Last day of launch week! Today I’m reviewing one of my favorite authors of all time…Andrew Clements. His best work is genius, pure genius, and I can’t wait to share it! I don’t plan to review authors very often, but it’s still summertime. People have more time to read on lazy August days AND it’s the end of launch week, so I thought I’d give you something special; 17 books covered in one post.
Content Warnings: None in his middle grade books (look at the list), which are all I’m reviewing today.
- The School Story
- The Laundry News
- No Talking
- Extra Credit
- Room One
- Lunch Money
- Frindle
- Lost and Found
- The Janitor’s Boy
- A Week in the Woods
- The Report Card
- The Last Holiday Concert
- The Map Trap
- Trouble Maker
- The Loser’s Club
- About Average
- Benjamin Pratt and The Keepers of The School Series
Even the books with iffy titles (I hesitated to read Trouble Maker and The Loser’s Club at first) are actually wholesome and fun and deep all at the same time. This author was a major element of my childhood–when he died a few years ago, I lost a hero. He inspired me to write, and his books have revived that inspiration when it ran out. My whole family loves Frindle and I’ve shared most of the books on this list with my younger sister. I still own a set of them my brother gave me for my 10th birthday, worn from rereading, bite marks from when my sister was a toddler, and one lost from an unreturned loan.
Onto the books: in a handful of them kids keep secrets and make bad decisions (Example: in Room One, the main character tries to solve a mystery and help people in rough situations by himself). Adults are always involved at some point (and long before very end) and portrayed in positive way. I LOVE that the author writes parts from the adults’ points of view too–in The School Story there’s a chapter from the perspective of the main character’s mom and one of her teachers. Writers don’t usually do that for kids’ books, and I think it’s groundbreaking. At nine years old, it helped me realize that adults are people too. And that’s the biggest point of middle grade books: expanding perspectives and horizons.
Some books or chapters of these books might feel immature to older readers, but I want to point something out: when he writes from an adult’s point of view, it reads like an adult. When he writes from a kid’s point of view, it sounds like a kid. Same for writing both genders. It fits the character and the intended audience.
In The Laundry News, the main character’s mom shares a Bible verse in context. It’s the only obviously Christian element I can think of in any of his books, but it’s used in context and is a big part of how the character grows. I also think that faith doesn’t have to be obvious to make a difference, like in this quote:
“Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.”
Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Back to the books!
I feel like I need to explain The Loser’s Club title just a little bit. The story inside isn’t what you’d imagine for a title like that. It’s not indicative of the book, the same ways labels are not indicative of a person. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and such. I’ll leave the actual story for you to discover…
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I think all of these stories are imaginative and intriguing and fun in different ways. They’re really intended for elementary and young middle school readers, but some (Frindle, The Map Trap, The School Story, and The Laundry News) could be great picks for a road trip audiobook. At my local library, a lot of his work is on audiobook, so there’s a good chance you could find them. Not all are family classics, but they’re worth a read (or a listen).
Read great stories, and remember it’s even better to live them.