The transition from elementary school to middle school is a big one, and while some students excitedly tackle it head on, others find it intimidating. This nonfiction resource is a good introduction to middle school, answering questions students might have about everything from book reports to detention to foot odor to pop quizzes to voice changes.

The guide provides brief mini-chapters that cover 100 topics, some academic in nature, some about personal hygiene, and some about the complicated social aspects of middle school. The mini-chapters offer advice, encouragement, and practical strategies (along with some humor to lighten the mood), all with the goal of making middle school students feel comfortable with this transition and ready to have a successful experience.

While some of the advice is uneven (there are step-by-step directions on how to apply deodorant but only broad overviews of how to deal with gossip and bullying), we think this is a resource that will set many incoming middle schoolers minds at ease, and as teachers, we appreciate the strategies offered to promote academic success!

Thank you NetGalley and Revell for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

*This review will be posted at https://threeheads.works/category/blog/ya-books/ on September 30, 2024.

The Ultimate Middle School Survival Guide is a great book for kids about to enter middle school. It’s a quick read that covers a large range of topics. It is broken out by topics that are likely to be experienced by rising 6th graders. Each topic is only a page or so. It’s humorous in places to keep the reader engaged. My rising 6th grader gave it 4 stars and I agree. She requested that I buy her a hard copy so she can reference it as needed.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for my honest opinion.

I feel like I got the very condensed version, or each category will be it's own page - which would make sense. This would be a great pocket guide for our preteens. As a middle school teacher, I especially appreciated the bragging and cyberbullies sections as it's so relevant in our post-covid kiddos who are struggling to find their way socially.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The above is my honest review.

This book was a hoot! As a middle school teacher I found so many parts of this book to be so funny and true! I could see this book actually helping students figure out the craziness of middle school.

Having both a son and daughter entering middle school next year, when I saw this book, I figured we should give it a try. All three of us read it and found it to be a good book.
As a parent, I liked how a lot of the tips line up with the things I'm trying to instill in my children--like good communication, study, and hygenie habits. There were a couple sections that seemed to be underdeveloped (e.g. the Siblings section, which didn't really tie into middle school much at all, and the Media section which could have had way more substance instead of clever content about Shakespeare that wouldn't make sense to many middle schoolers), I thought some of the humor was a bit cringey, even though I know it was intended to contect with the targeted audience. Overall, though, there was really solid info for middle schoolers.
My son particularly liked the jokes and facts. I asked which sections he found most helpful and he said the locker section and how to pick up your papers if you spill them in the hall.
My daughter liked it and said it had good tips. She also really liked the locker section, and she also said the tips for doing well on schoolwork and homework were good.
So, all three of us found it to be helpful and would recommend it to other middle schoolers.

I read a DRC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.