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fabreadingclub's review against another edition
5.0
Loved all the stories - would highly recommend the book.
cornmaven's review against another edition
2.0
Clearly I am not the target audience for this book. But having said that, I was sadly disappointed in the quality of some of the stories. The graphic novel stories were wonderful. Lenore Look's contribution on the Chinese zodiac was just plain boring. The Bella/Rover thing got old.
Carmen Deedy's story of a mother's quirky new bathtub ritual was funny but bothered me because I couldn't tell if it was a non-fiction essay or a fictional story. It felt more like an adult reminiscing instead of a kid's telling, which would have been on the 'I am so mortified' side.
There's some meanness in here, too, which I felt was unnecessary. "'Go back to your game of tag, plebes'" just did not sit right with me.
Maybe the target audience will embrace it more than I did.
Carmen Deedy's story of a mother's quirky new bathtub ritual was funny but bothered me because I couldn't tell if it was a non-fiction essay or a fictional story. It felt more like an adult reminiscing instead of a kid's telling, which would have been on the 'I am so mortified' side.
There's some meanness in here, too, which I felt was unnecessary. "'Go back to your game of tag, plebes'" just did not sit right with me.
Maybe the target audience will embrace it more than I did.
gracepizza40's review against another edition
I don't like it.
Raina's comic infuriated me. What kind of example is stomping on a bee (killing it) so you could pet it? Bees are crucial to our world. Without them, we would die. So the fact that young Raina just stomped on it was really careless and stupid. I know she was just a kid, but come on, not a good example for kids- it just teaches them to be scared of bees and not respect them.
The period one was not great, I wish it better represented periods and people with them. :/
I hated Lisa Graff's Over and Out. Why did they have to act like that...
The zodiac one was a terrible representation of the Chinese Zodiac.
I don't recommend this book to anyone I wouldn't have enjoyed this as a kid either.
Raina's comic infuriated me. What kind of example is stomping on a bee (killing it) so you could pet it? Bees are crucial to our world. Without them, we would die. So the fact that young Raina just stomped on it was really careless and stupid. I know she was just a kid, but come on, not a good example for kids- it just teaches them to be scared of bees and not respect them.
The period one was not great, I wish it better represented periods and people with them. :/
I hated Lisa Graff's Over and Out. Why did they have to act like that...
The zodiac one was a terrible representation of the Chinese Zodiac.
I don't recommend this book to anyone I wouldn't have enjoyed this as a kid either.
cmorrisclark's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this more because I really love some of the authors, like CeCe Bell. But most of the little vignettes just didn't hit home for me. I know I'm not exactly the target audience, but I've enjoyed other middle grade works. I had my 8 year old read some selected works (the ones I thought she'd most enjoy), and no guffaws from her either.
Bummer!
Bummer!
lspare's review against another edition
4.0
It made me chuckle and I’ll probably give it to my 10 year old to read also. Some of the stories are more kid humor than adult humor, but if you keep that in mind it’s fine.
nssutton's review against another edition
3.0
It took me a while to get to this one, but when a kid nervously whispers to you upon returning it, "There's a story about periods in here," you say, hmm, I should probably move that up on my queue. It's not quite what I had hoped for, in a way that feels almost wrong of me to admit. Based on reviews, author list, and story formats, I've recommended it to our 3rd-5th reluctant readers, but really it's for our 4th and 5th graders with more than one toe into puberty. It's going to be a fine line recommendation wise - some of the girls who have read it were mortified when I told them I was going to read it, as if I too wasn't once this age and thirsty for stories about making those more unpleasant parts of "becoming a woman" normalized and okay (hello "A Public Service Announcement About Your Period from Sarah T. Wrigley, Age 12 3/4"). How to Play Imaginary Games was like my exact childhood, whenever I wasn't reading.
alay13's review
4.0
Uneven, as just about any short story anthology is, but mostly these stories were smart AND funny.
inliterarylove's review against another edition
5.0
Laugh out loud funny, reading with my daughter. A favorite was the letter writing between Trixie and her grandpa. We absolutely loved this book.