The Clueless Girl’s Guide to Being a Genius by Janice Repka
Aphrodite Wigglesworth is a card-carrying genius. She’s 13 years old and a Harvard graduate. Wait, let me back that up, Aphrodite is an academic genius, but she’s so not a genius when it comes to being 13. Mindy is a genius at being 13—she knows clothes, hair, nails and she’s an award-winning baton twirler. When it comes to math? Mindy is a bonehead. That’s what they call the kids in the remedial math class: boneheads. Until Professor Aphrodite Wigglesworth is hired to teach the class…. and gather more data for her on-going research. Aphrodite believes that “anyone can learn to be a math whiz,” even the boneheads at her former middle school. Aphrodite changes the way her class feels about math and how the rest of the school treats the “boneheads”. She enrolls them in the advanced Math Bowl and sets out to prove they can win. The math genius and baton genius slowly build their friendship til the night of the 8th grade dance. Then the drama starts.
Told in alternating chapters, it’s clear that both girls are clueless. It’s a fun little ride and I started to care about whether the 8th grade remedial class would actually do well at the Math Bowl. I didn’t like the ending, I would have written a more realistic one, but I thought this was a great look at what builds friendships.
The Clueless Girl’s Guide to Being a Genius by Janice Repka has 210 pages and is recommended for 5th – 8th graders.
First Sentences:
Here’s something fun you can do. First get out of your chair . (I’m trusting you can do that.) Next, stand in an open space. (Trusting you again.) Now spin like a quantum mechanical particle. (Or a top or tornado, whatever.) Faster. Faster. STOP. Did you feel it? That slip-in time moment when your brain hadn’t caught up with your body and it felt like you were still spinning? I love that.
Reading Chick Rating:
Breadcrumbs by Anna Ursu
Hazel Anderson isn’t having a very good year: her parents divorced and she’s having a hard time adjusting to her new school. The only good thing in her life is her friend (and neighbor) Jack. He shares her vivid imagination and a hard home life; his mom’s medical depression. For reasons Hazel doesn’t understand, Jack starts to become distant. When an enchanted shard of glass (dropped by a no-good troll/demon/imp with 17 syllables) drops from the sky into his eye, Jack’s heart is hardened. After Jack is gone for several days, Hazel inquires about his absence and his distant parents explain he’s gone to stay with an elderly aunt. Hazel doesn’t believe them and her beliefs are justified when a bully verifies Hazel’s concerns. So she sets out to do something about it. Hazel packs her bag with food (granola bars), water, and a change of clothes. She also includes an autographed baseball Jack gave her as a gift. She heads Into the Woods.
Now, these are capital-w Woods; Once-Upon-a-Time Woods. And these magical Woods take Hazel from her Minnesota neighborhood to Hans Christian Andersen-land. Hazel encounters people from all over who mistakenly enter the woods from their own neighborhood and end up wandering this enchanted place. Hazel encounters an anthology-filled cast of characters: the Woodsman, red ballet slippers, a match girl and more. Perhaps the scariest characters of all are the sweet couple who come to Hazel’s aid. It’s a lucky thing when Hazel’s dreams alert her to the fact that this couple would turn Hazel into a flower. But Hazel is single-minded in her mission; she’s come to rescue her friend. She doesn’t give in to her fears, she just continues to head north.
Notes from an Accidental Band Geek by Erin Dionne
Elsie knows music, she lives and breathes her french horn. French horn is in her blood: her father is the principal horn player for the Boston Symphony, as was her grandfather. But in order to get into a prestigious music camp she needs music ensemble experience. Elsie decides to join the marching band as a new Freshman. She may know music, but Elsie quickly learns marching band is a whole new world. Elsie struggles to learn the mellophone (French Horns do not march), make (and keep) new friends, play an instrument while balancing a hat, and maintain her more serious musical endeavors. Pleasing her parents is becoming a chore. Her father doesn’t believe she has the musical ability to get into the music camp so Elsie sets off to prove him wrong. When Elsie has the opportunity to play a solo on a nationally televised parade, on the same week her auditions are being held, she wonders if she’ll be able to do both.
Elsie was a believable character. She’s completely clueless about being a friend and girlfriend. The journey she takes from Orchestra Superstar to Band Geek is realistic.
Notes from an Accidental Band Geek has 305 pages and is recommended for 6th t0 9th graders. sh 10/11
First Sentence:
“Dad, seriously. I can go by myself. I’m not a baby.”
Reading Chick rating:
Opening Lines
I’m going to steal a blogger’s idea; a very, young and wise blogger it would seem. I somehow found her via Twitter and went right to her blog. I like a lot of things about her blog, but the thing that I took away that I knew I wanted to consider was that she includes the novel’s opening line.
Love that. In library school, literature class finals included random quotes from the books we studied. And while the opening line wasn’t always part of the final, it was a great way to study. So, dear reader, I’m going to copy this wise, young blogger and add the first sentence opening lines of each book to my reviews.
True ( — Sort of) by Katherine Hannigan
Words are important things. Delaware (Delly for short) Pattison’s head is in the right place, but the response she gets to her impetuous behavior is that she is “bad”. “Bad, bad, bad.” And after a while, being told that, the words sort of sink in. Delly gets that she is bad, but no one seems to tell her how to be good. Things escalate for Delly while she’s in 5th grade. She is often truant, and gets in the way. And she gets into a knock-down drag-out, blood pouring fight. After a particularly bad fight, Delly is given a final ultimatum… shape up or get sent to a school for difficult children. The words don’t seem to do much to change Delly’s mind; it’s seeing her mother’s tears that make Delly want to change. She just doesn’t know how to handle herself when her sister and the 5th grade bully pick on her to the point she clenches her fists. Delly’s younger brother, who looks up to Delly, gives her the coping mechanism he uses to get through rough times–count. And Delly counts and counts and counts. And RB follows her to make sure she does.
Sidekicks by Jack D. Ferraiolo
By day Scott is a mild-mannered nobody at Harbinger Prepatory School. By night, he’s Bright Boy, sidekick to New York’s favorite superhero, Phantom Justice. Actually, they aren’t known as supers anymore, science has discovered that there is an additional gene in certain people and they’re called pluses. If, like Scott, you have two super powers, you are called plus/pluses.
Our story starts with Phantom Justice and Bright Boy saving a woman from certain death. Bright Boy does his sidekick thing and escorts the young, attractive woman safely to the ground. Scott/Bright Boy is going through puberty and unknowingly experiences his first erection in front of the woman, in front of news crews in his bright yellow tights. Yep, for all of the world to see. When Scott gets to school, it’s all anyone is talking about and it’s killing him. When he gets home from school he learns that Phantom Justice’s archenemy, Dr. Chaotic, has just escaped from jail. The dynamic duo stop Dr. Chaotic, and his sidekick Monkeywrench, from committing a crime. Monkeywrench and Bright Boy have met before and the two really battle it out, but this time get away. They meet again, and this time Monkeywrench’s mask comes off. Bright Boy recognizes a girl (!!) from school. Allison rips Bright Boy’s mask off. (Problem is, she doesn’t know his name.) Allison/Monkeywrench tells Scott/Bright Boy that they’re in a deadlock. Neither one of them can out the other without giving away their own identity. At school the next day, Scott freaks out while Allison is as cool as a cucumber. She confronts Scott in a janitor’s closet and tells him to calm down. They leave school, talking, becoming friendly, answering each other’s questions til as their alter-egos, they chase each other and end in a spectacular kiss. In front of people. In front of their classmates. … there’s more …!
48 Hour Book Challenge Day 3 — Onward to the End
5:30 – Here is my goal. Finish Sidekicks and Okay for Now. I still have to do the review for True (sort of), but that book is too good to not thoughtfully write, so it may wait til after the finish line. And I only have til 9, so … bye
- 7:35. finished Sidekicks. I’ve planned my reading to keep Okay for Now my last book. I downloaded Okay for Now from Overdrive for my phone. Kept at it whenever possible, but hard to read that tiny screen. So I grabbed the book, and couldn’t put it down. loved it so much that I don’t want it to end. I’ve never stopped reading a book because I liked it. So, as a reward for reading all weekend, I get to finish it. Bye.
- 9.00 and I’m still reading Okay for Now. Which okay for me.
total time today. 3.5 hours
Total reading time since 9 a.m. Friday, June 3rd: 24 hours.
9 – 12:30 Finished reading Okay for Now. Wrote the review for Sidekicks and True (Sort of). But it’s after the fact and it doesn’t count… I’m keeping 24 hours as my official end time (although I’ve spent 3.5 extra hours for a total of 27.5). I still have the review for Okay for Now to do, but will do that at work tomorrow. I’ve got laundry to do.
Notes for next year: start at noon on Friday. Take the afternoon off and read til Sunday at noon. As stressed out as I was I really accomplished a lot:
- True (Sort of) by Hannigan
- OyMG by Dominy
- The Girl Who Become a Beatle by Taylor
- Nerd Talk by Weissman
- Sidekicks by Ferraiolo (if I ever learn to spell that name…)
- Okay for Now by Schmidt
My favorites were: True (sort of), Okay For Now, Sidekicks, and Nerd Camp.
Nerd Camp by Elissa Brent Weissman
Gabe is excited to get a new step-brother. When he meets Zack, Gabe realizes the things he likes aren’t the same thing as Zack. Worse still? It seems the things that Gabe likes to do are considered greeky and nerd-like to Zack. Gabe is smart, so smart he passes the required entrance exam for the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment, and he sets out to prove the following problem:
Problem: Am I a nerd who only has nerdy adventures?
Hypothesis: No
The Girl Who Became a Beatle by Greg Taylor
Regina is just trying to keep the band together. Her band. The Caverns. Two members, Lorna and Danny, want to quit. Julian, who Regina really likes, seems ambivalent to the band. The Caverns mostly cover Beatles tunes and Regina has had a hard time booking gigs for the band. Just before she falls asleep, Regina makes a wish: I wish I were as famous as the Beatles.”
When Regina wakes up, her Beatles paraphernalia is gone. In its place, The Caverns stuff everywhere. It turns out her wish is granted. Regina regroups enough to go through the ropes and live the life of a world-famous artist and singer. The Caverns greatest hits? He loves You (yeah, yeah, yeah), Yesterday, and a whole album’s worth of Beatles music. Because of The Caverns existence, The Beatles don’t exist. Heavy.
… there’s more … !
OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy
Ellie Levine can argue. She’s good at it and she has eye on the award-winning Speech team at an exclusive private school in Phoenix (where they live). Ellie and her friend are accepted to the Christian Society Speech and Performing Arts Speech Camp–but Ellie is Jewish. Ellie assures her parents, and more importantly, her zeydeh (grandfather) that faith won’t be an issue at the camp. Just to be sure, her zeydeh gives Ellie her grandmother’s Star of David necklace to wear. Initially, camp isn’t awkward for her, just a few praise songs.
In fact, Ellie excels at her event. Better still, blue-eyed Devon Yeats is in her event. Even better? Devon and Ellie end up working closely during the camp. Coincidentally, Devon’s grandmother, Mrs. Yeats, is in charge of the scholarship to Benedict High School. When Devon notices Ellie’s necklace, he suggests that Ellie hide it from his grandmother. It turns out that grandma is a bigot, and the winner of the scholarship is, in part, based on creed. In the end, Zeydeh recognizes that Ellie is passing as a Christian (she justifies it that her father was raised Lutheran), a terrible argument ensues and Zeydeh lands in the hospital. Is getting a scholarship really worth changing who she is? Ellie has to decided this.
… there’s more … !