Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

As someone who has enjoyed one Leila Sales (This song will save your life) and really disliked one Leila Sales (Tonight the Streets are Ours) I was excited to see Sales’ take on middle grade. The Campaign follows 12 year old Maddie helping her babysitter run for Mayor. This was a super sweet story about standing up for what you believe in and I believe is a great story to introduce middle grade readers to expressing yourself and letting your voice be heard.

What a fun book! The author did a nice job of showing the political process without being preachy or boring. There were some laugh-out-loud funny bits as well. I also loved the illustrations- they added so much! I am definitely buying this for my elementary library!

This sweet book follows that tale of one girl's determination NOT to have someone elected for mayor. She has a risky plan, but she puts it into action and before she knows it, she has many people following her. I really loved this book about determination and grit and how one person (even a kid) can make a big difference in her community. This book is perfect for readers ages 9-12.

This book is awesome! It offers a great balance of storytelling through both words and gorgeous illustrations. I love that it holds a great message for children to show how important local politics are and how to get involved. All people can make a difference, and I hope all the future readers see that! This is an amazing book for read alouds and can inspire so many lessons and projects.

Just in time for the election....the campaign emerges and we are drawn into all the pros and cons of politics The story features 12-year-old Maddie Polansky. She is sort of a misfit at her school and art class is the highlight of her day. One day she discovers that the old town mayor is retiring and the only candidate is Lucinda Burgart. That's not so bad except.......she is threatening to eliminate funding for arts in the schools! Maddie is distraught and is not going to take this lying down! If someone could run against Burgart and win......all would be great! The trouble is...Maddie is too young to run.......so who can she convince to run against Burghart and save the arts?! After trying (unsuccessfully) to convince her family members to run, Maddie, in a last-ditch effort, tries to recruit her babysitter for the job and much to her surprise, babysitter extraordinaire Janet Teneman accepts! The world of politics and running for office is a new concept for Maddie and for Janet and there is no way they can be a two-person team. From the moment Janet indicates an interest in running for mayor to election night, Maddie is there. Maddie recruits a group of students at her school to help with Janet's campaign and with "Janet For The Future", they are off! On a Friday Janet goes to the election office and discovers that she must get 300 plus signatures by Monday! Maddie and her eclectic group of friends ("My friend Daniel, Molly, Polly & Holly) and anyone else she can recruit, spring into action. Jordan's Hot House turns into Campaign Central as the students mobilize. Signs, fundraising, buttons, rallies, and debates become action items as team Teneman tries to get adults to vote for their candidate. As with any election, there are hurdles and all is not peaceful. Lucinda, former olympian, will NOT be defeated. So....is Janet able to get all the signatures in time? And....who wins the election for mayor?! You'll have to read this well-plotted, timely book to find out! As with all elections, it is a process and through the course of the book, Maddie learns more about elections and candidates and how things work. She discovers that there may be more at stake than just art and being on the opposing team can have unpleasant moments. Maddie discovers things about herself, about the town where she lives, and about her friends. Ironically, Maddie's parents take a backseat to the excitement around them and in fact, may discover (in their own way) just as much as Maddie! Throughout the book, there are whimsical illustrations with dialogue bubbles that add humor and interest to the book. I loved this book and all the information and real-world examples of a political election. Readers will learn about the election process in a fun way. Also, readers, like me, will be inspired to make a difference because ONE person who believes in something (like Maddie) CAN make a difference. YOU can make a difference! Or, as the last line of the book says, "Tomorrow let's change the world."!

A 12-year-old gets involved with local politics in Leila Sales and Kim Balacuit’s The Campaign.

The Campaign is sort of a novel/graphic novel hybrid. While most of the story plays out in words, the action is punctuated by black-and-white drawings. Both elements are so well integrated, the book wouldn’t work without both. Kim Balacuit’s illustrations really compliment author Leila Sales’ humor, and vice versa.

One of the things that really stands out is how well Sales no only explains but demonstrates how the political process and government in general works. From checks and balances to how close to a polling station you can campaign, she covers a lot of ground. Given our looming election, it’s extremely timely.

Beyond the political elements, The Campaign features themes of friendship and fitting in. As the book progresses, Maddie learns how much her own perceptions of classmates are skewed. She’s a fun character to follow, as is most of the supporting cast.

My major quibble with this book is Maddie’s parents who are in their own little worlds. They don’t really seem to care much about anything except their own weird pet projects. They sort of feel like they belong in a different story.

The Campaign is a fast and humorous read that is a great option for both learning and enjoyment.

I loved so many things about this middle grades book, but what I maybe loved the most about The Campaign is how it pulls kids right into local politics and shows them how they can make a difference. When middle schooler Maddie hears that the likely new mayor is planning to cut the school’s arts budgets — eliminating the only part of the day that makes middle school bearable — she spontaneously suggests that her beloved baby-sitter throw her hat in the mayoral ring. When she does, Maddie becomes her campaign manager, rallying kids to support her candidate even though she feels like a perpetual outsider with kids her own age. As it turns out, campaigns can bring people together in all kinds of unexpected ways, and they can also open your eyes to other people’s experiences. This is the perfect election season readaloud and the perfect inspiration — if you still need it — to get out there and get involved in local politics.

What a wonderful reminder that kids can make a difference! This is also a beautiful illustration that we, the people, make up the government. I loved it! When I first saw the comparison to Parks and Rec I couldn't click the request button fast enough. I was not disappointed and cannot wait to use this in conjunction with my government unit!!


I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

4 stars=Great! Might re-read
I loved this local election-focused story for middle grade readers! I think there are great principles here to get kids talking about politics, civic engagement, elections, etc. Yes, there may be structures in the book that don't fit every community (like a mayor having a say over school curriculum), but as a starting place for conversation, I think this is great. I think this would be fascinating for a class read aloud or for book club/book group discussion. Without even trying hard, I could think of several activities that older elementary and middle school students could do to use the story as a springboard to learning about their own community election process.

There is a secondary layer to this about friendship and fitting in that was also good. But don't even get me started on Maddie's parents. Ugh. But the campaign pieces SHINE in this.

Twelve-year-old Maddie loves art class “because art doesn’t have just one right answer.” In fact, it’s pretty much the only part of school she can bear.

So when she discovers the front-runner for mayor wants to cut funding for public school arts programs, she starts to sharpen her political advocacy skills. After determining that her parents not only don’t want to run, “they’d also both be terrible at it,” Maddie convinces her babysitter to try her hand at “The Campaign” (Abrams, $16.99). Austin author Leila Sales launches her funny, incisive book for middle graders Sept. 29 via a BookPeople virtual event.

Sales has crafted a wonderfully appealing heroine who resists following the crowd: “You might as well all have rhyming names,” Maddie observes of the trio of “Meansketeers” in her class, “since it seems like you want to be as similar to one another as possible.” And she bristles when mayoral hopeful Lucinda Burghart calls her “cute.” Yet she quickly realizes how important coalition-building is to success in politics.

“I hope that readers of ‘The Campaign’ will discover that politics isn’t something that just affects adults, and therefore it’s not something that only adults can participate in,” Sales said by email. She even includes kid-friendly tips for getting involved in the book’s epilogue. “Government isn’t some far-off concept sequestered away on Capitol Hill; it determines how all of us lead our lives, every single day, in countless ways that we don’t even notice.”

It’s impossible not to root for Maddie, but Sales by design steers clear of simple answers. “We get into trouble when we start this reductive thinking of ‘My side is good and always right and should never be questioned, while the other side is evil and always wrong,’” she noted. It’s an ideal sentiment in a season when political discussions can easily descend into vitriol. (Ages 8-12)

In this day and age I definitely think that it is important for kids to learn about democracy and how they can get involved. I know there are some discrepancies in the book in regards to how things are run in certain towns/areas - which may make this book a better read aloud for discussions. It would be awesome to have this in a social studies class where they read aloud the last few parts of the day and then discuss all of the events that are occurring in the text. For the most part, I would put it in the hands of students. I know that Maddie is definitely a relatable character when the only class she actually enjoys is art (especially coming from a district where art was the first thing they cut) a lot of students will feel that.

Maddie is an outsider at her middle school. She mostly hates all her classes except for Art, and has one "not-really" friend. Her parents are very quirky and wrapped up in themselves. Fortunately, she has a Janet, her old babysitter/now companion to be a role model and trusted adult. As Maddie's community prepares for a new mayor, Maddie learns the only candidate is a city councilwoman who intends to cut the budget and eliminate funding for arts programs in the schools. Maddie decides to get involved and convinces Janet to run in the campaign. Maddie becomes the campaign manager and rallies the middle schools students to lead an amazing campaign.

There is a lot to like about this book. I like that Maddie's imperfections were gently uncovered; she is a girl with a chip on her shoulder and doesn't have friends because she really isn't very nice to the other kids. She gets called out on this and begins to work to change her ways. I love the kids getting involved in civic activities at a young age and the fact that even though kids do not get to vote, they should still have a voice. Sales address a lot of pieces in middle school life and meshes them seamlessly.

I wasn't able to get into the book, but couldn't. Please don't share this with the author. I don't want to discourage her because I think that she's got a great future. This just wasn't the book for me or the students I work with.

This book is a reminder for all of us that in the U.S. we are the government. The decisions made by the folks we elect into the city council, mayor's office, county legisture, and on up the chain affect us daily in ways we often take for granted. When Maddy Polansky hears that the mayoral candidate for her town is running unopposed and is talking about cutting funding to the arts programs in the schools, she takes action. I applaud this book for depicting the ins and outs of a political campaign. It is more than stepping up to run for office and kissing a few babies. Maddy discovers that working together on a project gives a great sense of belonging and purpose. Relationships forged under those circumstances can be life changing. The Author's Note also gives helpful information on how kids can get involved in practical ways. What may be confusing is the connection between the mayor and school funding in Maddy's town. I don't know of any town that has a direct link between the two, but still the modeling for campaigning and stepping up to get involved is really admirable.

Thank you to ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Maddie learns that the only person running for mayor wants to cut funding for school art programs. She convinces her babysitter to run for mayor, too -- and rallies her classmates, most who aren't even her friends, to support her babysitter so that the arts funding won't get cut. Through her activism, she learns about the election process but also how to deal with jealousy and unexpected friends. A fantastic read!

Any kid fans of Parks and Rec will adore this MG take on a political race. It was so funny and smart. I'm telling everyone I know about it.

While middle graders are too young to vote in official government elections, it’s never to early to learn the value of your voice and the significance of involving yourself in the issues that matter to you. In Leila Sales’ THE CAMPAIGN (9/29/20), twelve-year-old Maddie discovers this and more as she puts in the leg work for a mayoral candidate she feels would be better suited with the primary aim of saving funding for the arts in school. An admirable and relatable platform, Maddie convinces her babysitter to run in the swiftly approaching election and heads up her campaign. Soon, Maddie realizes what an undertaking it is and reflects about her friendships (or lack there of) in hopes of forming a team of other young activists. It was refreshing to see their individual strengths come together while demonstrating ingenuity, hard work, and resilience. This fast-paced, entertaining read was told with plenty of humor and showcased hope, grit, and teamwork. This inspiring story is complimented with fun and inviting illustrations by Kim Balacuit that builds even more connection with the important narrative through visual cues and additional speech/thought bubbles. Shedding light on the democratic process, THE CAMPAIGN will encourage young readers to speak up and seek out ways to bring about change.

As a member of the Notable Books for a Global Society Selection Committee, I am not able to give a review on this book, as it could be under consideration for this distinction.

A wonderful book for all budding political advocates. This book teaches that you're never too young to get involved in something that you believe in. It also shows that local elections matter, and so do you.