Customer Reviews

Click Here: To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade

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Denise Vega's "Click Here" is narrated by seventh grader Web geek, Erin Swift. The book begins with her pre-teen angst as she discovers that her best friend, Jilly, and she will not be on the same track when they begin middle school in the fall. Erin undergoes many changes during the book: from being at odds with her best friend to falling in deep like with Cute Boy aka Mark Sacks. Along the way, she pounds the class bully, ignores her own feelings to please Jilly by being in a ridiculous Thanksgiving play, and heads up the school's Intranet team.

Ms. Vega cleverly taps into her protagonist's psyche by using a personal blog which only Erin is supposed to see. She keeps her reader informed by listing what makes her happy and sad. The reader is the proverbial fly on the wall, peering into Erin's inner world with the click of a mouse.

What used to be the school newspaper committee has turned into the Intranet Club in the 21st century. Ms. Vega masters the esprit de corps of today's middle school environment, complete with embarassing moments of self-revelation, awkward almost kisses, and love-sick nerds who leave bad poetry in other people's lockers. She equally captures the timeless essence of pubescent moodiness. She portrays good-natured adults such as the Intranet Club's leading teacher, Ms. Moreno, and the janitor who divvies out lollipops and lessons to Erin along the way, people the reader might wish were as uncomplicated and wholeheartedly loving in real life.

The reader will recognize her own twelve-year-old self in this book, reminding us all of the pain we went through in growing up. While Ms. Vega depicts a rather mature (and at times unbelievable) Erin Swift, her book is so ejoyable that the reader will forgive her for it. Denise Vega is to today's teens what Judy Blume was to the teens of the 70's and 80's. The only difference is the question Erin asks: "Are there blog? It's me, Erin..."

I highly recommend "Click Here". It is a timely, funny, can't-put-down read!

Fans of the Alice series (Naylor) will love this book. In 7th grade, embarrassment is the worst thing that can happen to you, and Erin Swift suffers the mother of all embarrassments when her private blog journal is accidently posted to school's intranet. Imagine having the whole school know you practice kissing your pillow, or that your best friend makes you sniff her armpits to check for BO. Not only does Erin's blog humiliate her, it also causes similar problems for 4 of her classmates, who are understandably hurt and angry.

Her situation is so painful, it was almost too stressful to read. But she is a courageous and resourceful girl, and applies these to help her out of this difficult situation.

Make sure you have several hours to devote to reading this book. It will be hard to put it down.

This was such a good book! I could not put it down for two days straight and even stayed up to midnight to finish it. I really enjoyed the character of Erin and how she goes through a lot of trouble, but somehow deals with all the embarassment that it causes. She meets and boy, and a new friend that helps her get through seventh grade without her best friend. The story ends wonderfully and I hope there's a sequel or something because it was so good!

Plot:in this book there are many plots.So,to start off we'll start off at Erins house,you know where she eats,sleeps,does her homework,dresses,and writes in her secret online journal.The second plot is at Molly Brown Middle School where most of her life consists of,and dont forget...go down the toilet.You'll see once you read the books.The last plot in the book is at the YMCA.This is where Erin shoots hoops with cute boy(mark sacks),and eventually it will be a place of forgiveness.
Specific events:Erin starts school at Molly Brown Middle School,Erin thinks "cute boy" is very,very cute!,Erin becomes Rosies friend,Erin becomers "cute boy's" friend,Erin starts I-club.
Setting:this book takes place in the present,there is no information on the state,see the plot.
Conflict:Erins deep dark secrets,feelings,and other buissness is revealed..to the whole school!
Resolution:This is a problem that can only be solved with self forgivness and the forgivness of others.
Charecter:My main charecter's name is Erin P. Swift,she loves b-ball,soccer,computers,and apparently her Chuck Taylors!Erin has big feet.Erins mom is a professional web designer who taught Erin how to do web designs.Jilly is Erin's best friend and has been since kindergarden.Oh,and she loves snickers and she comes to like tootsie pops.

The book Click Here, by Denise Vega, is about a girl named Erin trying to survive the seventh grade. Erin likes basketball, soccer, Snickers, and web design. That gave her the idea to make an online web page as her diary and no one else could see it but her. As her year starts the hardest thing she found out was that her best friend Jillian, Jilly for short, isn't in any of her classes and they're always together. Along the way Erin makes friends with Rosie and her secret crush Mark. She also makes friends with people in the Intranet club, which is a club that is creating a school internet website, like Tyler, he sits beside her in the club. It is a really great book that has modern school-day suspense with humor and wisdom.

The book is suspenseful because the author puts in actual embarrassing things that happen in school everyday. It was suspenseful when Erin accidentally gave the club her CD instead of the Intranet CD. Then the whole school found out about her feelings about most people and she almost lost her best friend forever because of her feelings.

It was funny how sometimes Erin or Jilly would handle things. Like when they were at the mall Jilly had crawled under some clothes in a store to hide from a boy. Also it was funny when Erin turned out to be corn in the school Thanksgiving play because Jilly wanted her in it with her. It turned out she had a lot of corn jokes thrown at her. It was also funny when Serena called Erin a puppet and Jilly the puppet master. Then when Serena turned around Erin punched her right in the nose. It was funny because that's what Serena deserved for hurting her.

It shows wisdom with how the janitor had his tootsie pop saying, "A friend is like a good tootsie pop, they last longer." If you really think about it all your friends are tootsie pops that always last longer than you think. To apologize to the main people she hurt she put on a sandwich board saying sorry and that she wouldn't take it off until they say sorry. She also sent them letters saying sorry and sent them her long lasting tootsie pops to tell them they were her friends.

Erin also dealt with Jilly liking Mark, her friend and crush. All the time Erin was trying to keep them apart until one day when she tried to block her from him but he saw Erin and went over to talk to her, but that was the beginning of a relationship between Jilly and Mark. So that was the beginning of her nightmare with both friends. She also had to worry about being in the Thanksgiving play when she didn't want to. She did it because Jilly really likes acting and Jilly wanted to do an after school activity. She also dealt with breaking her arm from Serena pushing her in the hall. What she also dealt with was the boy that liked her, Tyler, in Intranet club. She thought he wore too much hair gel and was a geek. In time he was there when she needed him.

I would recommend this book to all girls in middle school. I think they would really understand the book. I think the author really knew how it was to be in seventh grade and how a regular girl's life really works. It wouldn't really seem like a really exciting book for some boys because of some of the content a girl would worry about in her life since the main character is a girl. Overall the book was very interesting and it got me hooked into what was going to happen next. It also shows how you should treat your friends and even if you don't like some people you need to just ignore them if they're being mean to you.
T. Shepard

This book is an awesome read for kids getting into highschool because it really helps and has the types of problems that people will have in highschool.Im in grade seven and when I picked up this book I didn't think it would be as good as it really is I was pretty sad when I was at the last page because I didnt want it to end!This is a really good book because it is funny and everyone should read it!

This is a great book! The main character, Erin, has her own website that only she can see. It includes her blog, "My Life," some photos of her and her friend Jilly, "Mug Shots," facts about her school, Molly Brown Middle School, "MBMS," a page devoted to her arch enemy, "S.W. Hate-o-Rama," and a page for when she is tired of writing and just wants to eat a Snickers, "Snickers."

Erin has a hard-knock life, and through the book it just gets worse. If:
*you and your best friend are separated in a new school
*your best friend starts going out with your crush
*you are playing a corncob in the school play
*someone wrote you an anonymous love letter, and
*everyone is calling you Puppet Girl and/or Pinocchio
you would need a blog, too.

And then her blog is published on the school Intranet and everything she ever wrote about people is right there for them to see. So, of course, her enemy hates her even more, her crush is uneasy around her, the not-so-anonymous-to-all-her-friends love letter writer is embarassed, and her best friend is furious. Hence Erin's DEFCON spots.
DEFCON 5-her bed, for when things are a little bad, like she tripped over her own feet and no one saw but she still felt stupid
DEFCON 4-her basement closet, for when things are a little bit worse, like her best friend gave her the same valentine as another girl in Kindergarten
DEFCON 3-her neighbor's shed, for when things suck, like she farted in the girls' bathroom and her enemy was in the stall next to her in 3rd grade
DEFCON 2-the bushes on the other side of the neighbor's house, for when things really suck, like this kid said one of her feet could be Nina and the other Pinta for the Thanksgiving play in 2nd grade
DEFCON 1-the tree house in the yard at the end of the block, for when things are terrible, like her enemy put chocolate pudding in her chair in 4th grade and she sat in it and didn't see it and she walked around with everyone saying she pooped in her pants
DEFCON 0-this comes toward the end of the book when her blog is published. Her neighbors' unused RV, where she spent an entire day instead of going to school because she was scared of what people would say about her blog. reserved for when things could not get any worse
So as you can see, Erin is just a normal 12 year old trying to get through seventh grade and make it out alive. I can't wait for the sequel!

Erin Swift knows from the very first day of seventh grade that there is no way that she can actually survive the entire school year. For, as if it weren't bad enough that she were put in completely different classes than her lifelong best friend, Jilly, Erin also made a big mistake. On the very first day of school, she punched Serena Worthington a.k.a. Serena Worthlessness, or Serena Poopendena, in the face for calling her Jilly's puppet. From then on, Erin has a reputation, and one that she totally doesn't want. However, when she begins making new friends, and joins the school computer club, she realizes that maybe she really was a puppet to Jilly's puppet-master, and maybe, just maybe, she doesn't always need Jilly there for comfort. But then the worst happens, and Erin's entire online blog - along with everything she's ever written about everyone - appears online, just long enough for the entire student body to know how she truly feels.

In a world where technology rules, Denise Vega has created a believable, true-to-life novel for middle readers that will let them relate to a funny, poignant character. Erin is a funny girl, always freaking out over the minimal things - how big her feet are, whether or not a certain boy likes her - and the people she meets throughout the story are all funny in their own ways, each possessing quirky personalities that will appeal to readers. A wonderful new book for all.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

What kind of girl can't look back and remember these things, or look around and realize they're living Erin, Jilly, Rosie, or Serena's life?? I mean, I know tons of girlz who have kissed their pillows, secretly liked their guy friends, have been totally jealous or embarrassed, and majorly freaked out by their friend's and enemy's actions. I'm one of them! In the beggining where Erin's like, "She stroked her legs, which were freshly shaved and unmarked. I admired that. I always had at least one cut and usually missed a whole area near my ankle so that I had a little clump of fur that I didn't notice until I was nowhere near a razor. But she always got every spot so her legs were smooth and unblemished." That's either u tlkin bout a friend or ur friend tlkin bout u. Then pg. 149 when she's tlkin bout jumpin from the rug to the mattress in fear of sumthin under the bed, and checkin Jilly's BO, and dangling Cute Boy in Jilly's face after she dated him- same thing. This book goes from happy to sad to frustrating every couple minutes!!
This also makes u luv computers all of a sudden. I want to start my own website again now, and I reeely want an I-club @ my school next year (when I'm in 8th)!!
U can't live without reading this book. But I'll warn- u won't like ANY book as much after reading this one.
-Calista H. age:12 1/3

On the first day of 7th grade at Molly Brown Middle School, Erin Swift punches Serena Worthington­aka Serena Poopendena­for calling her Jilly's puppet. Jilly Hennessey is Erin's best friend since Kindergarten, and picks out the clothes she wears to school. But on that first day of 7th grade, they get separated into different tracks. To get her through life at school without Jilly, Erin writes her own secret blog that she keeps on a disk and never plans to publish.

She also gets involved with the Computer Club's project to build a school Intranet. Erin knows a lot about computers, which comes in handy when she wants to impress Cute Boy, Mark Sacks. And even though she doesn't really want to, she lets Jilly talk her into auditioning for the school play, so they can still be together sometimes.

While Erin networks with Mark in the computer lab, she decides that Jilly would probably fall for him, too. So she keeps him all to herself. But at the school's Halloween party, Mark meets Jilly and falls for her. They become a couple and Erin is stuck with her secret mad crush on him. Not only that, but she's forced to put up with gab sessions from both sides and kissy face until she wants to puke.

She does puke out her deepest, darkest feelings on her secret blog -- naming names. The only thing that keeps her from going nuts is working on the school Intranet, playing basketball, and being an ear of corn in the school play.

In a calamity of errors, Erin's secret blog goes live instead of the school Intranet. And all hell breaks loose at Molly Brown Middle School. Through the Zen of the Tootsie Pop, Erin realizes she must own up to her words and find a way to win back her friends.

"Click Here" is a rollicking romp through all the friendship foibles of middle school mania that offers all kids a message of hope: you really CAN survive!

Copyright (c) 2005 by Peggy Tibbetts