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rkiladitis's review against another edition
3.0
Emma is a 13-year-old seventh grader who loves to give advice, whether or not it's asked for. She decides to start an Ask Emma column, so she can make herself available to all of her classmates at Austen Middle School, but quickly discovers that she's a bit tone deaf in the process; she tends to push her best friends into doing things her way. She even tries to get the cute new guy, Jackson Knight, to join all the groups she thinks he should and tell her all about himself, but he gives a little pushback, which adds to his mystery. Emma starts getting some negative comments on her blog, and things start going haywire in Emma's real world, too. When a hurtful picture of Emma starts making the rounds around the school, she decides to nip a potential cyberbully in the bud and takes action.This is the first book in a new series from The Cupcake Club authors Carrie Berk and Sheryl Berk, and it left me a little wanting. Emma never really sees how self-absorbed she is, or apologizes for the things she does to her best friends. Her friends turn their backs on her when another student that Emma tries to "help" lies to make herself look good, but she never has that aha! moment when she examines her own behavior. A few negative blog comments and one mean picture become an overblown cyberbullying campaign, which, in this day and age, is forward thinking - catch cyberbullying in its early stages, before it becomes something out of control - but her related blog entry makes it sound like she endured a hateful campaign where she was bullied day and night. This one is a little out of touch; maybe an additional purchase where the authors are popular.
lissystrata's review against another edition
3.0
The first in a new series by a mother-daughter writing team, Ask Emma is a book that beautifully encapsulates middle school awkwardness. (And I don’t mean that negatively- this gave me flashbacks to my own junior high years and I was like “oh no, that one thing!”) Because let’s face it- middle school is the awkward years of your life. You’ve hit a new stage in life where the hormones have started to kick in and you’re trying to figure out how to navigate all this social weirdness and you just want to survive until the final bell.
Anyhoo, Emma loves helping people and solving problems, so she decides to start an advice blog on the school’s website. (With her computer teacher supervising, of course. We may have technology in schools now, but let’s not get too crazy.) Excited, she writes her introductory blog post and kicks back to wait for the responses to roll in.
And waits…
…and waits…
…and waits some more.
Yeah, these things don’t take off overnight.
While she’s waiting, she tries to play lab-partner matchmaker with her best friend, Boy A, Boy B, and the New Guy. She uses White Lie! It’s…not super-effective. Actually, it makes things worse. For her saving throw, she writes to herself anonymously and gives herself advice.
And now for the cyberbullying!
Her teacher told her that not everyone would agree with what she says, but still to have someone send her anon hate is devastating! And as her blog starts to take off, more and more people want her advice. (Okay, a lot of them just want to get out of class and skip homework assignments.) In school, everyone seems to genuinely love her blog and her advice, but online? The hate gets worse and worse. (The comments we get to see are age-appropriate for the book, but who’s to say the authors didn’t show us the really terrible ones?)
I can appreciate that this book tries to tackle the concept of cyberbullying for young readers. Most of Emma’s friends and family tell her the bullies are just jealous, insecure, unhappy. Her teacher explains that some bullies do it to look cool for others or just to get a reaction. One thing I wish the book had given more focus to is the fact that some people just get off on tormenting others; no rhyme or reason. She is advised to block and ignore the hurtful comments. In real life, that’s not guaranteed to work 100% of the time, but ultimately the advice is “Seek help. Find someone who will listen and will do something to help”. And for young readers, who are just starting to experience this stuff, that’s probably the best advice to give them.
Anyhoo, Emma loves helping people and solving problems, so she decides to start an advice blog on the school’s website. (With her computer teacher supervising, of course. We may have technology in schools now, but let’s not get too crazy.) Excited, she writes her introductory blog post and kicks back to wait for the responses to roll in.
And waits…
…and waits…
…and waits some more.
Yeah, these things don’t take off overnight.
While she’s waiting, she tries to play lab-partner matchmaker with her best friend, Boy A, Boy B, and the New Guy. She uses White Lie! It’s…not super-effective. Actually, it makes things worse. For her saving throw, she writes to herself anonymously and gives herself advice.
And now for the cyberbullying!
Her teacher told her that not everyone would agree with what she says, but still to have someone send her anon hate is devastating! And as her blog starts to take off, more and more people want her advice. (Okay, a lot of them just want to get out of class and skip homework assignments.) In school, everyone seems to genuinely love her blog and her advice, but online? The hate gets worse and worse. (The comments we get to see are age-appropriate for the book, but who’s to say the authors didn’t show us the really terrible ones?)
I can appreciate that this book tries to tackle the concept of cyberbullying for young readers. Most of Emma’s friends and family tell her the bullies are just jealous, insecure, unhappy. Her teacher explains that some bullies do it to look cool for others or just to get a reaction. One thing I wish the book had given more focus to is the fact that some people just get off on tormenting others; no rhyme or reason. She is advised to block and ignore the hurtful comments. In real life, that’s not guaranteed to work 100% of the time, but ultimately the advice is “Seek help. Find someone who will listen and will do something to help”. And for young readers, who are just starting to experience this stuff, that’s probably the best advice to give them.
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