Ratfink by Marcia Thornton Jones.
How To Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart.
How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog) by Art Corriveau.
Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg.

Logan is the fifth grade ratfink in Marcia Thornton Jones’ story of the same name, and he has a couple of problems. First of all, there’s his beloved but embarrassing grandfather who keeps getting lost and forgetting stuff and doing things that make Logan want to deny that he even has a grandfather living with his family. Then the new girl at school, Emily Scott, finds a way to blackmail Logan into betraying his best friend, Malik. And no one believes or listens to Logan even when he’s telling the truth. The relationships make this book: Logan and Malik have a friendship only a couple of fifth grade boys could love, and Logan and his grandfather love and help each other in spite of the issues that Grandpa’s failing memory causes.

How To Survive Middle School features sixth grader David Greenburg whose hero and role model is Jon Stewart of The Daily Show. In fact David plans to become a TV talk show host just like Jon Stewart. And he’s already gotten a head start on his future by posting a series of videos called TalkTime on YouTube. Most of the videos feature Hammy, the pet hamster that David’s mom gave him before she ran away with a guy named Marcus to a beet farm in Maine. Just before school starts, David and his best friend Elliott have a major argument, and Elliott ends up becoming pals with the school’s worst bully, Tommy. And David is the target. So, as he starts middle school, David Greenburg has a lot to survive.
I’m not sure the book lives up to its title, since David never does figure out how to repair his relationship with Elliott or get rid of the bully or get his mom to come for a visit. (Thing do sort of work out, but not because of any great epiphany for David.) However, he does survive, so I guess the main lesson is just “grit your teeth and wait for things to improve.”

How I (Nicky Flynn) Finally Get a Life (and a Dog) by Art Corriveau tells the story of another boy, Nicky, who like Logan in Ratfink, gets himself caught up in a web of lies and stories and half-truths. Nicky’s dad has left Nicky and his mom, and mom isn’t handling the situation too well. Neither is Nicky. So when Mom brings home a “retired” seeing eye dog named Reggie, it could be a solution for the emotional and family problems that Nicky won’t talk to anyone else about, or it could be a disaster. As Nicky begins to solve the mystery associated with Reggie’s past life as a guide dog, he also becomes attached to the dog and begins to deal with the fact that his dad just isn’t going to be there for him. It’s a sad, but realistic, picture of the aftermath of divorce, and Nicky and Reggie do come through OK, somewhat damaged but OK.

Milo in Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze also has a missing parent, but Milo’s mom is dead. In fact she died a couple of years before the opening of the book, but Milo still feels as if his life and his home are filled with fog. Milo’s goal is middle school survival, just like the other boys in these books. In fact, it seems as if it doesn’t get much better than mere survival in any of these stories. Milo eventually learns to cope with his mom’s absence by remembering the good times he had with her and by keeping some things to remind him of who his mom was and what she left him.

All of the boys in these books have major problems to deal with on top of the regular stresses of growing up and getting through school. Milo misses his mom, and his dad is still in mourning and doesn’t help Milo much. Nicky’s dad turns out to be loser who’s more interested in his new girlfriend than he is in Nicky. And Nicky’s mom tries to help, but she’s on an emotional roller coaster herself. David Greenburg’s mom has some kind of agoraphobia and can’t or won’t come to see him, even though she writes happy little letters to cheer him up. Neither her notes nor David’s dad’s advice is much help when it comes to middle school friendships and bullies and the high price of internet fame. Logan, at least, has an intact family and a grandfather who loves him, but Logan’s parents don’t listen too well, and Logan mostly has to work out his own problems by himself.

I read these books for the Cybils last fall but never actually posted this round-up on the blog. I think the books would all appeal to a particular demographic that’s sometimes hard to engage in reading, namely middle school boys.