Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff | Jennifer L. Holm

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff | Jennifer L. Holm | An exceptionally fun book

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Middle School Is W...

	Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff Jennifer L. Holm Ginee Seo Books, 2007 - 128 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Ginny has ten items on her big to-do list for seventh grade. None of them, however, include accidentally turning her hair pink. Or getting sent to detention for throwing frogs in class. Or losing the lead role in the ballet recital to her ex-best friend. Or the thousand other things that can go wrong between September and June. But it looks like it's shaping up to be that kind of a year! Here's the story of one girl's worst school year ever -- told completely through her stuff.

The perils of middle school/junior high: a sweet read

As I scrabbled through my purse to find the receipt the other day, the flotsam and jetsam of my life floated out too. There was a post-it note with a phone number I needed, a receipt for the dog's visit to the vet, a class schedule, a flash drive and various other artifacts and odd bits of life that really do tell the story of my daily existence.

As I picked up Jennifer Holm's book, Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff and began to read, my purse's contents flashed through my mind. Using notes, programs, hair salon receipts, report cards, post-it notes, greeting cards and newspaper clippings, Holm tells us the story of Ginny Davis.

As the school year begins, Ginny thinks the worst thing she is facing in seventh grade is the cafeteria meatloaf. By reading her instant messages to friends and teacher comments on school papers we begin learn about her family. We learn that she loves ballet and hopes her mother will remarry. We understand that her older brother is having problems and makes his family's life difficult. When her mom remarries, Ginny could not be happier but when her stepfather makes an unfortunate mistake, it puts her into an emotional and academic tail spin as her family life gets crazier.

I do not want to give away too much of this story because the humor and emotion build with each artifact on the page and it would not be fair to the story to spoil the surprises. I became deeply involved in this story and when I saw the image of Ginny's ballet recital program, I gasped.

Jennifer Holm has a gift for creating characters that readers care deeply about. May Amelia, Penny, Babymouse and now Ginny are girls that stay with me even after I finish their stories.

Elicia Castaldi has created the look and feel of real items in an actual scrapbook. She has designed and positioned each item so the story flows naturally. Matt Holm has an illustrator-cameo, contributing some cartoon panels dealing with Ginny's brother.

This novel is very very accessible for readers of all levels and strengths. I would start waving copies of this book ASAP at reading specialists and teachers. Since the story is told in short bursts of information, it would build reading confidence and help readers "see" the story in their imagination as it plays out.

This is a sweet story, cleverly told, that will find an eager audience. Get it on the shelf and stand back. This is going to be a hit.

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An exceptionally fun book

Jennifer L. Holm's MIDDLE SCHOOL IS WORSE THAN MEATLOAF is an exceptionally fun book for middle school readers and tells of Ginny, who has ten items on her to-do list for seventh grade. Unfortunately she keeps getting in trouble - none of which is on her list - and her fun story is told in a series of color facing pages of notes and experiences along with memos and easy eye-catching illustrations.

Stuff to See and Share

This just in: Middle school is HARD. It's bad enough that you have to deal with changing classrooms, let alone changing for P.E. in the locker room in front of classmates. You have to navigate your way between classes and through the cafeteria without losing your cool or your lunch. You have more schoolwork and homework to do than you did in elementary school. Your moods may suddenly shift, and your friends, siblings, and parents might suddenly seem like foreign life forms.

Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff by Jennifer L. Holm, with artwork and illustrations by Elicia Castaldi, is a unique look at one girl's seventh grade experience. It relays all of the fears and concerns of a typical middle school student, but in a very cool format. It really is told through Ginny's stuff: her to-do lists (she likes scratching out tasks as she completes them), her tests and essays, notes to and from her mom, her grandfather, and her teachers, her older brother's hand-drawn comics, even her report cards and bank statements (she makes money baby-sitting, then spends it and ends up with the same balance every month).

The concept is executed wonderfully. Holm and Castaldi have given Ginny a definite life and personality, just through her stuff. Castaldi's artwork is beautiful. News clippings, greetings cards, and store receipts all look authentic. It brought to mind The Baby-Sitters Club Chain Letter book from many years ago. Though the BSC book actually had letters you could unfold, cards you could open, and other trinkets readers could keep, I liked that Middle School was all right here on the page, so nothing could get torn or out of place.

Every single thing written, drawn, or otherwise included on the page is a part of the story. When Ginny dyes her hair against her mom's wishes, we see the receipt from the store where she bought the dye and other items, then the receipt from the hair salon where Ginny's mother takes her to fix her hair. When her mother remarries, a newspaper clipping describes the affair. When Ginny's older brother gets in trouble, he draws her comic strips to show what he did and to express his remorse. The comics are rendered by Holm's real-life brother, Matthew, who also works with her on the fun graphic novel series Babymouse.

A complete story is told here, just through one girl's stuff. Not only is this contemporary and appealing to kids currently in middle school, but it won't feel dated in five years because it is based on fairly timeless themes. It's not about having stuff - meaning it's not about the desire to have material items - but rather it's what your stuff says about you.

If you haven't seen this book, please go find it. Get Holm's previous works while you're at it!

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Engaging a reluctant Reluctant Reader

I purchased this book for my 5th grade sister who abhors reading. She fights any book any tries to place in front of her. I first heard about this book at a Young Adult Literature Conference for teachers and librarians. It sounded interesting, so I purchased it from Amazon and had it shipped to my sister. She loved the book! She shared it with her teacher and class, too. I highly recommend this book for middle school reluctant readers. It's full of pictures and graphics to help hold the attention of all readers.

Loved by 5th grade girls

The fifth graders had just come back from their tour of the middle school they will be attending next year when I asked for volunteers to read this book. The book was a hit with the girls, although the a few boys read it because of the format. The girls wanted to hear about middle school...the joys and the sorrows. The coverage of the different topics: dad killed by drunk driver, single parent mom, rebellious older brother, kind grampa, and mom getting remarried, interested the readers at different levels. The girls were particularly excited about the format....little text but a lot of information. Good book for light reading. Good book to use when talking about and experimenting with differing formats.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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