A review by lazygal
The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell by Jordan Sonnenblick
3.0
Poor Jordan: his teacher hates him. That's enough, right there, to ruin a school year. And this isn't "hate" as in "she's strict and I don't like her teaching/correcting me" it's definitely hate. Plus Jordan's a little different, between the asthma and his pet snake and allergies, he gets bullied and no one really stops it. Of course moving to another school helps, particularly since the students there are a very diverse group, which makes being a little different easier than when your school is not diverse.
Since this is a fictionalized memoir, I won't dispute the idea that fifth graders still have show-and-tell (in my school, it stopped after first or second grade). And I will say that the Jordan/Mrs. Fisher interactions are being remembered by what the author felt and went through back then, so there's nothing to mitigate how horrible she is (aka "the humanizing element"). I can imagine middle grade boys enjoying this as they navigate similar feelings and circumstances.
ARC provided by publisher.
Since this is a fictionalized memoir, I won't dispute the idea that fifth graders still have show-and-tell (in my school, it stopped after first or second grade). And I will say that the Jordan/Mrs. Fisher interactions are being remembered by what the author felt and went through back then, so there's nothing to mitigate how horrible she is (aka "the humanizing element"). I can imagine middle grade boys enjoying this as they navigate similar feelings and circumstances.
ARC provided by publisher.