A review by classyklassen
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jim Benton

4.5

bro. this is art. I read this for the first time when I was maybe ten and I owned physical copies of the first two books and all of the others (that had been published at that time) I had on my kindle. guys I was obsessed with these books. I had to unfortunately borrow this from the library cause I gifted most of.my books to my younger cousin and it was too embarrassing to ask to borrow this from my now nine year old cousin😭😭😭 (she has read these and also loves them btw so it's also approved by modern nine year olds). anyway this is the diary of jaime and about her shenanigans at school with her bestie isabella and rival, the super popular angeline. guys this book is just fabulous. I never knew this but it got turned into a movie musical back in like 2010 and I watched it for the first time about a month ago and I'm not even joking when I say this but it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. comedic timing? brilliant? musical numbers? iconic. child actor performances? genuinely crazy good. plot? stellar. script? perfect. costumes? outstanding and matches the time and vibe. direction? I could cry. book accuracy? took perfect plot elements and incorporated them in well AND matched the vibes of the book PERFECTLY. I couldn't necessarily call the movie better than the book because they did change it to better match the medium but I would say that the movie is a better movie than the book is as a book. does that make sense. it does in my head. my love for this book is definitely clouded with nostalgia and I have been in my middle grade era for the past 1.5 years and have just been thriving because of it. if you go in with the right expectations you will love this. perfectly captures the experience and emotions of a young girl and sprinkles subtle positive messages without being preachy and just is such a fun fun book. I don't really expect anyone to pick this book up cause that's not really my demographic lmao but I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend that anyone who was once a tween girl or at least felt like it to watch the movie right now. drop everything. it will change your life! 4.5 stars (am going to change the rating as I continue with the series)