Customer Reviews

The Middle School Survival Guide: How to Survive from the Day Elementary School Ends until the Second High School Begins

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've put 5 kids through public school, and even those kids, now parents themselves, think this book is a bit over the top. I'd ask my 11 year old, but there's no way he'll be seeing it any time soon. This book is most appropriate for older kids, 9th grade and above. It's troubling that 12 year olds are quoted about issues such as "making out" and oral sex. It does contain some good advice about things like dealing with peers, dealing with sexual harrassment, handling the different school setting, and other things, but it isn't appropriate for middle schoolers, regardless of the title.

I purchased this book for my grandson who is now midway through fifth grade. He is struggling with many challenges that face youth just starting middle school including bullies, peer pressure to try new things and his first real crush. The straight forward but light way that Arlene Erlbach presents the topics were just what he needed. He has read the book through and still goes back to review some sections. I would recommend this book for all youth just starting the middle school years.

I found this on a bookstore shelf by pure luck. After skimming through it and seeing the wide range of topics it covers, I grabbed two copies for neighbors entering Middle School next month.

MSSG is a plain-speaking book written with honesty and wit. It deals with pretty much any problem adolescents may face, not only in school, but in life: the harder work load in MS, acne, dating, drugs, handling bullies, sexual situations, divorce and much more. Let's face it. Kids don't always want to talk to their parents, even (maybe especially?) about important things. They ask their friends for advice. Now they have this book.

If you think you might benefit from this book, you WILL!!!

This book is the perfect guide for any kid who's entering the challenging years of junior high. The author handles difficult topics in a humorous and informative way. Plus, there's lots of advice from other kids who have already been there. So along with the pens, notebooks and lunch, slip a copy of this survival guide into your middle-grader's backpack.

As a parent of a 6th grader (going into 7th) who is looking for literature to help her adjust to the changes that middle school brings and to help increase her confidence, I was intrigued by the title of this book and the topics covered. She has already been in Middle School for almost a year. After reading the reviews I was somewhat concerned about the sexually explicit material contained but do consider myself fairly open minded, i.e. I have provided my kids with books about sexuality, human reproduction, puberty, etc. Upon receiving this book, I read it from cover to cover and although I was okay with most of the content of the book, I decided that the sections on sex were too explicit and too lengthy for my daughter at this age (12). Most troublesome was the casual and kind of flip tone (consisent with the rest of the book's topics) in which the sexual material was referenced. I found it to be almost implying in a way that dating, sexual contact, and even intercourse, pregnancy, oral sex and abortion are subjects that the average middle schooler needed to be informed of and are handled in the sames ways as like joining a club, going to a dance, getting a period and changing classes. This book is directed at 10-14 year olds. I am not some kind of recluse and I know sexual contact begins as young as ages 10/11 in some cases. However, I do feel the light hearted presentation of this kind of material without a counter message that still a lot of kids are NOT doing much of this stuff in this book leads me to think that it will induce more anxiety to a child that is NOT experiencing these situations. It may make them feel that they are still not fitting in. This is the exact opposite effect that I was trying to achieve in purchasing this book for my daughter. As an example, the book makes statements of 'fact' like in elementary school, kids have parties that are same sex whereas in middle school, "party arrangments change". "If you're comfortable with mouth-to-mouth contact, you may have a wonderful time at the party." The book has quotes from kids who are 12 and 13 to tell you what to do/say if you don't want to be involved in the kissing. Most of my daughter's peers had 12 year old parties that were still same sex parties, girls going out to dinner, movies, a play, etc. No where is it mentioned in the book that same sex parties are ok or can still be fun in Middle School. Further, I do feel this book gives the short shrift to some important topics in favor of the tittilating sexual topics. Drugs and alcohol are covered in two paragraphs (less than 1 page). Sexual issues take up almost 10. My 6th grader had the experience of going to one of her 1st dances where a group of 8th grade boys were drunk. I'd much rather see more information about alchohol which was even a regular feature at middle school parties I attended 35 years ago.

I felt the book had many different scenarios to read about for middle school problems. I found the book to be informative,detailed, and included different suggestions on how to handle issues. It is an easy read for a middle school aged child. The only negative comment I have for the book is the section regarding sex. My child is 12 years old and in the 7th grade, but does not fully understand about this part of life as of yet. I have blocked those pages from the book until we discuss this issue further. I would suggest buying the book for your younger middle school child and placing it on hold to read until your child understands issues involving sex or blocking it as I did. I was glad that I read the book first since it was not included on the profile page upon ordering your book. Otherwise, I think the book will help with all the problems surrounding middle school in this day and age.