One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

For Kids and Adults Alike

Carley Connors has learned to be tough, growing up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving mother. But after a heartbreaking betrayal, Carley finds herself in foster care. When’s she’s placed with the Murphys, a lively family with three boys, she’s blindsided. Do happy families really exist? Mrs. Murphy makes her feel heard and seen for the first time. Then, just when she’s feeling like she could truly be one of the Murphys, news from her mother shakes her world.

This is one of the most nerve-wracking, mind-bending books I’ve ever read. It will make you sad, angry, and horrified all at once. I thought ‘How to Speak Dolphin’ was an emotional rollercoaster but this book is ten times more emotional.

This poor girl is put into a nice home with a kind women and she doesn’t know how to handle it. She was so used to being around a mother who would get mad at her so often she doesn’t understand why this women is being so nice to her.

This is yet another story I think all kids should read. People need to know that a parent can love a child like they are their own even when they’re not. But they also need to know that there are some adults who should never have children. Not all parents love their children and that’s pretty much the saddest thing ever.

Carley has more people being mean to her besides her mother. The older Murphy brother and a girl at school are giving her a hard time. I can understand why the boy is giving her a hard time. He thinks she’s trying to steal his mother. But the girl has no reason to give Carley a hard time. This girl just has her own family issues and is taking them out on poor Carley. That’s something I found out in a TV show once; you apparently never strike out on the thing you’re really mad at, you just take it out on someone else. So if someone makes fun of you, it’s really their problem not yours.

I’ve never understood how a parent can’t love their child. Mostly because I’m so loved. I think a parent who would purposely hurt their child is the worst kind of person ever.

This is one of those books that elementary school teachers would have children read. I remember in school how we would read a book and then dissect it, figuring out why the character is doing a particular thing. 

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova

Middle school and High school

Rule #1 for surviving school:

Don’t get noticed by the mean kids.

Rule #2 for surviving school:

Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.

Penelope – Peppi- Torres’s first day of school doesn’t go as well as she hoped. When she trips in the hall and she’s helped by quiet boy, Jaime Thompson, she’s already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the ‘nerder girlfriend’. How does she handle the crisis? Buy shoving Jamie and running away!

Falling back on rule two, she surrounds herself with new friends in the art club, but Peppi still feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are awkward enough between the two, but to make makes worse, he’s a member of the science club – her club’s archrivals. When the two clubs go to war, Peppi must realize that you have to break the rules to survive middle school.

For starters, it’s horrible that she pushed away someone who was trying to help her. But we’ve all had that moment where we panic and without thinking we do something we regret. And I can understand why it took her so long to apologize. She was scared. We were all scared in middle school and anyone who says they weren’t is a liar.

I think the reason kids make fun of the smart kids is because they are jealous of how smart they are and they know the smart people will be making all the money someday.

I hate how schools are cutting down on the Arts. Do they not realize that almost everything is art? Books are art, buildings are art, movies are art. (Do you know how much money is made in the movie business? It’s a lot.)

The point this book makes is that we all have those really awkward moments in our life and how to get through them. The only advice I can give anyone about getting through an awkward situation is try not to choke on your own tongue.

The artwork in this story is beautiful. Be sure to read the back pages of the book to learn about the author, how she created the characters, and her drawing process. As a comic drawer myself I find her process fascinating.

I suggest this book to anyone going into middle school.