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President Of The Whole Fifth Grade (2010)

by Sherri Winston(Favorite Author)
3.83 of 5 Votes: 2
ISBN
0316114324 (ISBN13: 9780316114325)
languge
English
genre
publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
review 1: This book would be great for elementary and/or middle school readers. It's engaging and fun. The main character, Brianna, and her family are fleshed out really well but the side school characters are a bit one-dimensional, such as Brianna's group of basically interchangeable stock friends. Maybe the author is planning a series where each girl gets her own book in which the reader gets to know her because the book does have that breezy, Baby-Sitters Club feel to me and would serve as a good intro to a whole series.Brianna is a great role model for readers and learns some lessons along the way so the story definitely has lots of positive messages. It might even get kids interested in presidential history since little facts about various U.S. presidents are woven in throughou... moret the narrative. Its also awesome that Brianna is a black girl because the reader gets to see a black girl in a leadership position in a starring role in a book since unfortunately these stories don't get published at the same rate as kids lit with other heroes/heroines. This would be an excellent addition to a classroom library in terms of representation as well as plot.Anyway, the reason I gave 4 stars over 5 is that I agree with the reviews that say it crammed in a little too much and parts of the story got a bit boring. As an adult, I'm not the target demographic here, so hopefully kids wouldn't agree on the "boring" assertion, but I just worry that struggling readers in particular might tire of the story and get turned off when some of the election shenanigans get repetitive and dragged out. Fast, eager readers would probably just zip through either way. With appropriate scaffolding and support, though, I think struggling readers would enjoy the book, too.
review 2: When I first started in on this book, I abandoned it after a chapter or two. It just didn't seem like it would have any "meat" to it- and I'm a vegetarian! However, I picked it back up, I'm in search of a good book that the kids can relate to about elections, and I found myself sucked into the story. The characters reminded me of some of my former students- particularly the two main characters, Brianna and Jasmine Moon. Hits on themes of loyalty, friendship, bullying, deception, self-confidence, independence, goal setting, dreams, crushes, fitting in and not fitting in, family, and overcoming mistakes. All things we work on daily in my classroom! Will definitely share with my class! less
Reviews (see all)
ilu
Took me a while to read this one. Didn't really care about the characters until near the end.
Derp
A great book for 4th & 5th graders. A great reminder of the power of being true to yourself!!
jamaicangurl
Loved all the social studies references in this book. Great as a read aloud!!! ;)
lindeylsvgs
I really enjoyed this book because it's a real live story
itsjessedoe
argh boring
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