Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life- James Patterson (Illustrated by Chris Tebbetts)

Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he’s got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off: With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school’s oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class-5,000 points! Running in the hallway-10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm-50,000 points! But when Rafe’s game starts to catch up with him, he’ll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he’s finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he’s been avoiding.

Blockbuster author James Patterson delivers a genuinely hilarious-and surprisingly poignant-story of a wildly imaginative, one-of-kind kid that you won’t soon forget.

 This is the totally insane story of how I, Rafe Khatchadorian:

·         Fought and overcame a diabolical teacher called the Dragon Lady,
·         Sold my soul to the school bully, a dollar at a time,
·         Wrestled with a real live bear, repeatedly,
·         Fell kind of in “like” with the most popular girl in school,
·         Went into the soda business and went bust,
·         And accidentally-on-purpose hurt all the people I care about.

The worst days of my life were good sometimes.

Bad sometimes.

But mostly they were hilarious.

See for yourself.

 The story of Rafe Khatchdorian is reminiscent of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney,  but slightly more serious because of Rafe’s loser jerk of a stepfather, who verbally abuses Rafe and his sister Georgia, and his imaginary friend Leonardo the Silent, who turns about to be something very different from what you would expect. Rafe plays a game where he has to break all the rules of his middle school, but discovers along the way that he wasn’t really cut out for a traditional school. Rafe’s story is sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious, but is always a great read. Kids who love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series will eat this book up.

4.75 Cocktails