The School Story by Andrew Clements

Age Group: Middle Grade
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Publishing Date: August 1st, 2002 by Atheneum Books


Summary: Goodreads: "Two middle school girls scheme to publish a book in this novel from Andrew Clements, the author of Frindle.

Natalie's best friend, Zoe, is sure that the novel Natalie's written is good enough to be published. But how can a twelve-year-old girl publish a book? Natalie's mother is an editor for a big children's publisher, but Natalie doesn't want to ask for any favors.

Then Zoe has a brilliant idea: Natalie can submit her manuscript under a pen name, with Zoe acting as her literary agent. But it's not easy for two sixth graders to put themselves over as grown-ups, even with some help from a couple of real grown-ups who are supportive but skeptical. The next bestselling school story may be in their hands—but can Natalie and Zoe pull off their masquerade?"

What I liked: Ok, so I think the biggest thing that I appreciated about this books was that it, like a character in the book, really hit home to my heart. This book pretty much embodied the inner sixth-grade novelist in me, the sixth-grade novelist which pushed me to start this blog. That was my goal, to get a book published, be famous, and this book really hit home, which is why I loved reading it. Of course, Andrew Clements always continues to write really good content, which is why time and time again I enjoy reading his books.

What I didn't like: This book is crazy unrealistic in every way shape and form. This book is like the Lawn Boy series: it only works because of two things- luck and craziness. Like seriously, I know Clements tried to sell off the fact Zoe managed to convince a teacher to let her be a literary agent and all of that, but I mean seriously, what are the chances? And at another point, how does Natalie's book manage to actually be seriously considered. The book says something about how she really wrote about how a kid thinks and all of that, but at the end of the day, plot movement, character development, etc. kind of matter. I don't know if I'm just going on a worthless spiel, but I was a little irked by that.

Rating: 9.1 out of ten

Why? I fell in love with this book after the first chapter or so. It started off fast and it never let up. Absolute amazing writing.

 MM

About MMGM: MMGM is a weekly Monday blog post by Shannon Messenger (author of Keeper of the Lost Cities and more) where she highlights blog reviews from myself and other fabulous bloggers. Go to her website every Monday (shannonmessenger.com) if you want to read more about amazing MG books.