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Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga (2013)

by Teddy Steinkellner(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Middle Grade & Children's

publisher

Disney-Hyperion

review 1: This is an accomplished MG novel with enough sophistication to appeal to older readers as well. It employs an eclectic narrative technique with four distinct first person points of view, mixed with excerpts from text exchanges, tweets, blog pages, letters and school announcements. Thank you Dos Passos. The setting is suburban LA, the weight comes from the drama of the relationships and the interplay of wealth and poverty, social status and gang violence. These contrasts are nicely captured by the central premise: the central friendship is between two boys, one the 7th grade Jewish son of a rich Hollywood producer, the other the Hispanic child of the family's maid and gardener. The other two narrators are Harrah, the 8th grade daughter of privilege and queen bee of middle s... morechool and the most intriguing character of all, outsider eccentric Dorothy Wu, who provides a sort of Greek chorus on the goings on. All this from a recent Stanford grad who has no right composing such a polished, complex and satisfying novel at such a tender age.
review 2: Loved it. This is a hilarious, exciting, un-put-down-able book. I was hooked instantly by the unique voices of the character-narrators- four atypical kids worried about school, crushes, reputations, all the really important things in (middle school) life. Author Teddy Steinkellner takes on these 4 very different voices (along with many other tween-y personalities) with dimension, sensitivity, and a generous helping of funny. I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone currently in junior high or anyone who has ever slogged through those 2 years. The characters and situations are reflective of the harsh and weird truths of pubescence, right out of the halls of any middle school. Many thumbs up! less

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