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readingthroughtheages's review
4.0
Fans of Andrew Clements will enjoy this book! The students find out that their boring music teacher actually used to be a rock star (or was she???)! But Ms. Finkleman is not too happy that her "cover" has been blown. Ms. Finkleman forms a secret alliance with two students - Tenny and Bethesda. Between the three of them, they have to pull off the greatest choral concert ever and find a way for Tenny to pass the "Floating Midterm" exam in their history class so he won't have to go to a different school. I thought the ending was a little rushed and I still had some questions that weren't all the way answered, which is why I didn't give it 5 stars. But all in all, a fun read!
stiricide's review
1.0
Ruddy middle-grade chapter books are often my trashy read of choice, but this one I should have DNF'd. I kept hoping it would turn itself around, but by the time I realized it wasn't going to, I was too far gone to quit. Anyway, I'm unclear why none of the editors caught that "mic" is the shortened version of microphone, not "mike", and I'm double unclear what good reason Ms Finkleman had for not speaking to her (spoiler) twin sister for nearly two decades over a mid-nineties record contract, but that's the book that got written.
There are a million better books out there about kids and rock and roll, you don't need to bother with this one. (Though I appreciate that rock helped piano-genius Kevin find his love of music again. Kids finding love of music through rock/punk is great, but there are lots of books that explore this without a bunch of emotionally stunted cardboard adults.)
There are a million better books out there about kids and rock and roll, you don't need to bother with this one. (Though I appreciate that rock helped piano-genius Kevin find his love of music again. Kids finding love of music through rock/punk is great, but there are lots of books that explore this without a bunch of emotionally stunted cardboard adults.)
mon_ique's review against another edition
2.0
He tried too hard. Sometimes it was funny, most of the time, I couldn't wait to finish it then return.
wordnerd153's review against another edition
4.0
This book had a great mix of mystery, music, and humor. I didn't see some of the twists coming, which is always delightful. A solid read for tweens who like mysteries, realistic fiction, and/or dream of being in a band.
mbrevesz's review against another edition
5.0
A great middle school read in the style of Andrew Clements. A teacher with a mysterious rock-star past. Bethseda Fielding needs to get to the bottom of it, as well as help Tenny Brooks pass his history midterm. A lot of laugh-out-loud moments and a story with a heart.
bookishpixiereads's review against another edition
4.0
This was a wonderful surprise. I picked up this book from the library, because I'm pretty sure that Brett Helquist illustrated the cover. Then I thought the back of the book sounded interesting.
I enjoyed this more than I expected to and the characters are lovely. And this book is legitimately funny. I thought that the end dragged on a bit too long, and there were a couple of things about the end that at I didn't quite like, but as a whole I loved it. I'm really looking forward to reading its sequel.
I enjoyed this more than I expected to and the characters are lovely. And this book is legitimately funny. I thought that the end dragged on a bit too long, and there were a couple of things about the end that at I didn't quite like, but as a whole I loved it. I'm really looking forward to reading its sequel.
mrskatiefitz's review against another edition
5.0
In The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, a wonderful middle grade novel by Ben H. Winters, 7th grader Bethesda Fielding is assigned an interesting project - her social studies teacher wants her to identify a mystery in her own life, and then solve it. Convinced that there is some secret reason that no student or faculty member knows anything about the Music Fundamentals teacher, Ms. Finkleman, she decides to investigate her background and figure out what she's hiding. What Bethesda reveals during her class presentation - that Ms. Finkleman is a former rock star - quickly grows into a school phenomenon, and within days, the principal has Ms. Finkleman planning a rock concert for the upcoming choral corral competition. Ms. Finkleman reluctantly accepts this assignment, but as the story goes on, it becomes clear that she has more than one skeleton in her closet, and that all is not as it seems.
I love this book mainly for its tongue-in-cheek observations about life inside a middle school. The way the faculty and many of the students are portrayed kept reminding me of MTV's Daria, which gave a lot of humorous commentary about high school back in the late 90s/early 2000s, and of Glee, which continues poking fun at public education in the 21st century. The characters in this book are exaggerated just enough to be funny, but not so much that they become cartoonish. I think Winters is especially observant when it comes to the interest students have in the private lives of their teachers, and he has also done a wonderful job of portraying the many different cliques that form during early adolescence without creating tired stereotypes out of each character.
The musical references in this book make it a great read for kids who are getting into classic rock, or who dream of starting a band, as well as for middle school music teachers, who will see themselves and their students in the story. It would also go over well with kids in search of good mystery books, as well as fans of humorous writers such as Andrew Clements, Louis Sachar, and Gordon Korman.
I'll end this review with just a quick excerpt from the book. This is my favorite passage, because it perfectly describes my memory of middle school:
There is no sound in the world quite like that of a middle school emptying of its student body on a Friday afternoon. First, there is the high, shrill clang of the seventh-period bell, followed immediately by a tremendous echoing BANG! as the classroom doors burst open like dozens of dams breaking at once.Then comes the rubbery squeak of a couple hundred pairs of sneakers all rushing over dirty linoleum, followed by and interspersing with the metallic clatter of a couple hundred lockers hurriedly being thrown open. Loudest of all is the din of the children themselves: the boys, ramming into the walls as they try to get around one another in a great ungainly race for the doors; the girls, squealing giddily and shrieking out plans to meet later at the mall, or Shira's house, or Sheila's house, but is it Sheila's mom's house or Sheila's dad's house? And on and on, the voices getting louder and louder, reaching higher and higher pitches of excitement, until the last kid flies out and the big double-doors shut at last. Then silence.
Though he has not yet written any other middle grade novels, Ben H. Winters is also the author of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Android Karenina. He blogs at The H. Stands for Blog.
I love this book mainly for its tongue-in-cheek observations about life inside a middle school. The way the faculty and many of the students are portrayed kept reminding me of MTV's Daria, which gave a lot of humorous commentary about high school back in the late 90s/early 2000s, and of Glee, which continues poking fun at public education in the 21st century. The characters in this book are exaggerated just enough to be funny, but not so much that they become cartoonish. I think Winters is especially observant when it comes to the interest students have in the private lives of their teachers, and he has also done a wonderful job of portraying the many different cliques that form during early adolescence without creating tired stereotypes out of each character.
The musical references in this book make it a great read for kids who are getting into classic rock, or who dream of starting a band, as well as for middle school music teachers, who will see themselves and their students in the story. It would also go over well with kids in search of good mystery books, as well as fans of humorous writers such as Andrew Clements, Louis Sachar, and Gordon Korman.
I'll end this review with just a quick excerpt from the book. This is my favorite passage, because it perfectly describes my memory of middle school:
There is no sound in the world quite like that of a middle school emptying of its student body on a Friday afternoon. First, there is the high, shrill clang of the seventh-period bell, followed immediately by a tremendous echoing BANG! as the classroom doors burst open like dozens of dams breaking at once.Then comes the rubbery squeak of a couple hundred pairs of sneakers all rushing over dirty linoleum, followed by and interspersing with the metallic clatter of a couple hundred lockers hurriedly being thrown open. Loudest of all is the din of the children themselves: the boys, ramming into the walls as they try to get around one another in a great ungainly race for the doors; the girls, squealing giddily and shrieking out plans to meet later at the mall, or Shira's house, or Sheila's house, but is it Sheila's mom's house or Sheila's dad's house? And on and on, the voices getting louder and louder, reaching higher and higher pitches of excitement, until the last kid flies out and the big double-doors shut at last. Then silence.
Though he has not yet written any other middle grade novels, Ben H. Winters is also the author of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Android Karenina. He blogs at The H. Stands for Blog.
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