Hi guys!
Welcome back to another year here at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
Wow, can you believe it? It's 2015! Woo hoo! Here's hoping your New Year's Eve/Day celebrations went well. Wishing you only the best throughout the coming year and I'm hopeful you'll make a stop at my site part of your daily ritual. ~cheesy grin~ Anywho...
Today, we're diving back into the review arena with a new Kids Fiction title from an author whose work we've come to know and love. I've reviewed several of her titles, including Trauma Queen, and This is Me From Now On, right here on the site and I gotta say, I've yet to be disappointed. So, are you ready to read all about her latest and greatest? Get ready to leap back into those awkward middle school years because here comes today's book of choice....
by
9781481405638
Aladdin Mix
About the book...
According to Finley and her BFF, Maya, middle school boys can be put into three separate categories: tadpoles, croakers, and frogs. Per their official Life Cycle of Amphibian Boys, while tadpoles are totally not developed yet (read: boys who still love fart jokes and can’t have a normal conversation with girls without making fun of them), a frog is the top of the boy food chain—evolved and mature. Sadly, not many boys have reached that elusive frog status at Staunton Middle School.Finley thought she had everyone pegged, until Zachary Mattison enters the picture. After suddenly leaving the year before, Zachary’s surprise reappearance at SMS forces Finley to see him in a new light. And when the official life cycle list falls into the wrong hands, it causes a battle between the boys and girls that turns into an all-out war—one that Finley isn’t sure anyone can really win...
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Ultimately, this is a story about growing up.
We start in the shallow end of the pool and wind up in the great big beyond...but along the way, there are bumps, bruises, and lessons to be learned. Perhaps it would be better said then that this story is about those bumps and bruises because poor Finley is in for quite a few. It all starts with the rating system that she and her friend Maya created to help sort out the boys from the...well, those that were taking the next step in their path toward manhood. It's fine and dandy until the information falls into the wrong hands. ~dun dun dunnn~ Things get out of hand as the boys turn against the girls in a battle of whit's to see who can out frog the other. Trust me...my wording may be funny but the back and forth between them is even funnier.
Aside from the back and forth bantering between the sexes, we also have a little girl to girl rivalry. The story delicately explores the intricate nature of the relationship between best friends, in this case girl friends. It reveals the unspoken competitions, the hurt feelings, and the overall sense of leaving one another behind that can (and sadly does) happen as we grow up. Is it all preventable? To some degree...and that's where the tale is reassuring for those that are going through that pothole riddled road in their own lives (or have little ones that are headed that way). Don't let the lessons fool you though, there is plenty of fun to be had between the pages and the life cycle of the frogs, I mean boys....is just the beginning.
In conclusion, another great read to grow with from an author who has become a well recognized name in her chosen genre. Her stories feature relatable characters in realistic situations that make it easy to step right into, whether you be the target audience, or somewhere beyond.
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About the author...
Barbara Dee is the author of the tween novels Just Another Day in my Insanely Real Life, Solving Zoe (2010 Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year), This Is Me From Now On, and Trauma Queen. She lives with her family in Westchester County, New York. You can visit her on the web at BarbaraDeeBooks.com.
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Review copy received courtesy of Kate at Deb Shapiro and Company. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, or the publisher, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now via Aladdin Mix, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.
Until next time...happy reading!
So fun! i love the books i have read from MIX.
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