And definitely no vandalizing school property. But Hills Village is really big on rules and regulations. Now it's a prison for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Of course, I think it was a prison for Pilgrims back then, but not too much has changed. That's about when they built Hills Village Middle School. Got it? Now go back another hundred years or so. Okay, so imagine the day your great-great-grandmother was born. So what's Hills Village Middle School like? Here's how Rafe describes it: But based on Bear's love for the Chicago Bears, it might be a pretty safe bet to guess that Rafe and his family are living somewhere in/near the Chicagoland area. of A, but the authors don't give us a whole lot of info as to where it might be. This is a fictional place somewhere in the modern day U.S. Hills Village Middle School is like the maximum security version of most middle schools…or at least it has a rulebook that could rival any Charles Dickens novel in terms of heft. “Middle School” does a wonderful job of channeling the anxiety, and (il)logic, of the middle-grade mind.Here's a shocker: a book called Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life takes place mainly in…a middle school.īut this isn't just any middle school: it's Hills Village Middle School. On a two-page spread detailing gym class, Coach Lattimore holds a clipboard under his hairy arm that reads “Pain,” while a boy, lying nearby in the grass, actually lives it. Many of the characters in “Middle School” are stereotypes - the militaristic gym teacher reliving his glory days, the trio of lunch ladies concocting toxic meatloaf and other inedible fare, the blond girl class-representative-to-be who inspires a crush - but they’re played to great comedic effect in Park’s illustrations. He doesn’t understand what is compelling him and neither does the reader until the book’s end, which concludes happily and, more important, without blaming the protagonist, though it does hold him accountable for his actions. the Dragon Lady.īut Rafe is a kindhearted mischief maker whose rule-breaking is conducted with a no-hurt mandate.
What starts with the pulling of a fire alarm escalates to the destruction of school property and detention with Ms.
MIDDLE SCHOOL WORST DAYS OF MY LIFE CODE
So when Rafe’s reaction to an assembly presentation of the school’s code of conduct is the goal of breaking every rule in the book, no one is there to offer a smarter path. Rafe lives with his little sister, Georgia, his overworked waitress mom and a boorish stepfather-to-be whose only value is warming the couch.
The longest stretch of reading without some sort of graphic element is two pages. The book is well-stocked with pen-and-ink doodlings by cartoonist Laura Park that mimic the look of notebook creations by actual sixth-graders. The lingo is casual and humorous, and as self-aware as one might expect from an 11-year-old. Not only is Rafe’s plight relatable, so is the manner in which he expresses it. “Middle School” has a keen appreciation of kids’ insecurities and an even more astute understanding of what might propel boy readers through a book. “Are you basically a pretty good, pretty decent person? Says who? Says you? Says your ‘rents? Says your sibs?”Īfter showing the readers a pen-and-ink drawing of himself sporting a bowl cut, polo shirt and backpack worn safely on both shoulders, he asks, “We still friends, or are you out of here? Hey - don’t go - all right?” “ Inside, what are you like?” Rafe asks toward the tail end of the first chapter of a book that’s framed as a bid for friendship. Co-written by Chris Tebbetts, this fictional autobiography is a natural companion to Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, plumbing, as it does, the depths of tween angst in a self-deprecating confessional style that occasionally asks questions of the reader.
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