Tag: Gayle Forman

Middle school books sometimes exist in the middle of the Venn Diagram. That’s the spot where a myriad of kids could enjoy the book for any number of reasons. Overlaid on that diagram is the very black and white metric of ‘kids want to read it’ and ‘kids don’t want to read it’. To make things even more complex there’s a duo chromatic lens that asks the very simple question of ‘is the book good?’, with a yes/no slider that could help middle school readers find that book. Of course, this silly way of quantifying children’s literature doesn’t exist. However, when I read a book that’s aimed at middle school readers my imagination creates this matrix and tries to think like a kid. Frankie & Bug is mglit that hammers some of these categories home, while creating a whole new “yes, but…” category that will inspire some readers while frustrating others.

A great book that aims wide, but has niche appeal