This is one of those books that I’ve read time and time again. The Middle School Survival Series by Nancy Krulik is one of my favorites, and Can You get an F in Lunch? is great and very well written book.
Even though this is more of a book for girls, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Nancy Krulik paints a realistic and exciting picture of the middle school life. This is the first of a twelve book series that is a delight for middle school girls.
Summary
At the beginning of the book we meet the narrator, Jenny. She’s excited (and also a little nervous) to start sixth grade. Sixth grade means that Jenny isn’t a little elementary schooler anymore; she’s entering middle school!
Jenny’s been away for camp all summer, so she’s excited to see her best friend Addie again. She and Addie have been best friends for years, but Addie seems to be strangely distant from her now. Jenny attempts to sit with Addie at lunch, but she has new friends and they refuse to give her a spot at the table.
Jenny is super upset and starts eating lunch in the phone booth because now she’s lost her best friends. A nice sixth grader named Chloe introduces Jenny to her group of friends. They tell her that Addie is now part of a group known as the “Pops,” which basically means the most popular kids in school.
Jenny learns to accept that Addie is no longer her friend and is soon great friends with her new group. The rest of the book shows Jenny and her friends trying to navigate their way through middle school.
Review
This was a great book. I really like the fact that it was told from the perspective of the first person. A lot of middle school type books are written from the third person, and I feel like those are much more difficult to relate to. Jenny is a real person just like anyone else.
This book was also realistic in how middle school is. Just going into it is not very easy, and the author doesn’t try to sugarcoat it. She doesn’t try to make it worse than it is either, however. Jenny is eventually able to find a new group of friends and everyone works out.
Another really cool thing about this book is that it has a bunch of quizzes that you can take and score yourself. There is also a cool website called middleschoolsurvival.com that has almost 50 more interesting quizzes.
I was really sad when the author ended this series, because it’s one of my favorites. I used to read one of these books every night before bed because I loved them so much. A must for any sixth or seventh grade girl.
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I’ve heard of this series but have never read any of the stories. Your review convinces me I should. I love first person books. It allows you inside a character’s head where all sorts of serious and hilarious thoughts can take place.