MIDDLE GRADE REALISTIC FICTION : Posted by John David Anderson
ABOUT THE BOOK
In middle school, words
aren’t just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right
words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to
haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever.
When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes—though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well.
In the middle of this, a new girl named Rose arrives at school and sits at Frost’s lunch table. Rose is not like anyone else at Branton Middle School, and it’s clear that the close circle of friends Frost has made for himself won’t easily hold another. As the sticky-note war escalates, and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realizes that after this year, nothing will ever be the same.
When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes—though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well.
In the middle of this, a new girl named Rose arrives at school and sits at Frost’s lunch table. Rose is not like anyone else at Branton Middle School, and it’s clear that the close circle of friends Frost has made for himself won’t easily hold another. As the sticky-note war escalates, and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realizes that after this year, nothing will ever be the same.
REVIEW
Eric, known to his friends as Frost, tells the story of the war that occurred when post it notes became the means of communication at his middle school. When cell phones are taken away, Eric's friend, Deedee starts leaving post it notes for their group (Deedee, Frost, Wolf, and Bench). Eventually, the rest of the students start doing the same. At first it's harmless, but once nasty messages start being sent, it's not so harmless any more. Meanwhile, Eric's friendship group faces upheaval when Rose starts sitting with them at lunch. Bench doesn't like this and won't sit with them any more, especially after he becomes a football hero instead of a bench warmer. As Eric and his friends navigate the ups and downs of friendship and bullying, it's clear that none of them will ever be the same again.
I'll admit, I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. I'm not sure why. Maybe Eric's narrator voice just didn't click with me very well, or the bullying really got to me, or something. The story came across in a very believable fashion. It was reminiscent of my own middle school years, the behavior anyway, not the cell phones. The shifting friendships felt real as did the bullying. I appreciated the fact that the teachers weren't front and center but they did play a role in the story responding to the inappropriate behavior in appropriate ways. And the underlying theme relating to the power of words certainly shined through loud and clear. I also appreciated the fact that each of the friends felt like a unique individual with unique interests and strengths as well as weaknesses. A well-presented story about the challenges of relationships during the middle grade years.
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