ikuo1000's review against another edition
5.0
Lisa Yee just gets better with each book! I have read other books and series in which different chapters or books are meant to be narrated from the perspective of different characters, but so often the only way to tell who is narrating each chapter or book is to read the name in the title. Not so with this series! Millicent, Stanford, and Emily have such distinctive personalities and voices that come through so clearly in the writing.
This is the third book in the Millicent Min series. This time, we are seeing the events of the summer from Emily Ebers's perspective. Emily is a bubbly, life-loving 12-year-old who loves fashion, is a little on the heavy side, and confident in who she is as a person. What she isn't sure of is how to deal with all the life changes around her. Her parents just got a divorce, and she's reeling. Her mother is trying, but is herself struggling with heartbreak and change, and can't yet be the solid source of support that Emily needs. Emily blames her mother for the divorce and continually ices her out. Meanwhile, Emily yearns for attention from her father, yet rarely gets any. Young readers whose parents have divorced may find Emily relatable.
In this book, the story is told in a series of letters written in a journal from Emily to her father. Emily's plan is to send her dad the journal at the end of the summer. Like in Millicent Min, Girl Genius, there are times when the narration is unreliable; we the reader know what's going on, but poor Emily still has her eyes closed to the truth.
Meanwhile, Emily is trying to make new friends in town before school starts in the fall. Beside befriending Millicent, she also makes friends with other girls in middle school, including Wendy and the "popular girls", Julie and the "Triple A's" (three girls who tag along with Julie and all have names starting with "A"). Emily is already too self-confident to truly fall under Julie's spell, but it does take some time for Emily to stand up and assert herself. I love that Emily is able to tell off Julie without actually telling her off in a rude way - it's just so totally Emily Ebers to stand up for herself in a way that spreads kindness and confidence.
Much of this book also focuses on Emily's first real crush on Stanford Wong. I love how Emily is white - actually, Jewish - and just happens to have a Chinese-American best friend and a Chinese-American crush. It also turns out - from one mention of someone's last name - that one of Emily's best friends back in New Jersey was also Asian-American. It's that flavor of diversity where the multiculturalism is not at all a central or even minor concern; the characters just happen to be Asian-American.
One last thought, just in case anyone appreciates this kind of heads-up. During the course of this eventful summer, Emily also has her Judy Blume moment - that is, she gets her period. It's just something that happens!
This is the third book in the Millicent Min series. This time, we are seeing the events of the summer from Emily Ebers's perspective. Emily is a bubbly, life-loving 12-year-old who loves fashion, is a little on the heavy side, and confident in who she is as a person. What she isn't sure of is how to deal with all the life changes around her. Her parents just got a divorce, and she's reeling. Her mother is trying, but is herself struggling with heartbreak and change, and can't yet be the solid source of support that Emily needs. Emily blames her mother for the divorce and continually ices her out. Meanwhile, Emily yearns for attention from her father, yet rarely gets any. Young readers whose parents have divorced may find Emily relatable.
In this book, the story is told in a series of letters written in a journal from Emily to her father. Emily's plan is to send her dad the journal at the end of the summer. Like in Millicent Min, Girl Genius, there are times when the narration is unreliable; we the reader know what's going on, but poor Emily still has her eyes closed to the truth.
Meanwhile, Emily is trying to make new friends in town before school starts in the fall. Beside befriending Millicent, she also makes friends with other girls in middle school, including Wendy and the "popular girls", Julie and the "Triple A's" (three girls who tag along with Julie and all have names starting with "A"). Emily is already too self-confident to truly fall under Julie's spell, but it does take some time for Emily to stand up and assert herself. I love that Emily is able to tell off Julie without actually telling her off in a rude way - it's just so totally Emily Ebers to stand up for herself in a way that spreads kindness and confidence.
Much of this book also focuses on Emily's first real crush on Stanford Wong. I love how Emily is white - actually, Jewish - and just happens to have a Chinese-American best friend and a Chinese-American crush. It also turns out - from one mention of someone's last name - that one of Emily's best friends back in New Jersey was also Asian-American. It's that flavor of diversity where the multiculturalism is not at all a central or even minor concern; the characters just happen to be Asian-American.
One last thought, just in case anyone appreciates this kind of heads-up. During the course of this eventful summer, Emily also has her Judy Blume moment - that is, she gets her period. It's just something that happens!
jessalynn_librarian's review against another edition
3.0
You can't help but like Emily Ebers - even when she makes some questionable decisions or fails to pick up on sarcasm. Her story nicely rounds out the series that began with [b:Millicent Min, Girl Genius|230992|Millicent Min, Girl Genius|Lisa Yee|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172929065s/230992.jpg|223724] and continued with [b:Stanford Wong Flunks Big-time|444668|Stanford Wong Flunks Big-time|Lisa Yee|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174840339s/444668.jpg|2367795] - each book tells the story of the same summer from a different character's point of view, and each viewpoint makes the story fresh and funny in different ways.
While I still think Millicent is my favorite (I love sarcastic characters), I enjoyed Emily's point of view. Getting a first person narrative gives insight into each characters family and home life and really illustrates the point that things are always different on the inside. Emily wishes she had Millicent's "normal" parents, while Millicent wishes she had Emily's journalist mother. Emily idolizes Stanford while being blind to how much he likes her in return. It's hard enough as an adult to recognize how a different viewpoint changes things, so I love any books that point that out to children - while still managing to be hilarious and true to the middle school experience.
While I still think Millicent is my favorite (I love sarcastic characters), I enjoyed Emily's point of view. Getting a first person narrative gives insight into each characters family and home life and really illustrates the point that things are always different on the inside. Emily wishes she had Millicent's "normal" parents, while Millicent wishes she had Emily's journalist mother. Emily idolizes Stanford while being blind to how much he likes her in return. It's hard enough as an adult to recognize how a different viewpoint changes things, so I love any books that point that out to children - while still managing to be hilarious and true to the middle school experience.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
The third book in the Millicent Min trilogy; but you can read them in any order. (see [Millicent Min, Girl Genius:] and [Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time:]) Emily has had to move to California from New Jersey, and she misses her dad, who's on the road touring with his band now that he and her mom have divorced. So she writes a series of letters to him in diary format, telling him about making friends with Millicent Min at summer volleyball, and getting a crush on Stanford Wong, whom she thinks is tutoring Millicent. It's the same series of events that happens in the other two books, but from Emily's point of view, and with a lot more events in between that only happen to Emily and not her friends. I just adore these books, they're funny and clever and a fun light read.
nurseamandarose's review against another edition
3.0
I guess this book was ok. kind of like a lot of other teen books about a girl that has friendship and boy problems.
naomi_andino's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third book in this trilogy but it doesn’t really matter what order you read them in since hey are all the same story with just different perspectives. I personally liked the fact that Lisa Yee did this since we get to see exactly what was going on in the minds of the others.
12 year old Emily Ebers moves from New Jersey to California after her parents’ divorce. This book is set up as a letter journal that EMily is writing for her father who is currently on tour. I remember that when I first read the trilogy (when I was 12) Emily was my favorite POV. Emily misses her dad and she’s angry at her mother for moving them across the country. Although Emily can be mean, irrational and makes dumb choices, she is 12!
At the end of the day, this book teaches a great lessons on:
✭Lying (that’s probably the main lesson since both Millie and Stanford were lying almost the whole summer).
✭Being yourself
✭Sticking up for your friends
✭Appreciating the effort your parents make in raising you (even though sometimes you don’t agree with their choices and sometimes they make mistakes)
A really cute and easy read for kids aged 9 - 14. ❤️
12 year old Emily Ebers moves from New Jersey to California after her parents’ divorce. This book is set up as a letter journal that EMily is writing for her father who is currently on tour. I remember that when I first read the trilogy (when I was 12) Emily was my favorite POV. Emily misses her dad and she’s angry at her mother for moving them across the country. Although Emily can be mean, irrational and makes dumb choices, she is 12!
At the end of the day, this book teaches a great lessons on:
✭Lying (that’s probably the main lesson since both Millie and Stanford were lying almost the whole summer).
✭Being yourself
✭Sticking up for your friends
✭Appreciating the effort your parents make in raising you (even though sometimes you don’t agree with their choices and sometimes they make mistakes)
A really cute and easy read for kids aged 9 - 14. ❤️
elliegxntry's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a great story. Really. The only thing is, I've heard this story before in Millicent's book. I think we also lost some of the story because Emily was writing letters to her dad, and she spent to much time talking about her dad. But the story was great and I love the sentence structure. Emily's side of the story is very entertaining, and you won't want to stop reading.
theresidentbookworm's review
4.0
Still good, but my least favorite of the three books. Emily's a bit of a brat.
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