What preteen isn’t interested in a book called Middle School Survival? In this great series, Nancy Krulik paints a realistic picture of middle school life. It’s told from the first person, and you can relate to the characters and story very well.
If you haven’t read the series yet, I’d advise checking out the first book, which talks about how Jenny (the main character) gets ditched by her former best friend Addie as she enters middle school and has to find a new friend group.
The second book, Madame President, however, is just as good.
Summary
As the book starts, Jenny is continuing to hang out with her new friend group. As the school year continues, it’s time to sign up for clubs. Jenny’s seventh grade friend Mark knows what’s up, and leaves class early to make sure he gets in the club he wants. Jenny, however, is not so lucky. By the time she gets down there to sign up, all the best clubs are taken!
There are only a few lame clubs left, and one of them is school government. Jenny would never think of running for class President, but the only other person running is Addie. Addie is a “pop” (one of the popular cool kids who make fun of everyone else), and Jenny and her friends most definitely don’t want her to win!
Jenny doesn’t really think she has a chance against someone as popular as Addie, but she decides to give it her best shot. Her friend Chloe (who invited Jenny into the friend group in the first place) becomes Jenny’s campaign manager, and is serious about beating the Pops.
The Pops are also serious, however. They are pulling tricks like lending out their popularity, and giving people cookies. The race becomes extremely close and tensions are running high. People begin to suspect that among Jenny’s friends one of them may be spying for Addie; one Josh, in fact.
Jenny is able to put up a good fight, but will it be good enough? Can an ordinary mortal like her stop the Pops?
Review
This is a great book. Like the previous one, it portrays the middle school life really well and goes further to develop the characters, creating an awesome gang who we get to know better throughout the next several books.
The election is really exciting and you’ll definitely want to know the outcome. The author does a really good job of weaving both action and character development into a normal story about sixth graders. This is a book any middle school girl will want to read.
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