Rating: Recommended with Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Mid Elementary

Possible Concerns:

  • Divorce. This is by far the main issue with the book. The main character discusses her poor reactions when her parents are divorced, and her newspaper publishes a controversial story another boy wrote about his experiences with divorce. The story is read out loud by the author during a public hearing. If your family has been affected by divorce, it could be therapeutic or it could be painful. The story appears in Chapter 20, on p. 125 in my version.
  • Mild romance. The main character thinks a guy is cute and blushes when he talks to her.
  • Conflict (disrespect?) to a teacher who does not teach. The student publishes an honest article that critiques his disengagement during class. (He reads a newspaper instead of teaching the class.)

Things I liked:

  • Honest treatment of divorce.
  • Quoting Psalms. The mother reads her Bible to her daughter about truth and mercy. This becomes a theme.

See also my reviews of Frindle, The Frindle Files, and Big Al.