kat10186's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the_fabric_of_words's review
5.0
This is also in verse, and now Ben Y is exploring their pronouns, dying (dissolving) their hair, even as Mr. Mann, the mean school principal (is there any other kind?), promotes a stifling dress code and "Safe Space" where Ben Y and others feel anything but safe.
Ben Y idolizes the new, fashionable and super-confident Ace, who enters the afterschool Typing Club run by the venerable and much-loved librarian, Ms. J. If only Ace would notice Ben Y! But Ace's presence in their closed typing circle threatens the others in the group, most notably those who rely on Ben Y's best-friendship.
Then Ben Y's older, and very deceased, brother types back in the game chatroom created expressly for Ben Y, and they know something's not right. Because there is no such thing as ghosts.
Ben Y creates a tear-sheet, a one-page skewer of Mr. Mann, The Unauthorized Hart Times, and anonymously posts it around school. For a while, Ben Y is willing to hide behind Ace, let others think Ace created the funny caricatures and text about the unsafe "Safe Space."
Until they claim ownership and confront Mr. Mann, and then the battle lines are clearly drawn.
I won't spoil how it ends, or who's pretending to be Ben Y's brother, or what happens to Ms. J (hint: again).
Enjoy!
On a total side note, I did have a bone to pick with the layout of the text. This is no comment at all on the author or illustrator. The graphics and textual representations of game chat and texts were super well done and the illustrations hilarious.
But I loved how, in the first book, there were two, sometimes up to three columns of text per page. The pages were wider, too. The poems are only a few words per line, and the column layout and wider pages made for relatively fewer pages overall. In other words, the book didn't suffer from white space bloat and lots of excess pages, like so many other verse novels do.
Not so this one. By comparison, this is a heavy tome. It's 426 pages, even though I'm certain it's got far fewer words, overall, than Tristan Strong who punches through a comparable number of pages. But the text in this one is one column only, and the pages are not as wide. And the paper is heavy. I mean, hard-to-hold-up heavy.
I taught middle school and watched kids compare the widths of book spines during trips to the library. It made no difference if the total word count was lower. If the book looked huge and felt heavy, they'd choose a skinnier neighbor. Any skinnier neighbor. It's been a pet peeve of mine for a while now that verse books, in general, have so many pages they turn kids off on sight (on ereaders, too). The first BenBee book brilliantly solved that problem and I'd love to see the multi-column format come back.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
Ben Y idolizes the new, fashionable and super-confident Ace, who enters the afterschool Typing Club run by the venerable and much-loved librarian, Ms. J. If only Ace would notice Ben Y! But Ace's presence in their closed typing circle threatens the others in the group, most notably those who rely on Ben Y's best-friendship.
Then Ben Y's older, and very deceased, brother types back in the game chatroom created expressly for Ben Y, and they know something's not right. Because there is no such thing as ghosts.
Ben Y creates a tear-sheet, a one-page skewer of Mr. Mann, The Unauthorized Hart Times, and anonymously posts it around school. For a while, Ben Y is willing to hide behind Ace, let others think Ace created the funny caricatures and text about the unsafe "Safe Space."
Until they claim ownership and confront Mr. Mann, and then the battle lines are clearly drawn.
I won't spoil how it ends, or who's pretending to be Ben Y's brother, or what happens to Ms. J (hint: again).
Enjoy!
On a total side note, I did have a bone to pick with the layout of the text. This is no comment at all on the author or illustrator. The graphics and textual representations of game chat and texts were super well done and the illustrations hilarious.
But I loved how, in the first book, there were two, sometimes up to three columns of text per page. The pages were wider, too. The poems are only a few words per line, and the column layout and wider pages made for relatively fewer pages overall. In other words, the book didn't suffer from white space bloat and lots of excess pages, like so many other verse novels do.
Not so this one. By comparison, this is a heavy tome. It's 426 pages, even though I'm certain it's got far fewer words, overall, than Tristan Strong who punches through a comparable number of pages. But the text in this one is one column only, and the pages are not as wide. And the paper is heavy. I mean, hard-to-hold-up heavy.
I taught middle school and watched kids compare the widths of book spines during trips to the library. It made no difference if the total word count was lower. If the book looked huge and felt heavy, they'd choose a skinnier neighbor. Any skinnier neighbor. It's been a pet peeve of mine for a while now that verse books, in general, have so many pages they turn kids off on sight (on ereaders, too). The first BenBee book brilliantly solved that problem and I'd love to see the multi-column format come back.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
mldavisreads's review
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Middle grade realistic fiction, novel in verse. This book is the second in a series, sequel to BenBee and the Teacher Griefer, and is more enjoyable if you have read the first book. Ben Y, Ben B, Jordan J, and Javier are back at school after their summer school experience where they all bonded. Their vice principal Mr. Mann is a bit on the rampage, especially towards a new student Ace who sees no reason to follow the school dress code. Ben Y sees a bit of themself in Ace, and gradually Ace latches onto the rest of the crew. But Ben Y is still grieving Benicio, the brother who created the Sandbox game and has since passed. The family is a trying to get by, with sister Esme and their Mom also grieving. Ben Y looks back to old Sandbox chats to read Benicio's words of comfort and advice. The 4 kids (now 5 with Ace) are in the newspaper typing club with Ms. J. While they have printed newspapers, the time has been mainly spent playing Sandbox and spending time together. But Mr. Mann has a new idea for the newspaper and insists it features an administrative profile of him and discusses the new zero tolerance policy. As the kids in the club feel bullied by some of the students and targeted by Mr. Mann, they have to walk a line between writing their articles and truly expressing themselves.
This book is told mostly in verse, but also has several chat transcripts. As such, it reads much faster than the size of the book implies. I love this group of students and seeing how much Ms. J goes to bat for them. It was interesting to read of Ben Y's search for identity, after having already shortened their birth name Benita to Ben, they decide to go by Mx. instead of Ms. (the vice principal routinely calls students Mr. or Ms. with their last name). Note: While no label is given to Ben Y and pronouns are not addressed, I used the pronouns they/them based on that expressed preference for Mx.
This book is told mostly in verse, but also has several chat transcripts. As such, it reads much faster than the size of the book implies. I love this group of students and seeing how much Ms. J goes to bat for them. It was interesting to read of Ben Y's search for identity, after having already shortened their birth name Benita to Ben, they decide to go by Mx. instead of Ms. (the vice principal routinely calls students Mr. or Ms. with their last name). Note: While no label is given to Ben Y and pronouns are not addressed, I used the pronouns they/them based on that expressed preference for Mx.
jess_reads's review
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
library_kb's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is one of the first middle grade books that I have read that has a nonbinary main character--which I think is good to see! It follows Ben Y who is dealing with microaggressions at school over their identity, as well as harassment by admin. They are still dealing with grief over their brother's death and it is causing some issues in friend groups on top of their academic struggles with dyslexia. This book is ~400 pages, so it is a chunky book, but it reads pretty quickly since it is in the novel-in-verse format, with some game chat styled pages as well. I think kids who are into Minecraft and Roblox, dealing with loss of a family member, as well as kids looking to find their own identity present on the page will enjoy this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Bullying
thenextgenlibrarian's review
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
Welcome back to The Kids Under the Stairs MG series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
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