The Last Boy at St. Edith's

Malone, Lee Gjertsen. The Last Boy at St. Edith's
February 23rd 2016 by Aladdin
E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline

Jeremy's mother works at St. Edith's, a prep school with a decent academic reputation, but also a reputation for being staid and boring. In an attempt to increase enrollment, boys had been admitted to the all girls' school, but Jeremy has watched the number of boys dwindle, especially after they were all forced to be on the football team! When the only other boy left leaves, Jeremy tries to figure out a way to get his mother to let him enroll elsewhere. It's tough, though, because she wants him to finish middle school so he can get a good scholarship, and she doesn't want to send him to the local public school, fearing for his safety. With his friends Claudia and Emily, he embarks on a series of pranks that will hopefully get him expelled but not cause any permanent damage to anyone. Soon, he's filled the yard with lawn gnomes, covered a rival bus with Post It notes, caused some damage with snow on the roof, and generally made St. Edith's a more interesting place to be. When his final prank threatens to get his sister expelled, he has to come clean. 
Strengths: This had a lot of potential, since books about pranks are usually popular. I like the cover, and was glad to see that Jeremy didn't have any problems with having girls as friends, he was just tired of being the ONLY boy. 
Weaknesses: I never quite bought that Jeremy HAD to stay at St. Edith's. This might be an East Coast thing I don't really understand. The public school didn't sound that dangerous. Also, any books with an emphasis on film and drama don't do well at my school. 
What I really think: An amusing book, but one which would fall flat with my population. Definitely check it out if books about private schools or drama clubs are popular with your readers.