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kendallbridgete 's review for:
The Next Great Paulie Fink
by Ali Benjamin
4.5 stars
WOW. I really enjoyed this sucker. Which is very gratifying, because I feel like lately, I have truly loved a lot of new middle-grade books; they've all just been fine, or meh, or OH DEAR LORD NO. (And I know that just because *I* don't love a middle grade book doesn't make it crap because I'm not the target audience...but still.)
Caitlyn Breen has moved with her mother from New York to Vermont, to a very rural community and a small school. Her ten fellow classmates (that's right, only 11 kids in her 7th grade class!) are devastated to discover on the first day of school that THE Paulie Fink is not returning to their school this year. Caitlyn has no idea who this Paulie Fink kid is or what makes him so special, but she hears lots of stories from both her classmates and teachers about this legendary kid. It is decided that what Mitchell School needs is a new Paulie Fink, so a reality show-style competition is held to search for the Next Great Paulie Fink...and as an impartial newcomer, Caitlyn is deemed the best person to run the competition.
Even though the main character (and her classmates) are 7th graders, this is a book I would absolutely feel comfortable having in my elementary school library--particularly because the school in the story is a K-7 elementary school. Nothing inappropriate for elementary-aged kiddos, in my opinion (there's one swear word--the phrase "all hell breaks loose" is used, but that's about as "mature" as it gets). And what doesn't this book have? There's crazy stories, there's goats, there's kids tossing out Shakespearean insults at each other...!
This was a fun read--I had a hard time putting it down. I wish I could talk about it in person with my students now (I will as soon as I possibly can and in the meantime, I can do a video review). With the state of the world being what it is, this was a nice little escape, and I can't wait to get this book for my school library and, subsequently, put it in someone's hands.
WOW. I really enjoyed this sucker. Which is very gratifying, because I feel like lately, I have truly loved a lot of new middle-grade books; they've all just been fine, or meh, or OH DEAR LORD NO. (And I know that just because *I* don't love a middle grade book doesn't make it crap because I'm not the target audience...but still.)
Caitlyn Breen has moved with her mother from New York to Vermont, to a very rural community and a small school. Her ten fellow classmates (that's right, only 11 kids in her 7th grade class!) are devastated to discover on the first day of school that THE Paulie Fink is not returning to their school this year. Caitlyn has no idea who this Paulie Fink kid is or what makes him so special, but she hears lots of stories from both her classmates and teachers about this legendary kid. It is decided that what Mitchell School needs is a new Paulie Fink, so a reality show-style competition is held to search for the Next Great Paulie Fink...and as an impartial newcomer, Caitlyn is deemed the best person to run the competition.
Even though the main character (and her classmates) are 7th graders, this is a book I would absolutely feel comfortable having in my elementary school library--particularly because the school in the story is a K-7 elementary school. Nothing inappropriate for elementary-aged kiddos, in my opinion (there's one swear word--the phrase "all hell breaks loose" is used, but that's about as "mature" as it gets). And what doesn't this book have? There's crazy stories, there's goats, there's kids tossing out Shakespearean insults at each other...!
This was a fun read--I had a hard time putting it down. I wish I could talk about it in person with my students now (I will as soon as I possibly can and in the meantime, I can do a video review). With the state of the world being what it is, this was a nice little escape, and I can't wait to get this book for my school library and, subsequently, put it in someone's hands.