MMGM- Popcorn and All Consuming

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Harrell, Rob. Popcorn.

September 3, 2024 by Dial Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Tall, skinny Andrew Yaeger is dealing with a lot. His father lives on the west coast. His grandmother, G, a former middle school social studies teacher, has Alzheimers and is living in his room while he sleeps on the couch. His mother is starting a new job that she hopes will help the family financially, especially if G has to go into a care facility. On top of all of that, it's picture day in seventh grade, and his mother, Susan, wants a picture that does NOT look like Andrew was "attacked by wolves". Susan even buys him a new shirt and makes him take a spare just in case. This upsets Andrew's routine for the day, since his back pack is meticulously organized, and shoving the shirt in will turn his sandwich into "peanut butter and jelly origami". Luckily, he has his best friend, Jonesy, whose mother, Mika, was Susan's college roommate. Jonesy is Andrew's opposite; she loves sports, her family is well off, and she is outgoing and careful, in contrast to Andrew's anxious and awkward personality. Andrew has even gone to three therapy sessions with Dr. Cain. They were very helpful, but his mother couldn't afford more, so he deals with his emotions by drawing in a journal the therapist gave him, and these drawing help illustrate the story. Adding to Andrew's problems, bully behemoth Gene calls him names like "Garage Sale", and roughs him up after Andrew won't help him cheat. After an incident in gym where a basketball slams into Andrew's face, he seeks help from the nurse for his black eye, bloody nose, and broken glasses. She's very supportive, and offers to try to fix the shirt. At lunch, Andrew is dealing with growing anxiety that he likens to a popcorn kernel heating up. He's hit in the head by ketchup from a makeshift ketchup rocket. After a brief stop at the nurse, he heads to science class, where his teacher uses the rocket as a teachable moment, and has the class do a small scale chemical reaction in a beaker. Gene sabotages Andrew's, and soon our hapless hero's face and hands are covered in purple. He and Jonesy are called to the office with the news that G is missing. Mika stepped away for a moment, and now can't contact Susan. Do the two know where G might have gone? In the art room with Mr. Kellerman, using mineral spirits to remove the purple dye, Andrew spirals down into a full-blown panic attack. Mr. Kellerman has Jonesy contact the nurse, puts a girl in charge of the class, and takes Andrew outside. He helps him to breath and calm down, and lets him know that he, too, has anxiety and panic attacks. When G shows up at school, telling the principal to get back to class (he was one of her students years ago!), the police are able to finally contact Susan, talk to her boss, and get G to a safe place. Andrew decides to take his school picture anyway, so that the day can be memorialized, since he survived. He also reaches out to Gene, shares a moment from the past when they were happy together, and asks that the two find a way to be more civil to each other. The end of the book has resources for various issues, as well as a note from the author describing his personal connection to Andrew's story.
Strengths: Harrell understands how schools work, and creates realistic, intriguing characters. Andrew's day could actually happen, as horrible as it was! My heart broke, seeing G's vintage school picture in a fabulous 70s vest and roaming the school halls in her bathrobe. The details of Andrew's therapy, and his recounting of his mental state are very instructive, especially in the depiction of his panic attacks and the events that lead to it. Even though Andrew struggles with multiple issues, he has some coping strategies and tries very hard to fight through difficult issues. His support network is strong, and Jonesy is a good friend. Mr. Kellerman, and his overalls and sandals was great fun. The school nurse (whose name I didn't write down) was also a great character, with her hidden stash of pop and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The fact that she and Mr. Kellerman were dating made me smile. There are a number of other students who make an appearance, and most are understanding and nice to Andrew. Of course, Harrell's drawings are always a plus; he could draw a successful update to Borgman's classic How Are You Feeling Today? A Vocabulary of Emotions poster (probably published in the late 1980s).
Weaknesses: This was a funny book, but Andrew's day was traumatic. I'm glad that Harrell was able to relate this with humor, but I had a hard time laughing at it, since I've been in Mr. Kellerman's position on multiple occasions, doing box breathing with children in distress. I've also fixed a lot of wardrobe malfunctions! I enjoyed the book, but felt that perhaps I shouldn't.
What I really think: This is very similar to Amore and Cosgrove's Monday: The Worst Week Ever, with the a variety of cascading troubles leading up to school pictures, but is much more serious. The best comparison is that the book is a combination of Patterson's Middle School books with the psychological content of Cooke's Puzzled or Sattin and Hickman Buzzing. I think that students will gain a lot from seeing Andrew's travails and his coping skills, and will hopefully also gain empathy for classmates who may be having bad days. This author's Wink and Bat Pig are very popular with my readers, so this book will circulate well. I think this just hit a bit close to home for me, and made me sad, but that means the writing was very effective.

Silver, Erin and Ogawa, Suharu(illustrator). 

All Consuming: Shop Smarter for the Planet
September 17, 2024 by Orca Book Publishers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

I have to admit that my mother was of the generation of women who consider shopping to be a hobby, and her favorite place to be was the mall. She didn't buy a lot, but she shopped a lot, always looking for the best bargain. I do the same thing, except that I only shop at the thrift store. There's something primal about hunting and gathering that can lead to a lot of waste now that things are easier to obtain. This is a book that I would like all of my students to read!

Thomas' Fashionopolis is a fascinating look at the garment industry, but is on the longer side for some of my students. All Consuming starts with a chapter on clothing that hits many of the high points of that longer title. I'm not sure how many middle school students really think about clothes these days; they seem to wear primarily pajama pants, hoodies, and Crocs. Still, knowing that there are workers who are ill treated in the fashion industry, and that a lot of clothing is never sold and destroyed, might make young readers think twice about ordering things online from Shein. 

The second chapter covers food, and I have to say that shopping for food that doesn't come in plastic is something I find stressful. Seeing information about how much waste comes from packaging will help younger readers be more mindful in their shopping, and maybe cause them to eat more canned food, like I do! (I also buy a lot of vegetables, cook them, and freeze them rather than getting plastic bags of them.)

Technology waste is definitely something that kids need to learn about. My personal expectation for any tech device lasting is seven years, but when that's half your life, it probably seems unreasonable. Knowing the resources that go into  phones and computers can help people make better choices. 

The chapter on gifts is a catch all, but may speak most to tweens, who love to give each other stuffed animals in gift bags that they throw away. I've rescued a LOT of gift bags from the trash at school. At my house, we have cloth drawstring gift bags, and go so far as to check out books from the library to "give" each other at Christmas. If more people gave gifts like food or regifted items instead of new tchotchkes, that would definitely cut down on waste. 

This is a topic near and dear to me, so I'm looking forward to having this book in my library. The interesting cover and interior design will draw students, and there's a great glossary, list of resources, and an index at the end of the book. At 96 pages, this is the perfect length, and extremely educational!