The Epic Documentary of a Not-Yet-Epic Kid

May 14, 2012
“This documentary set out to show the real story of Trevor, along with his normal, everyday, average classmates.... Westside is their middle school. And these are their stories.” With an introduction like that (and the subtitle), readers may expect more of a documentary-style novel than what Mellom (Ditched: A Love Story) actually delivers in her first middle-grade novel. Most of her story unfolds through good old third-person omniscient narration, interspersed with occasional “interviews” with seventh-grader Trevor Jones and his classmates. Fortunately, Mellom has a gift for school-days humor, and her novel is very entertaining. Trevor, a consummate worrier, and Libby, a consummate planner, have been best friends for years, but as they begin the school year, Libby, tired of covering for Trevor’s (many) gaffes, believes it is time for them to make new friends. Gilpin’s spot art (not all seen by PW) is a mix of notes, cartoons, and other “found materials” that add to the book’s sense of fun as romantic entanglements and misunderstandings proliferate in the days leading up to the school dance. Ages 9–12. Agent: Jill Corcoran, the Herman Agency.

April 15, 2012
A documentary crew descends upon Westside Middle School to reveal what middle-school students' lives are really like. At the heart of the story is Trevor Jones, just starting middle school. He's a worrier and a "pre-thinker," and, despite his claim that he's not worried about seventh grade, he has it all planned. He's got brand-new clothes, and his yogurt stick is frozen just right to be the perfect temperature by lunchtime. Unfortunately, his best friend forever, Libby, shakes his cool at the bus stop when she informs him about the upcoming dance and how he must ask a girl by the end of the day. The whole novel revolves around the dance and the attendant social drama of middle-school life. Though readers never find out much about the making of the documentary itself, it's a clever contrivance. A third-person narration alternates with interviews with the major players. There's Trevor, Libby, eighth-grader Corey Long, Wilson the custodian, and seventh-grade gossip Cindy Applegate among the several main players. Illustrations add appeal to the story, including cartoonish drawings found in Trevor's notebook, a "Social Skills Training" pamphlet found in Counselor Plimp's office and drawings from Libby's Hola! Kitty Cat! sketchpad. All in all, a silly but appealing story for readers approaching the middle-school years. (Fiction. 9-12)

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September 1, 2012

Gr 4-7-Trevor Jones admits that he's obsessive and a little neurotic, but his best friend, Libby, has stuck by him and defended him throughout elementary school and he's depending on her to continue to do so. But while they wait for the bus on the first day of middle school, she explains to him that he's on his own now. Seventh grade is a whole new ball game with new rules and new friends and she can't have him tagging along. Trevor seems shell-shocked and is just hoping his sneakers are adequately scuffed up to not look new, and he's confused about why Libby is sporting a new skirt and lip gloss. The book is set up to resemble a film documentary, with cameo inserts of characters done in contrasting fonts with clever ideas like labeling the illustrations as "Camerawork" and calling the author the "Director." Unlikely scenarios like having to have a date for the fall dance by the end of the first day of school seem out of place, and the tempo seems to drag, calling it curtains for suggesting this title to reluctant readers. While there are some amusing illustrations that will appeal to "Wimpy Kid" readers, the slow, evasive plot will keep this book from flying off library shelves. Strictly an additional purchase.-Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2012
Grades 4-7 A shy, nerdy lad comes through in the clutch with a climactic act of total epicness, though it's a long haul getting to the moment. Presented as a filmed reality show but actually a conventional third-person narrative intercut with private expostulations from major characters, the tale mostly takes 12-year-old Trevor through his first day of seventh gradeduring which he not only has to learn how to navigate the hazards of middle school while being suddenly abandoned by his overcontrolling lifelong best friend, Libby, but is tasked with asking some new classmate out to the upcoming dance. The final third sweeps through the ensuing weeks to the dance. Interspersed with handwritten notes, doodles, and yearbook-style head shots, Trevor's string of funny, if predictable, mishaps culminates with a sabotaged dance that he selflessly salvages amid much opening of eyes and relationship repair. Readers who prefer novels in which plot takes a backseat to characters' internal ruminations, frets, chains of logic (or illogic), and insights (sometimes mistaken) about themselves and others will happily tune in.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
Trevor's first weeks of seventh grade are not what he expects. His best friend, a girl, insists that Trevor make new friends and manage without her help. This is a mildly humorous, highly predictable look at middle school. While the premise--Trevor is the subject of a documentary film--is intriguing, it does little to enhance this otherwise familiar story.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)