Unlike last month, I did not go all out this particular weekend of the readathon, mainly because I do not have days off following the weekend to write and post all of the reviews. I did choose several books on the list I mentioned in that post so I could get through several more before our first committee meeting next weekend.
I cannot say that I loved this book but I can say that I have never seen middle school relationships portrayed so well – annoying, aggravating, and hilarious. The author did a fantastic job with this middle school version of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a classic early 2000s romcom that I happen to enjoy. If you want to get a look into the relationship drama that middle school teachers find themselves unfortunately exposed to far too often, look no further.
I typically enjoy middle grade mysteries and do not mind when the red herrings and actual villains present themselves in stereotypical almost absurd caricatures. This one rubbed me the wrong way though the fault lies mainly with the cooking/baking competition side of the narrative. I know that these types of competitions exist but the abilities of the kid bakers in these books tend to feel a bit fantastical. Also, why do so many
middle school novels have these sorts of competitions. Overall, this was fine but just fine, nothing more.
One image per chapter does not make this an illustrated narrative. I expected a lot more, especially since each chapter held so much potential. Additional illustrations might have saved this book by breaking up the fairly dry narrative. If I, an adult who reads a lot of nonfiction, found myself bored, this would likely not work for a middle school reader.
Of course the song which inspired the title went through my head most of the time while I read. That’s the most I can say about this narrative that I just did not engage with. It’s set in the year of my birth and from all that I can tell reads as authentic to the decade. Perhaps the 80s just do not work for me. The ages of all the characters in this traveling performing group felt more than a bit nebulous as well resulting in confusing
interactions between various characters. The book overall is fine but it did not work for me.
At first I struggled to engage with the story, a bit perplexed by the identity of the narrator. After figuring this out, I could not look away. Forman told the story in a unique way with the narrator not being the main character but an observer who eventually interacts quite closely with him, the main character. The narrative eventually tells the story both of the main character who is struggling with a lot as well as the narrator, a 107 year old Holocaust survivor. The way things come together at teh end felt like a bit of a gut punch, a conclusion possible only because of the groundwork Forman laid throughout the whole narrative.
This book had an interesting setup with the idea of werewolves being an inherited condition rather than some affliction derived from the bite of another rabid werewolf. Moulton embedded this worldbuilding within the Jewish culture with the majority of the narrative occurring on a kibbutz in Washington State. The main character, Benji, has to face his fears, which are multiple, throughout this narrative. All of the above
makes for a fantastic setup and should have led to a decent book. Unfortunately, Moulton spent so much of the book info-dumping about all kinds of different aspects of werewolf lore, Jewish lore, and so much more. These sections bogged down the narrative making the story almost a chore to read.
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