Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Frazzled: Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes

No, that is not the title of the book I'm working on, but it honestly would fit, wouldn't it?! Instead, I got this book in the mail last week for review and I was pretty excited. I read the first book by this author, following these characters, and I really enjoyed it. As did my kids, who quickly took this book and they actually read it before I did!


Things are looking up for Abbie Wu: this year she’ll run for class president and get a brand-new shiny locker. Until—she doesn’t…

In her second tumultuous misadventure, Abbie Wu tackles more unbelievably unfair and calamitous middle school days. From facing locker thieves and battling diabolical cats to having absolutely no idea what to build for her science project, Abbie Wu is still in perpetual crisis.

From author and professional doodler Booki Vivat, this second story follows Abbie Wu, your favorite hilariously neurotic middle school girl, as she tries to come up with solutions to what seems to be a series of inevitable catastrophes.

Akin to Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Frazzled: Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes is heavily illustrated, embarrassingly honest, and sure to appeal to anyone hoping to figuring out how to survive the ordinary mishaps of middle school. 

If you have a kid who doesn't really enjoy reading, especially chapter books, because it feels daunting, I am a big fan of graphic novels and books like this that are similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid or The Dork Diaries books, there isn't a lot of text and it's broken up by illustrations. It makes for a fast read (as an adult, I got through all 207 pages in an hour). It has characters and a story line that a lot of kids will relate to: the struggles of middle school, sharing a locker, trying to make new friends, and of course, the dreaded science fair.

The story follows Abbie Wu, who is described as a neurotic middle schooler, and that's pretty accurate. Abbie is in middle school now and the excitement of her own locker is quickly squashed when she learns she has to share a locker with someone she doesn't know- a totally new, unknown girl named Jessica. While she's plotting all of the ways to unceremoniously kick this girl out of the shared locker, she discovers Jessica is in her science class and because the universe is cruel, they are assigned to be partners for the upcoming science fair where they have to come up with an invention.

All of this is the end of the world and awful for any middle school kid, but Abbie finds that making a new friend is kind of hard, but kind of worth it. They also work really well together, Jessica is the ying to Abbie's yang, and they come up with a great invention... that hits some bumps. Abbie also discovers that maybe having your own locker isn't so great.

Overall? I'm honestly giving this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It's a cute read, I think it would be a good read for third grade and up, but honestly I bet some solid first and second grade readers could get through this easily. It's definitely the kind of book I would give to a reluctant reader because it's just enough to feel like a challenge but one that they can absolutely conquer.. easily, and be proud of themselves for finishing!

The book releases on September 26, 2017 so it's on pre-order right now but it's SUCH a great price, it's worth picking up and saving for Christmas or giving it to a student to get a jump start on their recreational reading.
But if you have a kiddo that you think will enjoy this, I also recommend her first book with Abbie Wu, also at a really great price for a hardcover: 

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