conuly

I said I'd do some book reviews, and here I am, reviewing a book!

It's always easiest for me to talk on and on about the negatives rather than the positives, so we'll start with the positives: This is a very readable book. The characters are realistically written, the serious parts of the plot weren't overdone, and while it wasn't the most hilarious middle grade novel I've ever read it did have good, humorous moments. If your kid(s) happen to enjoy contemporary realistic fiction, go for it.

Now the negatives: On the one hand, we have the story of how one friend ends up drifting away from the other because the other friend is a jerk. This is a popular story in middle grade, and this time it's racism flavored. On the other hand, we have the story about how a kid makes a new friend, does lots of research on eating bugs, and promotes it in his school for the notoriety. Also, he learns he has some implicit bias to take care of, though the book never uses that term.

I'm not saying these stories can't mesh, but I'm not terribly certain that they were well meshed in this book. Even though the plotlines seemed to be intertwined, and certainly one would not have happened without the other, the effect was almost of two different stories.

Secondly, to be honest, I'm a bit bored with the framing of "don't be racist!" stories from the not-a-bigot white kid's point of view. I know there's still a need for those books, and certainly a market for them, but I'm just... kinda over it.

But, again, I'm not the target audience! What's old hat and a bit tired to me won't be so overdone to them.

Crossposted to