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A review by onceuponacarm
Eleven by Lauren Myracle
4.0
Myracle does an amazing job of capturing what it is like to be eleven in this novel, told from the perspective of 11-year-old Winnie. She goes through the emotional roller coasters of losing a best friend, bullying, standing up for outcasts, building new friendships, developing crushes on boys, navigating a relationship with her teenage sister, and more. The awkwardness and discomfort is often palpable, while the language and pop culture seems right out of a 5th grade classroom (though this book is mostly set in 6th grade, I don't teach 6th grade...so I don't have quite the familiarity--but it still seems pretty realistic to me).
The core theme of this book is losing a best friend to the cool crowd or the new, popular, bossy girl. Winnie really struggles with how to cope with this, but realizes through trial and error, in a very realistic rather than pedantic way, that she would rather stay true to herself, make friends with nice people, and stand up for what she feels is right. This is a great book for preteen girls navigating friendships as they begin to get more complicated. Recommended for 4th-6th grade girls that enjoy realistic fiction.
Note: Many name brands are peppered throughout the story. Though it adds to the authenticity, some readers may be bothered by this commercialism. Some examples are Baskin-Robbins, Lip Smackers, and Dr. Pepper. Also, crushes and "going together" are a part of this story, including several school-girl crushes on older teenage boys. But it's told from the mindset of a level-headed eleven-year-old who is beginning to notice boys and is uncomfortable when her best friend tries flirting with teenagers at the beach.
One weird scene, however, was the end-of-5th-grade ice skating party hosted by the school. An annual tradition is the "girl's choice" skate, during with 5th grade girls are expected to ask a boy to skate with them...that would never happen at my school and I wonder how common such things are in other schools. I don't think even the 6th graders were allowed to come to the school dances at my middle school, and teachers were definitely not encouraging us to dance with each other. The principal asks Winnie personally if she would ask the obnoxious class clown to be her partner for the girl's choice skate since he was worried that no one would ask him. While this scene spoke to the kindness of Winnie, it just seemed odd and out-of-place for a 5th grade party.
The core theme of this book is losing a best friend to the cool crowd or the new, popular, bossy girl. Winnie really struggles with how to cope with this, but realizes through trial and error, in a very realistic rather than pedantic way, that she would rather stay true to herself, make friends with nice people, and stand up for what she feels is right. This is a great book for preteen girls navigating friendships as they begin to get more complicated. Recommended for 4th-6th grade girls that enjoy realistic fiction.
Note: Many name brands are peppered throughout the story. Though it adds to the authenticity, some readers may be bothered by this commercialism. Some examples are Baskin-Robbins, Lip Smackers, and Dr. Pepper. Also, crushes and "going together" are a part of this story, including several school-girl crushes on older teenage boys. But it's told from the mindset of a level-headed eleven-year-old who is beginning to notice boys and is uncomfortable when her best friend tries flirting with teenagers at the beach.
One weird scene, however, was the end-of-5th-grade ice skating party hosted by the school. An annual tradition is the "girl's choice" skate, during with 5th grade girls are expected to ask a boy to skate with them...that would never happen at my school and I wonder how common such things are in other schools. I don't think even the 6th graders were allowed to come to the school dances at my middle school, and teachers were definitely not encouraging us to dance with each other. The principal asks Winnie personally if she would ask the obnoxious class clown to be her partner for the girl's choice skate since he was worried that no one would ask him. While this scene spoke to the kindness of Winnie, it just seemed odd and out-of-place for a 5th grade party.