Hi all, this second week’s post features a different middle school and another group of friends. These youngsters, however, are facing difficulties in communication, keeping alliances and more drama than you can imagine. If you like school stories where our heroes have to face a multitude of challenges to find themselves and fit in amongst all the others, then this is definitely for you!!
Title: Posted
Author: John David Anderson
Genre: Fiction – contemporary
Publication details: Walden Pond Press; NY, 2017
ISBN: 9780062338204
What this book is about: In middle school, words can either be weapons or gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you, and even change things forever. When cell phones are banned at Branson Middle School, Frost and his friends, Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes – though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well. When new girl Rose arrives during all of this and sits at Frost’s lunch table; she changes the dynamics of his circle of friends. As the sticky-note war escalates and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realises that after this year, nothing will ever be the same. John David Anderson delivers a stirring story of five friends struggling to fit in, to find themselves, and to summon the courage to say the things that need to be said.
My review: Told in first person, this stunning tale clearly depicts the daily struggles students go through to fit in and be someone. I love how John David Anderson has portrayed the aspect of not just online cyber attacks, but the resulting ‘post-it war’ that ensues once phones are banned. It’s great how he’s described the problems and shown solutions through empathy, compassion and tolerance. I loved all the characters, especially Rose, and the way the author had described her. The inclusion of Frost’s parents’ divorce along with the relationships of the other parents are also expertly woven together as at that age what happens at home is imperative to the inner developments of middle graders. Although it tackled the issues of bullying in several different forms this was really a great read for me!! I would recommend it for all tweens.
My rating: 5 ⭐
Miss Mahee's Library of Reads 