Customer Reviews

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm 10 years old and I thought the book was great! I read it in only one day. What I like best about the book was that it wasn't like a regular book but was done like a scrapbook. Each page had pictures and writing, it was really fun. I would recommend this book for anyone ages 9-13 years old.

I cannot even begin to tell you how skeptical I was about the idea of a story being told through stuff. I couldn't imagine how you could tell a coherent story this way, let alone tell a moving story that actually says something meaningful.

But this book really works. I actually cried in a few places (okay I'm sentimental by nature but I think this story would bring a lump to a few people's throats). It was amazing how characters' personalities were revealed by to-do lists, drug store receipts, English assignments, journal entries, comic strips, and the like.

And the plot unfolds quite effectively with "stuff". For example, second on Ginny's to-do list that opens the book is to get the role of the Sugarplum Fairy in the Nutcracker, so you know how much Ginny wants the role. Later on in the book you see the casting list, and on the next page you see a journal entry lamenting her stepfather's forgetfulness, and you easily connect the dots for that plotline.

There was another page with a physician's report, and it says Ginny is normal and healthy, except for a very curious allergy to milk that is treated with allergy shots as needed. This was very curious to me, as my daughter has a milk allergy and she can't have one drop or she gets anaphylaxis, plus food allergies traditionally are not treated with allergy shots. I chalked it up to a mistake on the part of the author, but I was so very wrong, there is a stunning explanation for Ginny's allergy that is revealed in an English assignment further on in the book.

Anyway, this is such a hilarious and beautiful story, about the resiliency and spirit that early adolescents have, in spite of things that always seem to go wrong.

I am so glad I put aside my doubts and read this amazing story. I'm looking forward to the day I can hand it to my daughter to read. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the inner life of middle school girls...

I remember being 13 or so and talking with a much older cousin of mine. When he asked me what grade I was in I told him seventh and he chuckled to himself. "Man, that was the worst." Was it? At the time I couldn't quite figure out what he meant. Sure middle school was awful but sometimes it's hard to separate yourself from what you perceive as "normal". Looking back on it now, I can see clearly just how awful that age is for a whole bulk of humanity, but who has the guts to go on out and say it? That would be two-time Newbery Honor winner Jennifer Holm, of course. Yet when you're dealing with a universal experience you really need to be able to make your book unique in some fashion. Enter artist Elicia Castaldi. "Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf" is a tale told via "stuff". Notes, detention slips, photos, CDs, invitations, shopping lists, you name it. A perfect blending of chaotic piles and orderly prose, this book gets to the heart of the best and the worst (more often the worst) of this most awkward and necessary of ages.

She had such plans for the year, Ginny did. Oh, it was going to be great. She had this whole To Do List with things like "Get a dad" and "Try to be friends with Mary Catherine Kelly". Seventh grade was going to be awesome. Okay, sure Ginny's bank account seems to stay at the unaccountably small ending balance of $5.00 at all times. And sure the aforementioned Mary Catherine Kelly has decided that Ginny just isn't worth being friends with anymore. But really, things didn't start to get really bad until Ginny's older brother Henry started getting in more and more trouble. Or when she didn't get her dream role in The Nutcracker and the aforementioned Ms. Kelly did. Or when that brat Brian Bukvic kept bugging her and, and, and.... well, things are never easy in seventh grade. Fortunately, "Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf" makes it clear that no matter how lousy things are, there's always a chance that things will eventually get better.

I hereby label 2007 the Year of the Indefinable Book. Whether you're dealing with Arrival, The Invention of Hugo Cabret or even something like Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village, everywhere you look books are breaking down boundaries and crossing lines. In this atmosphere of melded text and image, "Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf" fits right in. And by "fits in" what I really mean is "stands out amongst everyone else". Let me say right now that artist Elicia Castaldi has done a top-notch job. If you'd told me that all these pictures were actual photographs of real notes, tickets, clippings, casts, etc. I wouldn't have blinked. I did blink a little though when I found that everything here was digitally rendered. I mean, it makes sense. These clippings and ephemera just doesn't appear that way at first glance, which is a good thing. There's nothing worse than a children's book that makes a big whopping deal about its very obvious computer graphic underpinnings. In this light Castaldi is positively subtle. Everything presented here reeks of reality. From Ginny's doodles to her handwriting to the organized clutter of each and every page, kids reading this book will have the sense that they're snooping in someone else's home (an alluring thought right there).

Jennifer Holm does include some journal entries, but it would have been all too easy to rely on those sections a lot more. And had this book been a journal with a note thrown in here and there then it would have ended up looking like every other diary/journal/memory book of middle school currently in existence. No good. The journal is used very sparingly then. Only when we need a little more clarification on a point or understanding of a character. None of this is to say that characters don't receive a little depth in other ways too. The older brother Henry portions are particularly smart. At some point Holm must have realized that if you hear about Henry secondhand and only learn about his vandalism and brushes with the law then he's not going to come across as a very likable fellow. We might be able to make assumptions regarding his motives but due to the limited scope of the format we can't find out too much about his personality. Enter Matthew Holm. Jennifer Holm's real life brother illustrates a couple comic strips by Henry in which it's amazingly clear that in spite of his disregard for rules, Henry truly loves and wants to protect his little sister. A clever and oddly touching addition.

By and large, almost everything in this book works. The narrative, such as it is, flows evenly and Holm knows how to take her readers from A to B to C. There are some small exceptions here and there, of course. For example, it took me, personally, an embarrassingly long time to figure out that Henry was Ginny's older brother. Because you don't see any photographs of faces kids may have a hard time keeping the characters apart sometimes. This will vary from reader to reader, of course.

Oddly enough I see "Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf" as the obvious companion to Jeff Kinney's, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They're very different formats tackling very similar subjects with very opposite genders. Both highlight the misery of middle school, but their humor works off of one another well. Best of all, girls will get a kick out of "Wimpy Kid" while boys will acknowledge the cool format and fun storyline that works with "Worse Than Meatloaf". They may be preferred by their own genders, but both books will be adored by members of the opposite sex if discovered. All in all, consider Holm's latest accomplishment a mix of catharsis and eye-popping visual stimulation. It's a light-hearted story delivered by the hand of someone who knows very much how to tell a tale and tell it well. The insanity of its subject matter has never been more accurately relayed.

I have to admit that this is one of the most intriguing books I've come across so far this year.

This isn't a normal novel, in that, although the book does contains actual words, the story isn't told in regular story format. Rather, as the full title suggests, it's a story that describes a year in the life of Ginny Davis, a seventh grader at Woodland Central, through stuff.

Stuff, as in notes from the principal. Stuff, as in letters to and from school friends. Stuff, as in pictures of play costumes, and cancelled checks, and calendar notations, and report cards. Stuff, as in anything and everything that makes up the life of a middle-schooler.

Author Jennifer L. Holm is to be commended for this awesome book, which offers a peek into middle school life, and inside the comings-and-goings of a teenage girl. From Post It notes from mom to crazy cards from Grandpa Joe, you'll find yourself smiling and reminiscing as you browse through the pages of MIDDLE SCHOOL IS WORSE THAN MEATLOAF.

This would be the perfect gift for anyone about to enter middle school, or, actually, for anyone who just enjoys books that are a little different from the norm. Believe me, this story is sure to please!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff

As a reading specialist for Grades 6-8, I was so pleased to read a book that my struggling readers can actually "get through"! The illustrator, Elicia Castaldi, has such a fresh take on how a book can be read. The "artifacts" make the book so appealing to kids. I am sure it will be a hit with middle schoolers and teachers alike. It is really nice to know that this high-interest book has a readability level for all adolescents. I think this is a "novel" idea! Highly recommended!

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff
My daughter, Fallon, tried so hard to get through the summer without reading the required books for her grade, so everyday I had to remind her to read 2 chapters of each book. By August she would almost be finished. When a friend of mine told me about this particular book I thought she would be excited by the interesting visuals, but the interest would stop there. My daughter simply was not interested in reading.
Was I ever wrong! Fallon whizzed through this book & was saddened by the fact that the book was coming to an end. I just could not believe it! Fallon DID enjoy reading! She just needed to find the right book. Middle School is worse than Meatloaf filled the void. Ms. Holm & Ms. Castaldi did a great job on this book. I know Fallon will want to write a review as soon as she hears I did. Thanks again.

This is the most incredible way I've seen of telling a story about one year in middle school. The author has used "stuff" -- report cards, notes, pictures, you name it, to tell the story of Ginny and a year in her middle school life. It's a funny book, but it's also very serious and really brings home the message that middle school is hard and that often, parents don't really have a clue as to what is going on until it's almost too late.

This book would make a great gift along with some pencils, markers, pretty folders and lots of colored paper. It will give any student some great ideas about how to write their own story with their "stuff".

As a nanny, it can sometimes be a challenge to find a book that both the little boy that I care for and I both like. Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf is perfect for both younger kids and adults. The issues are extremely relevant and gives kids the idea that they aren't alone. The illustrations are rare in a sense that they are hilarious and unique. I highly recommend this adorable book to anyone who wants their child(ren) to know that middle school is really, really tough, but this too shall pass. If only there was a book about college being WAY worse than meatloaf...

Ginny Davis keeps a scrapbook of her 7th-grade year of school as she embarks on the strange new world of Middle School with excitement and expectation. The scrapbook begins with Ginny's school shopping list, her class schedule, and "Ginny's Big To Do List!!!"

Each page records a moment in Ginny's life. There is the note about Mary Catherine Kelly, her former "best friend," who conveniently forgets to return Ginny's favorite pink sweater and then spreads a rumor around school about Ginny's older brother Henry. Ginny's babysitting list suggests "people to hit up" for a job and who NOT (!) to take care of, especially Tiffany, the biter. Other pages of her scrapbook share magazine articles like, "5 Ways to Look Pretty Now!" Maybe changing her hair color will make her nose look smaller. The audition announcements from Madame Cecile's Ballet Academy are pasted in her scrapbook. She longs to be the lead dancer in the Nutcracker ballet.

Ginny also saves the notes and scraps of clippings that record events about her family, good and bad. There is the announcement in the newspaper of her mother's marriage to Bob, the insurance salesman, and the cartoon drawings made by her older brother Henry revealing his neighborhood pranks. She even keeps a note from her school counselor asking why her little brother Timmy wears a cape to school? Do other teenage girls have a little brother that thinks he's a super hero?

In every instance Ginny expresses her innermost feelings with "things" plastered in her scrapbook. Is Middle School so bad? Will Ginny survive her first year as a teenage girl?

What a treat! The pictures, by Elicia Castaldi, and the cartoon segments, by the author's brother, Matthew Holm, create the realism of a scrapbook journal! After reading the book, I pulled out old scrapbooks that I kept as a teenager and discovered that they are very much the same as Ginny's scrapbook. I felt like I was one of Ginny's girlfriends sharing her secrets. It's a fun book to read and is definitely a book that I will love sharing with my teenage nieces and maybe even sharing with my sister while sipping chocolate malteds, painting fingernails, and listening to "the Oldies."

Ginny Davis keeps a journal throughout her year in seventh grade, and what she writes and adds to it is all the reader gets. She includes random thoughts, report cards, comics, post-it notes, and more...all of which help tell her story.

Seventh-grade is certainly not what Ginny had hoped it would be! Not only does she have problems in school, but she also has trouble in dance class. Home life isn't so great, either. Her mom gets remarried, her older brother is a trouble-maker, and her little brother has a knack for destroying things. Could life get any worse?

This book is a riot! It's a quick read that is sure to bring both smiles and cringes to readers. Ginny is a very likeable character who has a good heart. The things she includes in her journal are all realistic images (her report cards, plane ticket stubs, etc.) that lets us feel as though we've been invited to a private viewing of her life. Definitely recommend this book to middle school-aged girls looking for a Diary of a Wimpy Kid read-alike.