Diary of a 5th Grade Outlaw, upper elementary go-to fiction

The presentation is one of the first things that elementary aged readers will notice about Diary of a 5^th Grade Outlaw by Gina Loveless and Andrea Bell. It’s much more of a rectangular prism than other books. This allows smaller hands to easily grasp the hardback book and look at its cover. From there those readers will see the rough notebook like appearance to the book and might erroneously presume that it’s cut from the same cloth as Wimpy Kid. It’s not and once you open up the book you’ll see that Diary of a 5^th Grade Outlaw is exactly what some kids need in order to become better readers.

The text in the book is huge, yet the content is obviously aimed at mid-elementary aged readers. It’s self aware and the text is written in first or third person. The book is funny and features aspects of daily life that elementary kids will recognize from their own school.

Robin Loxley is just starting 5^th grade at Nottingham Elementary. She quickly meets Nadia, the bully who already seems to have control of the playground during recess. Thankfully for her she’s also a great basketball player. Depending on the moment; she’s as good a player or maybe even better than LJ, a mysterious, quiet girl who all the kids know. Unfortunately for Robin, she’s still trying to get back on the right side of friendship with May Ann, her best friend. They had a falling out, the way that elementary kids will do, and now’s a great time for each of them to meet in the middle and hug it out.

School has drama though. There are archaic reward systems, their arbitrary cancellation and recess competition that have huge implications in the elementary school hierarchy.

The chapters in Diary of a 5^th Grade Outlaw are the perfect length for those readers who need to challenge themselves, yet don’t want to read too far out of their range.  Our 8 year-old is a great example of this reader. He can read the I Can Read books with ease, yet we need longer books for him to master comprehension. Between the big font, appropriately sized chapters, quickly paced narrative and humor in the book it’s great for many readers.

It’ll be a comfort book for those upper elementary or middle school readers, providing laughs and lots of things that they can relate to. For those younger readers it’s just the step up that they might need to become better readers, while have fun doing it.