has created such a magical world with so much detail it’s insane. She really came up with everything.

This world is so much different from ours and it’s like a weird dimensional version of our world. It kind of reminds me a something said on the show ‘The Flash” on The CW, about the theory of the multiverse. The theory is that there are multiple versions of the earth, like one where John F. Kennedy was never assassinated or one where we’re all evil. Or in the case of this book there are many things are different. All the creatures and monsters beyond our wildest imagination are all just a part of everyday life. And our earth is the fantasy. How weird is that?

The weirdest thing is all of the product placements. Seriously they mention almost every snack food and fast food restaurant you can think of.

Class Dismissed by Allan Woodrow

3^rd Grade and Up

This story is about Class 507 and one day, after a disastrous science experiment, Ms. Bryce quits and walks out in the middle class. But through a mix-up, the school office doesn’t find out. At first the fifth graders enjoy goofing off, but after a few days that starts getting boring, and the students that school without a teacher isn’t easy, cooperating is difficult, and keeping a secret this big is harder than they thought.

When I found this book, I was like “WHAT?! How would that even happen? How are they going to get away with this?”

I’ve had many teachers who were clearly not qualified to be teachers. I’ve only had a handful of good teachers. I’ve had teachers who couldn’t control the class at all and the students around me just talked the entire time. I never understood why everyone talked to each other so much; I don’t really understand it now. What were they walking about so much back then? It was so annoying.

But teachers don’t have it easy. They have to put up with almost 30 kids at a time and keep their attention. They also have to plan lessons and grade homework. Have you seen some people’s handwriting? It’s pure chicken scratch.

This book goes into the social static of the classroom: the boys who goof around the whole time, the bullies, the smart kids, the stuck up girly girls, the quiet kid. We all knew these kinds of kids.

This kind of reminds me of the movie ‘The Breakfast Club.’ How the characters grow throughout the story. The children learn through the experience, coming out better and gaining an appreciation or their past teacher.

You pretty much know that this is all going to blow up in their faces eventually but it’s fun to see just how long they can keep this up.

The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall

6^th Grade and Up

This story is about Arthur T. Owens, who threw a brick at the trash picker. Arthur had his reasons, and the brick hit the Junk Man in the arm, not the head.  But that doesn’t matter to the judge – he’s ready to send Arthur to juvie for a long time. Surprisingly, the Junk Man himself offers an alternative: 120 hours of community service…working for him.

Arthur is given a rickety shopping cart and a list of the Seven Most Important Things: lightbulbs, foil, mirrors, pieces of wood, glass bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard. He can’t believe it – is he really supposed to go through people’s trash? But Arthur soon realizes that there’s more to the Junk Man than meets the eye, and the ‘trash’ he’s collecting is being made into something more precious than anyone could imagine.

This is one of those deep-hearted kind of books I love.

Each one of the seven most important things is connected to a life lesson Arthur goes through, which I find brilliant and sweet.

If you’ve enjoyed books like ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ and Freak the Mighty’, you’ll love this book.

Be sure to read the Author’s Note, it will blow your mind. It blew mine.

Unfortunately that’s all I have to say for this book. I would write more but I had a hard time reading this book. It’s an easy read but I’ve been super busy. And every time I tried to read I was in a half comatose state I was so tired.