Book Review: The Classroom by Robin Mellom

The Classroom by Robin Mellom
Release Date: June 19, 2012
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 288
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary

From Goodreads:

In 2012, a documentary crew descended upon Westside Middle School to detail the life of an average seventh grader and his classmates.
What they uncovered, though, was far from average. Mostly, it was upper average along with moments of extreme average, highlighted by several minutes of total epicness.
This is the story...

Trevor Jones--perfect attendance award recipient, former neurotic (he hopes)--has been preparing for the start of seventh grade his entire summer.But he is NOT ready for the news his best friend, Libby (proud neurotic, in a color-coding sort of way), drops on him: he must ask a girl to the fall dance. By the end of the day.
Trevor decides he would rather squirt hot sauce in his eyes than attend the dance. Everything changes when he meets mysterious new student Molly (excessive doodler, champion of unnatural hair colors). Trevor starts to think that going to the dance maybe wouldn't be the worst thing ever. But what if she says no to his invitation? More important, what if she says yes?!

Review

Who is this book for?

The Classroom is one of those MG books that can be enjoyed by older readers, just so long as they expect something light and quick. This isn't a book with poignant, deep messages or complex subjects that make you think. This also isn't a book to swoon over.

But, seriously, why would you expect that from a book with the subtitle "The Epic Documentary of a Not-Yet-Epic Kid"?? You shouldn't. You should expect light fun, tongue-in-cheek humor, and an easy to like but totally face-palm-inducing (in a good way) main character. Because that's exactly what you'll get.

Where The Classroom will really shine is with the target audience (MG kids, especially those entering middle school). Trevor's worries and humorous navigation of the intimidating new middle school will resonate with both boys and girls. I especially loved watching Trevor try to transform himself into someone cool, only to continually fall back to the activities he enjoys (the scenes with the janitor were priceless!).

The documentary

The whole book is written in the third person and mostly follows Trevor, but chapters are interrupted with short "interviews" with each of the characters and whoever it is making the documentary. The documentary creator (s?) don't speak. They ask an off-screen question and then you read the answer of the character being interviewed.

I'm not really sure why this book is written as a documentary. The people making this mysterious documentary are unnamed and never even speak. Also, I don't really understand why anyone would be making a documentary and following Trevor of all people. None of this is explained.

It came off a little gimmicky and didn't serve much of a purpose, but I don't think it detracted from the book either. I liked how the short interviews broke up the narrative though. It helped make for a fast, easy read. I also liked the character illustrations.

Bottom line

I enjoyed Robin Mellom's YA debut Ditched and was hoping The Classroom would be equally funny in that groan-inducing way, and it was. I think the documentary style created some distance for me because I didn't feel a strong connection with any of the characters, but it's not a big deal. I still laughed along with Trevor's embarrassing misfortunes and sympathized with his MG-level interpersonal dramas.

This is one of those books that didn't make a strong impact on me, but I enjoyed the time I spent reading it. Robin Mellom has proven herself an author I can definitely go to if I'm looking to read something light, quick, and funny. I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll write next.

This is a standalone.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about The Classroom that I haven't addressed?
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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Book Review: Ditched by Robin Mellom

Ditched by Robin Mellom
Release Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 288
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads:

High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.
And then ditched her.

Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together — stain by stain on her thrift-store dress — exactly how she ended up dateless.

Review

I almost DNF-ed after the first chapter

The story starts out with Justina waking up in a ditch with no memory of what happened the night before. But she very quickly begins alluding to events from the previous night, so she sort of does remember. And then she does remember. Confusing? Yeah, I was confused, too.

To make it even more confusing, Justina's first person narration started out relating the events in a broken, cryptic, half-explained manner (frequently noting "but I'm getting ahead of myself" and then dropping that train of thought!) and I had NO CLUE what was going on.

I wanted to shake her and tell her to just spit it out already--COHERENTLY! I don't like feeling lost as to what is going on in a story, so the whole first chapter really bugged me. I almost DNF-ed right there.

Like a teen movie

But I WAS intrigued so I kept reading and I'm glad I did. Once Justina gets to the 7-11 and starts telling her story to the cashier, the story picks up and the narrative smooths out a lot. I wasn't confused anymore.

At this point I totally felt like I had been sucked into a teen romantic comedy movie. Even the narrative style (tone and execution) made me think "MOVIE SCRIPT." This is a good thing. I love those kinds of movies, and I loved this book version just as much.

It goes something like this

The book alternates between the present in the 7-11 and the events of the night before.

The 7-11 chapters are short and serve as little interludes where the 7-11 cashier and, later, one of the customers who stays to listen, chime in with their opinions and sympathy. I liked these sections and they made me feel like I was another random person who stopped to listen to Justina tell her crazy story.

I also liked how these chapters provided a frame for the plot to work within. Justina's story can be mapped by the stains on her dress, and each interlude nudged Justina toward explaining how she got every stain, rip, and bruise (and tattoo).

Between each of these interludes is a larger chapter chronicling a part of Justina's prom night. These parts were the meat of the story.

Since I knew Justina ends her night alone, dumped out of a car, and hating the guy she was supposed to be in love with, my curiosity was super high. I read these chapters with rapt attention, trying to piece together the events of her evening and guess how she ended up where she did. It was almost like a mystery, complete with clues, red herrings, and suspects. 

Feeling sorry for yourself? Read this book

I decided to pick up Ditched because I was in one of those two-ice-cream-tubs pity party moods. I put on my pajamas, curled up in bed, grabbed a chocolate bar and settled into Justina's tale. It was perfect. Perfect.

Ditched made me smile and laugh out loud. I commiserated with Justina and snacked on junk food right along with her. I groaned out loud as her night went from bad to unbelievably worse. I grinned with fluffy happiness when the most unexpected people came through for her. Ditched was exactly what I was looking for.

Bottom line

After the rocky start, Ditched held my interest completely. The story moved along at a good pace with pieces of the puzzle coming together in each chapter. Ditched is a standalone.

Ditched is Robin Mellom's first book and already I can't wait to see what she writes next. Definitely a good pick if you're looking for a fun romantic comedy. Only drawback is that the guy is absent from the story for a large chunk of the book, but, don't worry, Justina more than makes up for that.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Can you believe it?! A contemporary without a single paranormal element!

Do you have any questions about Ditched that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

What books do you turn to when you're in a two-ice-cream-tub pity party kind of mood?

Looking for another book like this? 

You might like: 

Click on the covers to go to my reviews/Goodreads.

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