From John David Anderson, author of the acclaimed Ms. Bixby’s Last Day, comes a humorous, poignant, and original contemporary story about bullying, broken friendships, and the failures of communication between kids.
In middle school, words aren’t just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever.
When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes—though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well.
In the middle of this, a new girl named Rose arrives at school and sits at Frost’s lunch table. Rose is not like anyone else at Branton Middle School, and it’s clear that the close circle of friends Frost has made for himself won’t easily hold another. As the sticky-note war escalates, and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realizes that after this year, nothing will ever be the same.
Praise for POSTED
Kids, and the rest of the world, need more books like this one —Kirkus Reviews
Mama Says:
Addressing the positive and negative aspects of middle school life can often be boring, so I understand the complaints about the length of the book, however, I felt that the meandering bits added to the realistic feel of the book. Though some of the characters have some unrealistic reactions to certain situations, overall the interactions and inner monologues seemed authentic.
Books such as this are important additions to both home and school libraries, allowing kids to pick them up without scrutiny and often find an understanding that they previously lacked of the subject at hand. Posted delves into the way humans tend to take something positive and make it negative, sadly all too often ruining what could have been a good thing.
I appreciated the author’s sensitivity to the subject while still discussing the meat of it, though I honestly would have liked a little more introspection on the parts of Rose and Wolf, which could have made their actions a bit easier to understand at times.
Overall, this is definitely a book I’d add to your shelf of anti-bullying literature for kids 10-12. My thanks to both the publisher and tour host for the review opportunity!
ABOUT THE AUTHORJohn David Anderson is the author of Sidekicked, Minion, Standard Hero Behavior,The Dungeoneers, Ms. Bixby’s Last Day and Insert Coin to Continue. He lives with his patient wife and brilliant twins in Indianapolis, Indiana, right next to a State park and a Walmart. He does not wear ties but will wear sandals in the snow. He enjoys hiking, reading, chocolate, spending time with his family, playing the piano, chocolate, putting off the dishes, watching movies, and chocolate. Those aren’t his real teeth. Seriously. The middle four on top? Lost ’em in a car accident. It’s all right, though, the plastic ones look nice and he can still eat corn on the cob.
There are lots of ways to contact him. Telepathy, for example. Carrier pigeon. Alien distress beacon. Sky writing. Failing those, you can always e-mail him here. Be sure to tell him how his book has revolutionized your life, or, barring that, how you used it to smash a bug or something.
10 Random Things he likes to do when not writing:
- Make my own board games
- Learn how to play cheesy pop songs on the piano
- Go hiking in the park by my house
- Play video games with my kids
- Curl up with a good book in my hammock in the sun and challenge the author to keep me awake
- Listen to podcasts about history and science
- Bake sweet stuff with my daughter
- Nerf dart wars
- Organize my closets and drawers
- Eat cold pizza
Photo Content from John David Anderson
– 7 Winners will receive a Copy of POSTED by John David Anderson
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