Welcome to Litsy!

4.5 ⭐Once again, this man hits it out of the park. I wish he would write more children‘s books. He has such a creative mind and such a way with words. In this book, our character gets a new teacher. The new teacher is kind of gruff and our main character goes into some pretty crazy stories. But how much is true how much is not? Weird Al can tell a story, whether he‘s rhyming them to polka music or putting them in a book, this man makes words

4.5 ⭐ I love this book when it first came out. I still love it now. It‘s weird Al so you know his cadence and his storytelling is on point the story itself while some may consider long. It flows so well that while it‘s as wordy as an Eminem song, it goes as fast as a word page. Weird Al is able to weave magic in these pages. And the ending makes my heart go pitter patter my eyes tear up and make me go.

3.5 ⭐Once again this book feels like Kristen Bell. It has the same message as the “The World Needs More Purple People”. That message is to be who you are but to also listen and look after others. To ask questions to be respectful and give others as much time as you want for yourself. That everybody is equal because they are a person. I love the message of this book and the ideas behind it.

From the back cover:
“…As they study WWII, Ben Ross‘s students can‘t seem to understand how the German people could have followed Hitler and the Nazis. So Mr. Ross created an experimental movement called The Wave. What begins in a single classroom quickly gathers momentum. Before the end of the week, The Wave‘s motto, “Strength Through Discipline, Strength Through Community, Strength Through Action,” governs the entire school…”

5 ⭐️s
A really beautiful story about finding strength in our weaknesses. As someone who struggled with math and had similar unhealthy/unhelpful coping mechanisms to Ally, this was very poignant for me. I loved the characters and their relationships. The friendships were organic and real. Mr. Daniels might be my new favorite fictional teacher. So much emotion packed into such a short book. I absolutely loved it.

This was my #BookSpin for January.

The original DOAWK book was supposed to be 1,300 pages.I read all of it.

“Let me get this straight, this is a JOURNAL, not a diary. - Greg Heffley 1998, 2004, and 2007

I adored this when when it came out…🤔

TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO 🤨

Like this book‘s child is in Grad School 😠

I so hate getting old. 😖🤬🖕🏻

I‘m processing my sadness over the passing of John Marsden by revisiting his brilliant books, starting with his debut.

I remember my grade 5 teacher reading this to the class and I‘ve read it several times since. Even though I know what happens I‘m still completely absorbed.

I‘ve gotten something a little different from it each time.

I really enjoyed this contemporary MG novel about a boy running a family greenhouse with his older brother after the death of their parents. His teacher assigns a project in which he must relate events & tasks in his own life to the 12 labors of Hercules. There‘s a lot of mythological information and an amazing setting on Cape Cod alongside a story of the importance of found family (including pets) and community connection.

#TRS2024 #MiddleGrade