Review: Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts

Title: Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

Author: James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts
Publisher:  Little Brown and Company 
Publishing Date: June 27th 2011

Pages: 288
Genre:  MG Humor/Realistic Fiction

Series: Middle School #1
Source: Audio

  

Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he's got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off: With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class-5,000 points! Running in the hallway-10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm-50,000 points! But when Rafe's game starts to catch up with him, he'll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he's finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he's been avoiding.

Blockbuster author James Patterson delivers a genuinely hilarious-and surprisingly poignant-story of a wildly imaginative, one-of-kind kid that you won't soon forget....

I have had this book on audio for a while now. The book looked funny and very interesting and I was finally able to get to it. It was a fun read. There were some pretty funny moments and there were some pretty intense moments. I really thought the book would be a bunch of laughs but it was more than that. The book deals with some realistic issues too and the author used a lot of humor to get them across, it was done well too. It was a very fast read and very enjoyable.

Rafe is starting Middle School, 6th grade, and he is going to make the best of it. Rafe and his best friend Leo decide to make a game about of breaking the rules in the code of conduct book. Some are pretty small, chewing gum, some are pretty huge, graffiti…. Rafe get some laughs, gets in trouble, and gets some resolution to his problems along the way.

This book was a really great way to get some serious issues out there… bullies, loss, abuse, friendship, and family. I was able to laugh my way through some pretty horrible things. There were a few teary eyed moments, I am a softy, but I was happy with my happy ending in the end. I liked the main character, he was pretty funny, but from the very beginning I knew he had some issues.
There were some pretty funny moments in the story, Rafe isn’t the brightest bulb on the block when it comes to master plans. Things seemed to backfire on his quite often and when he tried to fix those problems, more came. It was a snowball effect. The funny moments were many, but really the story is about Rafe dealing with some pretty super tough issues in his life. He has some secrets in his past, a pretty rotten home life, and a bully at school doesn’t make anything easier. Rafe just wants to escape. Rafe and his life is really what makes the story. The issues are real and it was great to see how Rafe tried to deal with it through humor. Humor helped him some, but in the end Rafe realized some things he just needed a bit of help with.
I liked Rafe and I liked Leo. Both were great characters. Rafe was the master planner and Leo was everything else in Rafe’s life. Leo was the voice of reason, the partner in crime, and the one who held Rafe together most of the time. Rafe needed Leo in his life to get through the bad times and Leo did just that. Rafe’s mother was another huge part of the story. It really took some pretty hard stuff for her to realize how much Rafe really needed her. Most of the book I was angry with her, but in the end, she came through.
The story was very short and wasn’t over done. With the humorous books, I find most of the time the books are too much. The author spends so much time trying to make the book hilarious that the story gets lost. This did not happen here. The story was always the main focus and the humor was just the icing on the cake. It was very well done.

I enjoyed this book very much and will definitely continue the series to see where Rafe’s story takes him next.