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How to Survive Middle School
Fans of James Patterson's Middle School series will root for David as he goes from feeling as insignificant as a hamster to becoming an Internet superstar.
Eleven-year-old David Greenberg dreams of becoming a YouTube sensation and spends all of his time making hilarious Top 6½ Lists and Talk Time videos. But before he can get famous, he has to figure out a way to deal with:
6. Middle school (much scarier than it sounds!)
5. His best friend gone girl-crazy
4. A runaway mom who has no phone!
3. The threat of a swirlie on his birthday
2. A terrifying cousin
1. His # 1 fan, Bubbe (his Jewish grandmother)
1/2. Did we mention Hammy, the hamster who’s determined to break David’s heart?
But when David’s new best friend, Sophie, starts sending out the links to everyone she knows and her friends tell their friends, thousands of people start viewing his videos.
Eleven-year-old David Greenberg dreams of becoming a YouTube sensation and spends all of his time making hilarious Top 6½ Lists and Talk Time videos. But before he can get famous, he has to figure out a way to deal with:
6. Middle school (much scarier than it sounds!)
5. His best friend gone girl-crazy
4. A runaway mom who has no phone!
3. The threat of a swirlie on his birthday
2. A terrifying cousin
1. His # 1 fan, Bubbe (his Jewish grandmother)
1/2. Did we mention Hammy, the hamster who’s determined to break David’s heart?
But when David’s new best friend, Sophie, starts sending out the links to everyone she knows and her friends tell their friends, thousands of people start viewing his videos.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published April 13, 2010
123 people are currently reading
1883 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 260 reviews
August 26, 2013
top 6 1/2 list on why this book is AWESOME
1. it is hilarious
2. it stands up to bullies
3.it gets a kid to follow his dreams though people say it is stupid
4. David uses youtube in a book :D
5. what is better than a singing hamster
6.amazing
6 1/2. stop... HAMMY TIME!!!!!!!
1. it is hilarious
2. it stands up to bullies
3.it gets a kid to follow his dreams though people say it is stupid
4. David uses youtube in a book :D
5. what is better than a singing hamster
6.amazing
6 1/2. stop... HAMMY TIME!!!!!!!
July 23, 2019
Checked this out on the first week of middle school thinking it was an actual guide, little did i know I would transition to high school with nothing but depression. Good read tho, the story was quaint 5/7
March 9, 2011
HOW TO SURVIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL
By: Donna Gephart
FIRST SENTENCE
“The first day of summer vacation is important, because what you do that day sets the tone for the rest of the summer.”
SUMMARY
from goodreads
David Greenberg dreams of becoming a TV superstar along the lines of Jon Stewart. But in real life, he’s just another kid terrified of starting his first year at Harman Junior High. Things aren’t looking any better when David gets duped by his best friend into breaking the dress code on the first day of school. But while he and his buddy are fighting, David is lucky enough to make a new friend, Sophie.
Luckily for David, Sophie loves TV, too, and shares his love of putting together skits to goof on middle-school life. When she posts one of his skits on YouTube, he becomes an instant overnight sensation! But how will David cope with being an Internet star and a real life schmoe? Will this lead to his actually becoming popular in real life? And- more importantly- might it convince Sophie to kiss him?
REVIEW
This book came at just the right time since I will start middle school in the fall. I keep hearing that middle school is a very different experience than elementary school, so I will take all the advice I can get.
Most of the books I read are told from a girl’s perspective, so it was refreshing to read a book told from a boy’s point-of-view. David Greenberg (known at school as Lameberg) was the perfect main character because he was rather ordinary. He was an artsy kid who spent his free time making Jon Stewart-ish TalkTime videos and talking to his pet hamster, Hammy. Yeah, David was a prime target for teasing. Aren’t we all to some extent?
To make matters worse, David and his best buddy Elliot grew apart when Elliot began to like girls and started hanging out with a bully named Tommy. David learned that friendships sometimes hit rocky patches and that bullies should be avoided.
The relationship between David and his new “girl” friend Sophie was one of my favorite parts of the book. It was fun to read about a first crush from the boy’s perspective. Sophie was a really special girl because she liked David even though he was unpopular at school. She was not afraid to go with her heart and not give in to peer pressure.
How to Survive Middle School embraces the perils of the middle school experience with a fresh story line. Hopefully my own experience will be less rocky than David’s.
Thank you to Donna Gephart and From the Mixed Up Files web site for providing this book for me to review.
By: Donna Gephart
FIRST SENTENCE
“The first day of summer vacation is important, because what you do that day sets the tone for the rest of the summer.”
SUMMARY
from goodreads
David Greenberg dreams of becoming a TV superstar along the lines of Jon Stewart. But in real life, he’s just another kid terrified of starting his first year at Harman Junior High. Things aren’t looking any better when David gets duped by his best friend into breaking the dress code on the first day of school. But while he and his buddy are fighting, David is lucky enough to make a new friend, Sophie.
Luckily for David, Sophie loves TV, too, and shares his love of putting together skits to goof on middle-school life. When she posts one of his skits on YouTube, he becomes an instant overnight sensation! But how will David cope with being an Internet star and a real life schmoe? Will this lead to his actually becoming popular in real life? And- more importantly- might it convince Sophie to kiss him?
REVIEW
This book came at just the right time since I will start middle school in the fall. I keep hearing that middle school is a very different experience than elementary school, so I will take all the advice I can get.
Most of the books I read are told from a girl’s perspective, so it was refreshing to read a book told from a boy’s point-of-view. David Greenberg (known at school as Lameberg) was the perfect main character because he was rather ordinary. He was an artsy kid who spent his free time making Jon Stewart-ish TalkTime videos and talking to his pet hamster, Hammy. Yeah, David was a prime target for teasing. Aren’t we all to some extent?
To make matters worse, David and his best buddy Elliot grew apart when Elliot began to like girls and started hanging out with a bully named Tommy. David learned that friendships sometimes hit rocky patches and that bullies should be avoided.
The relationship between David and his new “girl” friend Sophie was one of my favorite parts of the book. It was fun to read about a first crush from the boy’s perspective. Sophie was a really special girl because she liked David even though he was unpopular at school. She was not afraid to go with her heart and not give in to peer pressure.
How to Survive Middle School embraces the perils of the middle school experience with a fresh story line. Hopefully my own experience will be less rocky than David’s.
Thank you to Donna Gephart and From the Mixed Up Files web site for providing this book for me to review.
October 21, 2013
David is a twelve year-old who is starting middle school. He likes a TV show host whose name is Jon Stewart. He also really wants to have a TV show like him. So he makes videos with his friend Elliot anh hamster Hammy on YouTude. Eliot and David argee about a girl signing Elliot's year book with two hearts. Then they stop hanging out with each other. Instead Elliot decides to hang out with an other kid named Tommy. Tommy is known to be the meanest kid in middle school. And so know Elliot starts being mean to David too.
I liked it because I really like YouTube and because David was also starting middle school. I recommend this book to a person who likes YouTube and because David deals with a lot of things and it's interesting to find out what happens to him.
I liked it because I really like YouTube and because David was also starting middle school. I recommend this book to a person who likes YouTube and because David deals with a lot of things and it's interesting to find out what happens to him.
January 31, 2012
I definitely expect this to appear on the Rebecca Caudill list in the next 2-3 years. This is a great book for grades 5th-7th. David struggles with all of the things that hit in middle school, shifting friendships, hormones, bullies, and a family split that occurred two years earlier. Throw in his web show to accentuate the difference between your "real" life and your "online" life, and I would say this is just the type of coming of age story you will find on lots of recommended reading lists. I read it because a 6th grade girl brought it back in and said it was the best book she ever read.
Yep, it was included on Rebecca Caudill 2013 reading list!
Yep, it was included on Rebecca Caudill 2013 reading list!
August 16, 2022
I remember Middle School as being awkward, but not as traumatic as what happens to David Greenberg. I liked his strengths in humor and creativity in creating YouTube videos and having a hero like Jon Stewart. When your former best friend teams up with the school bully, Middle School can be quite the challenge. A good reminder to be compassionate as everyone can be having the best of days and the hardest of days too.
October 7, 2014
This book was really funny. It was very sad when Hammy died. When David got swirlie i felt so bad for him.
August 5, 2010
How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart is very enjoyable and very funny. But I should warn you, it’s a little sad in places, so you’ll be alternately laughing and sniffling. That’s the best sort of story and you’re going to have a good time. Here’s the lowdown:
Eleven-year-old David Greenberg idolizes Jon Stewart (me too) and wants to host his own talk show when he grows up. In the meantime, he hosts his own You Tube show from his bedroom. Each week he gives the very funny acne forecast, which is just a close-up of his sister Lindsay. He also gives his top six and a half lists, which allow all sorts of comedy moments for Gephart. Oh, and there are lots of clips of David’s hamster, Hammy. More on him in a moment.
Alas, when we meet David, it is the summer before he starts middle school. I didn’t care for middle school myself and David has my sympathies. His crazy, chain-smoking cousin Jack warns David that he needs to work out. Middle school is a whole new world of pain and David has to be ready. And worst of all, he has to stay away from bathrooms as on his birthday, the eighth graders will gang up on David and give him a swirly. Here is David’s very funny reaction to the news:
I can’t have my head flushed. I may never recover from the psychological trauma. What if some weird bacteria from the water travels up my nose and infects my brain and I die a slow, horrible death?
During the summer, David’s best friend Elliott insists on spending all of their time at the mall searching for some girl he likes. Therefore, David doesn’t have time to make videos and this escalates into an argument that escalates into a full fight between them the first day of school. Police officers bust up the fight and for me this moment was invocative of prison movies. And this is appropriate. I often thought of middle school as a prison, and as in prison, it is important to pick a fight your first day lest you lose respect of your fellow cell—er, classmates.
Meanwhile, David makes a new friend in Sophie, a girl he maybe likes as more than a friend. Could it be she likes him back? Sophie really digs David’s You Tube videos and she sends them around and the next thing you know a video he made of his hamster Hammy goes viral and David becomes internet famous. The video might even be shown on The Daily Show. The song Hammy dances to is MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This, which Gephart refers to as “old.” That really bummed me out. When I was David’s age, I owned Hammer pants.
All of this is the ‘A’ story and it works perfectly. When I was a kid, apparently a long, long time ago, I did our school’s video announcements and I filmed my own television shows. We didn’t have You Tube. Back then, if you wanted to share a video, you had to load your film canisters on the back of a brontosaurus and ride it to your friend’s house on the other side of Pangaea. This got a little easier once we invented the wheel:) All this to say that I identified completely with David. I got his struggle to survive middle school and to deal with suddenly becoming locally famous due to a love of video.
But that’s the ‘A’ story. This is book is really about it’s ‘B’ story, which Gephart reveals rather brilliantly by dropping the following hints for the first thirty pages:
That’s why my best friend, Elliott Berger, is coming over to watch the Daily Show episodes I’ve recorded. Mom and I used to watch them together. She always said the host, Jon Stewart, stood up for the little guy, which is funny, because Jon Stewart is a little guy—five feet seven inches.
I imagine my picture on the cover of Entertainment Weekly… someday. If Mom ever saw me on a magazine cover in a store, she’d probably borrow a stranger’s cell phone right then and there and call me, screaming with excitement.
…because my mom plays the tuba. Played the tuba. Now her tuba sits in our living room, even though nobody’s touched it for two years.
I wish I could e-mail Mom and tell her about this new one. But I can’t. And even if I could, she wouldn’t be able to watch it anyway. I’m sure she’ll catch up to the twenty-first century. Someday.
And at last, Gephart stops hinting and tells us what's up:
I wonder why Mom had to move to a farm in Maine to “find herself.” Couldn’t she have found herself right here in Bensalem with us, instead of running off with the Farmer? His real name’s Marcus, and he’s too cheap to have a computer or a phone or even electricity in their house. Mom would have to go into town to call us, which she never does.
Lindsay says Mom’s not finding herself; she says Mom’s just selfish and has some sort of disorder.
I agree with Lindsay. I think David’s mom sucks and I hope she gets diarrhea from eating all of her stupid organic beats (she grows them with Marcus). But love her or hate her, David’s mom isn’t really the issue, although her absence is a big part of what this book is really about. I’m not going to tell you how her story intersects with the book’s main plot because that would be a big fat spoiler, but just trust that it does and when it does, you might just cry a little. Ninjas don’t cry, but you might, Esteemed Reader. So be warned.
Gephart adds in very short flashbacks along the way to explain the actions of David’s mother, and the flashbacks do make her more empathetic. Even so, I personally can understand someone abandoning a marriage that isn’t working, but I can’t wrap my head fully around a parent leaving their children. And it doesn’t really matter. I suspect some will like David’s mother more than I do, but the real story is David and his reaction to his mother’s actions. And I liked David quite a bit. And he grows as a character because of his mother.
There’s a lot of other wonderful stuff in this book just waiting to surprise the lucky reader and I won’t give all the secrets away in an online review. But this book has everything. It’s very funny and emotionally involving and I highly recommend it. I want to close by sharing some of Gephart’s prose with you.
But first, here is a scene between David and his new friend Sophie whom he likes quite a lot. For me, this scene captures a lot of what it’s like to be a boy noticing and caring about girls for the first time, and it’s very funny:
“Your family’s quiet when they eat,” Sophie says as we stand by the door, waiting for her mom to arrive.
“I can’t tell her the truth—that remembering Mom has a way of doing that to us. It’s been two years now, and sometimes I wonder if it’ll ever get easier.
“Yeah.” I shrug. “They’re kind of weird about that.” Shut up, David. “Afraid of choking or something.” Really, shut up! “I choked on a nickel when I was little.” Oh my gosh! Shut up!
“Really?”
“Yeah, I saved it in a jar in my closet.”
“Oh.”
“It’s sort of green now.” Please strike me dead. SHUT UP!
Here's a great description that made me laugh:
Her skin is so tanned and wrinkled that her face looks like the hindquarters of an elephant. “Welcome to math class,” the woman says in a raspy voice. She sounds like she spent her life working at the Smokin’ and Chokin Cigarette Factory. “I’m your teacher, Ms. Lovely.”
To read an interview with author Donna Gephart or to read other author interviews and book reviews, check out my blog, www.middlegradeninja.blogspot.com
Eleven-year-old David Greenberg idolizes Jon Stewart (me too) and wants to host his own talk show when he grows up. In the meantime, he hosts his own You Tube show from his bedroom. Each week he gives the very funny acne forecast, which is just a close-up of his sister Lindsay. He also gives his top six and a half lists, which allow all sorts of comedy moments for Gephart. Oh, and there are lots of clips of David’s hamster, Hammy. More on him in a moment.
Alas, when we meet David, it is the summer before he starts middle school. I didn’t care for middle school myself and David has my sympathies. His crazy, chain-smoking cousin Jack warns David that he needs to work out. Middle school is a whole new world of pain and David has to be ready. And worst of all, he has to stay away from bathrooms as on his birthday, the eighth graders will gang up on David and give him a swirly. Here is David’s very funny reaction to the news:
I can’t have my head flushed. I may never recover from the psychological trauma. What if some weird bacteria from the water travels up my nose and infects my brain and I die a slow, horrible death?
During the summer, David’s best friend Elliott insists on spending all of their time at the mall searching for some girl he likes. Therefore, David doesn’t have time to make videos and this escalates into an argument that escalates into a full fight between them the first day of school. Police officers bust up the fight and for me this moment was invocative of prison movies. And this is appropriate. I often thought of middle school as a prison, and as in prison, it is important to pick a fight your first day lest you lose respect of your fellow cell—er, classmates.
Meanwhile, David makes a new friend in Sophie, a girl he maybe likes as more than a friend. Could it be she likes him back? Sophie really digs David’s You Tube videos and she sends them around and the next thing you know a video he made of his hamster Hammy goes viral and David becomes internet famous. The video might even be shown on The Daily Show. The song Hammy dances to is MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This, which Gephart refers to as “old.” That really bummed me out. When I was David’s age, I owned Hammer pants.
All of this is the ‘A’ story and it works perfectly. When I was a kid, apparently a long, long time ago, I did our school’s video announcements and I filmed my own television shows. We didn’t have You Tube. Back then, if you wanted to share a video, you had to load your film canisters on the back of a brontosaurus and ride it to your friend’s house on the other side of Pangaea. This got a little easier once we invented the wheel:) All this to say that I identified completely with David. I got his struggle to survive middle school and to deal with suddenly becoming locally famous due to a love of video.
But that’s the ‘A’ story. This is book is really about it’s ‘B’ story, which Gephart reveals rather brilliantly by dropping the following hints for the first thirty pages:
That’s why my best friend, Elliott Berger, is coming over to watch the Daily Show episodes I’ve recorded. Mom and I used to watch them together. She always said the host, Jon Stewart, stood up for the little guy, which is funny, because Jon Stewart is a little guy—five feet seven inches.
I imagine my picture on the cover of Entertainment Weekly… someday. If Mom ever saw me on a magazine cover in a store, she’d probably borrow a stranger’s cell phone right then and there and call me, screaming with excitement.
…because my mom plays the tuba. Played the tuba. Now her tuba sits in our living room, even though nobody’s touched it for two years.
I wish I could e-mail Mom and tell her about this new one. But I can’t. And even if I could, she wouldn’t be able to watch it anyway. I’m sure she’ll catch up to the twenty-first century. Someday.
And at last, Gephart stops hinting and tells us what's up:
I wonder why Mom had to move to a farm in Maine to “find herself.” Couldn’t she have found herself right here in Bensalem with us, instead of running off with the Farmer? His real name’s Marcus, and he’s too cheap to have a computer or a phone or even electricity in their house. Mom would have to go into town to call us, which she never does.
Lindsay says Mom’s not finding herself; she says Mom’s just selfish and has some sort of disorder.
I agree with Lindsay. I think David’s mom sucks and I hope she gets diarrhea from eating all of her stupid organic beats (she grows them with Marcus). But love her or hate her, David’s mom isn’t really the issue, although her absence is a big part of what this book is really about. I’m not going to tell you how her story intersects with the book’s main plot because that would be a big fat spoiler, but just trust that it does and when it does, you might just cry a little. Ninjas don’t cry, but you might, Esteemed Reader. So be warned.
Gephart adds in very short flashbacks along the way to explain the actions of David’s mother, and the flashbacks do make her more empathetic. Even so, I personally can understand someone abandoning a marriage that isn’t working, but I can’t wrap my head fully around a parent leaving their children. And it doesn’t really matter. I suspect some will like David’s mother more than I do, but the real story is David and his reaction to his mother’s actions. And I liked David quite a bit. And he grows as a character because of his mother.
There’s a lot of other wonderful stuff in this book just waiting to surprise the lucky reader and I won’t give all the secrets away in an online review. But this book has everything. It’s very funny and emotionally involving and I highly recommend it. I want to close by sharing some of Gephart’s prose with you.
But first, here is a scene between David and his new friend Sophie whom he likes quite a lot. For me, this scene captures a lot of what it’s like to be a boy noticing and caring about girls for the first time, and it’s very funny:
“Your family’s quiet when they eat,” Sophie says as we stand by the door, waiting for her mom to arrive.
“I can’t tell her the truth—that remembering Mom has a way of doing that to us. It’s been two years now, and sometimes I wonder if it’ll ever get easier.
“Yeah.” I shrug. “They’re kind of weird about that.” Shut up, David. “Afraid of choking or something.” Really, shut up! “I choked on a nickel when I was little.” Oh my gosh! Shut up!
“Really?”
“Yeah, I saved it in a jar in my closet.”
“Oh.”
“It’s sort of green now.” Please strike me dead. SHUT UP!
Here's a great description that made me laugh:
Her skin is so tanned and wrinkled that her face looks like the hindquarters of an elephant. “Welcome to math class,” the woman says in a raspy voice. She sounds like she spent her life working at the Smokin’ and Chokin Cigarette Factory. “I’m your teacher, Ms. Lovely.”
To read an interview with author Donna Gephart or to read other author interviews and book reviews, check out my blog, www.middlegradeninja.blogspot.com
January 16, 2020
How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart was a very fun book to read. I enjoyed reading about David's life in middle school. I also enjoyed how even though he was not friends with Elliot he still did what he did which was making videos. This book would be great for middle schoolers because they can relate to this book because it's how to survive middle school.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 14, 2017
Geared toward middle school age kids, this enjoyable book deals with just about every issue that a boy or girl in middle school could encounter. Bullies for sure. Siblings that don't get along. Friends who suddenly want new friends. Families that are less than perfect, sometimes with missing parents. Etc.
David is the character in the book who is going along fine until he hits that disaster known as 'middle school', and requiring a change of schools, and a whole new 'everything' in his life. As a grandparent, of course, I can give advice to the poor kid who doesn't even ask for it, and doesn't even know he needs it. Kids reading the book may, or may not, realize that there is a wealth of wisdom there. But even it they don't, they will have a fun time reading.
I bought the book for one of my granddaughters and I am sure she will enjoy it.
David is the character in the book who is going along fine until he hits that disaster known as 'middle school', and requiring a change of schools, and a whole new 'everything' in his life. As a grandparent, of course, I can give advice to the poor kid who doesn't even ask for it, and doesn't even know he needs it. Kids reading the book may, or may not, realize that there is a wealth of wisdom there. But even it they don't, they will have a fun time reading.
I bought the book for one of my granddaughters and I am sure she will enjoy it.
September 1, 2017
A book about a boy named david trying to bare bullies and teachers.
March 11, 2016
How to survive Middle school by Donna Gephart. This book is about an 11 year old boy named David Greenberg. His best friend is maned Elliot, and his hamster is named Hammy. This book is about David (a Jewish boy who is going into the 6th grade) giving advice and how to's about "surviving Middle School." David lives with his Dad, sister, and grandma Bublah. David's mom soon leaves them to work on a farm, and the only way of communication with David is by letters because she moved far away. She also refused to get a cellphone and the only thing that David had left of his moms was her tuba. At school, David makes some new friends and soon meets a boy named Tommy who isn't the nicest. Now, the trio of friends now have to live with each other is this so called Middle school.
About the book in general : How to survive Middle School is fiction based because it has non-proven facts. What I loved most about he book was how Donna Gephart described certain topics. I could clearly tell what point she was trying to get across to the reader as well as the emotion put towards certain characters. I think that the appropriate age for this book would be all ages 11 and up. This is because there are some parts of the book that have things that may not be healthy and a bad influence. For instance Tommy smokes in some parts of the book so I think the age should be 11 because of this influence. Some parents also may not want their kids to be reading these kids of things also because their relatives might of died or suffered from the consequences of smoking.
About the book in general : How to survive Middle School is fiction based because it has non-proven facts. What I loved most about he book was how Donna Gephart described certain topics. I could clearly tell what point she was trying to get across to the reader as well as the emotion put towards certain characters. I think that the appropriate age for this book would be all ages 11 and up. This is because there are some parts of the book that have things that may not be healthy and a bad influence. For instance Tommy smokes in some parts of the book so I think the age should be 11 because of this influence. Some parents also may not want their kids to be reading these kids of things also because their relatives might of died or suffered from the consequences of smoking.
March 19, 2011
David Greenberg is eleven years-old and a huge fan of Jon Stewart, so much so that he makes internet videos called TalkTime where he provides a top 6 1/2 list and daily acne reports courtesy of an unsuspecting sister. He is also dealing with his mother leaving the family to go live on an organic beet farm. A place where she has no phone, no TV and no electricity. Where the only way she can stay in touch is through infrequent letters.
Luckily, David has his best friend, Elliot. That is until the day that Elliot goes girl crazy and is interested in making YouTube videos, instead choosing to team up with the biggest bully in their new middle school with the sole purpose of making David's life hell. Can David navigate this new world of middle school hell and still stay true to himself?
A great little book that deals with a lot of issues that are relevant to the Grade 6 to 8 group. Students will easily see themselves in David, and sympathize with his plight. Unfortunately, once again an author has chosen the wrong age for the main character. By making him a grade 6, she has possibly missed he Grade 7/8 audience that would be more interested in her book.
Still a very good, quick read.
Luckily, David has his best friend, Elliot. That is until the day that Elliot goes girl crazy and is interested in making YouTube videos, instead choosing to team up with the biggest bully in their new middle school with the sole purpose of making David's life hell. Can David navigate this new world of middle school hell and still stay true to himself?
A great little book that deals with a lot of issues that are relevant to the Grade 6 to 8 group. Students will easily see themselves in David, and sympathize with his plight. Unfortunately, once again an author has chosen the wrong age for the main character. By making him a grade 6, she has possibly missed he Grade 7/8 audience that would be more interested in her book.
Still a very good, quick read.
June 18, 2015
I enjoyed the life of David Greenberg as he navigates summer between elementary school and middle school and then begins life at Harman Middle School. David wants to be a talk show host and makes his own videos and posts them on youtube. His friend Elliot, who becomes part of the enemy camp later gets mad at David and they do not speak during the first part of middle school.
David has to negotiate between the loss of his mother to an isolated beet farm, his older cousin and his older sister who discovers what is in some of his videos. Hammy the Hamster also plays an important part in his videos, mostly with things photoshopped in around pictures of him.
The book is a very good read and I enjoyed David's view on middle school. What happens when his videos go viral and how he deals with a new friend - a girl.
Will pass my copy of the book on to a neighbor, who is the right age to read this book.
David has to negotiate between the loss of his mother to an isolated beet farm, his older cousin and his older sister who discovers what is in some of his videos. Hammy the Hamster also plays an important part in his videos, mostly with things photoshopped in around pictures of him.
The book is a very good read and I enjoyed David's view on middle school. What happens when his videos go viral and how he deals with a new friend - a girl.
Will pass my copy of the book on to a neighbor, who is the right age to read this book.
April 30, 2010
Ages 9+ (Middle school bullying and friendship trauma leads to giving the middle finger, etc)
David Greenberg is going into sixth grade. His mom moved to a beet farm in Maine, his sister Lindsey is a zitty bathroom hog, and his best friend Elliott is suddenly into going to the mall to see a GIRL instead of making videos and playing k'nex. By the time school starts, there's an irreparable rift with his former bff. Elliott starts hanging out with bully Tommy, and David's new best friend is a girl - one that makes his heart flutter. When she spreads word about some of his youtube creations, he starts getting INTERNET FAMOUS. Of course, he's still Lameberg at school, facing ill-gotten detentions and hoping to avoid a swirly.
Super cute and humorous real life fiction. A quick one-afternoon read.
David Greenberg is going into sixth grade. His mom moved to a beet farm in Maine, his sister Lindsey is a zitty bathroom hog, and his best friend Elliott is suddenly into going to the mall to see a GIRL instead of making videos and playing k'nex. By the time school starts, there's an irreparable rift with his former bff. Elliott starts hanging out with bully Tommy, and David's new best friend is a girl - one that makes his heart flutter. When she spreads word about some of his youtube creations, he starts getting INTERNET FAMOUS. Of course, he's still Lameberg at school, facing ill-gotten detentions and hoping to avoid a swirly.
Super cute and humorous real life fiction. A quick one-afternoon read.
September 8, 2014
This is the best book I have read, it is a type of book that has sad parts but then happy parts. It is filled with suspense and it is also super funny. The sad thing is that David (the main character) loses his friend but then he becomes friends with a new girl that was home schooled. After that, one day he got kissed by the new girl which her name is Sophie. One day David's hamster died and he told Sophie , so Sophie baked him a cupcake and an 8th grader who got held back saw the cupcake and thought it was David's birthday. Also people say that if they find out it's your birthday at Harman Middle School, an 8th grader would give you a swirly and that is what happened to David. There is a lot more and you will find out once you read this book. :)
April 8, 2014
Well, this kid named David is I think is a pretty cool guy. He just entered middle school and he's having a tuff time. His best friend has left him and David has got a "girlfriend". The worst day in middle school is when Tommy a big fat bully sticks David down a toilet and being embarrassed in front of the entire science class. After a few days David is back to his normal self and he'll survive middle school with out trouble.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2013
This book is hilarious! I think that every 5th and 6th grader should read this, boy or girl. I love the main character and his family, and I find the storyline very believable. There's just enough sadness for it to be relatable, but its so funny that you can deal with the sadness. Plus, I'm a huge Jon Stewart fan.
July 9, 2012
Now I can see why this book wasd an award winner. If you are a middle school teacher or a middle school student you have to read it.
It is very funny.
Middle Schoolers don't be scared about the bullying they talk about in the book. It is not true!
It is very funny.
Middle Schoolers don't be scared about the bullying they talk about in the book. It is not true!
July 21, 2015
Nice funny book!
April 29, 2012
Caudill 2013. Even though this book is realistic fiction, I really liked it. :) I think 5th graders going into middle school could really relate to the characters and plot lines.
Read
October 23, 2015Funny and sad
April 27, 2013
I read this last year but i remembered it was like really good so yeah read it seriously
May 1, 2018
Donna Gephart does a brilliant job with her book, How to Survive Middle School. I personally, really enjoyed this book. As far as, getting super close to my life, it had more relatable situations for me personally. Although, at this point in my life, I'm past middle school. I'm now in my second year of high school, other than that there are some key aspects that Gephart included that allow me to relate to this book.
What would I classify this book's genre to be? I would say along the lines of young teen or more specifically, someone who is going into middle school. The title itself, really explains my reasoning behind this. David (the main character) is 12 years old, going into middle school. Someone who is either going into soon or is already in middle school can probably relate to this more than a 40-year-old, completely out of school. Or even, just someone who has a dream in life can understand where David is coming from. Although, I do believe that anyone could enjoy this book. This book also could probably fall into maybe a little bit of adventure. David goes through events that cause action in the book.
If you couldn't already tell...I LOVED this book. It's going to be incredibly hard to list some of my dislikes but that just makes it easier to list my likes. As I said before, I can relate to this book a lot actually, even though I'm now in high school. David is terribly worried about middle and can't stop thinking about how middle school is going to treat him. I remember going into my first year of middle school. I always heard stories, constantly, about how terrible it was going to be. People were constantly telling me that they weren't going to be the best two years of my life. I was terrified of middle school. But, after halfway through my first year, I absolutely LOVED middle school. All the stories, some are true, some aren't. I ended up loving middle school, I wish I could go back. Although, no matter what happens, what people say, you gotta follow your dreams. Another reason I can relate is David spends his free time making Youtube videos, online. He has his dream of becoming a famous TV star just like his idol, Jon Stewart. He makes the videos with his pet hamster and his best friend. As far as something I disliked about How to Survive Middle School...that's a difficult one. If there is something that I must mention I would say that it's a little predictable. It does tell the story of a basic middle school kid who goes through issues but works his way through it. So yes, it is a little predictable of a storyline, but for telling this storyline Gephart does an excellent job.
What's Gephart's writing style? I think she aims more for young teens. I really can't say anything bad about Gephart's writing style. She is a brilliant writer that, just because of this book may continue to follow her other works. I think everyone needs to not only read this book but read something else of Gephart's. She is a very great writer.
Who would I recommend this book to? A young teen, more specifically, a kid going into middle school, in middle school, or just someone who is trying to follow their dreams but has obstacles in their way. Somone in middle school or is going through middle school can most likely understand David's situations and can relate to them, causing the book to be more entertaining for them. I recommend this book to someone with a dream because David has a dream but people are constantly downing him and he has so many obstacles but he keeps going no matter what.
The whole book in general...I LOVED it! Definitely, a better book that I've read in a long time and I'm so glad that I read it.
What would I classify this book's genre to be? I would say along the lines of young teen or more specifically, someone who is going into middle school. The title itself, really explains my reasoning behind this. David (the main character) is 12 years old, going into middle school. Someone who is either going into soon or is already in middle school can probably relate to this more than a 40-year-old, completely out of school. Or even, just someone who has a dream in life can understand where David is coming from. Although, I do believe that anyone could enjoy this book. This book also could probably fall into maybe a little bit of adventure. David goes through events that cause action in the book.
If you couldn't already tell...I LOVED this book. It's going to be incredibly hard to list some of my dislikes but that just makes it easier to list my likes. As I said before, I can relate to this book a lot actually, even though I'm now in high school. David is terribly worried about middle and can't stop thinking about how middle school is going to treat him. I remember going into my first year of middle school. I always heard stories, constantly, about how terrible it was going to be. People were constantly telling me that they weren't going to be the best two years of my life. I was terrified of middle school. But, after halfway through my first year, I absolutely LOVED middle school. All the stories, some are true, some aren't. I ended up loving middle school, I wish I could go back. Although, no matter what happens, what people say, you gotta follow your dreams. Another reason I can relate is David spends his free time making Youtube videos, online. He has his dream of becoming a famous TV star just like his idol, Jon Stewart. He makes the videos with his pet hamster and his best friend. As far as something I disliked about How to Survive Middle School...that's a difficult one. If there is something that I must mention I would say that it's a little predictable. It does tell the story of a basic middle school kid who goes through issues but works his way through it. So yes, it is a little predictable of a storyline, but for telling this storyline Gephart does an excellent job.
What's Gephart's writing style? I think she aims more for young teens. I really can't say anything bad about Gephart's writing style. She is a brilliant writer that, just because of this book may continue to follow her other works. I think everyone needs to not only read this book but read something else of Gephart's. She is a very great writer.
Who would I recommend this book to? A young teen, more specifically, a kid going into middle school, in middle school, or just someone who is trying to follow their dreams but has obstacles in their way. Somone in middle school or is going through middle school can most likely understand David's situations and can relate to them, causing the book to be more entertaining for them. I recommend this book to someone with a dream because David has a dream but people are constantly downing him and he has so many obstacles but he keeps going no matter what.
The whole book in general...I LOVED it! Definitely, a better book that I've read in a long time and I'm so glad that I read it.
April 25, 2019
Choice book #1 quarter 4
How to Survive Middle School by:Donna Gephart is a realistic fiction book that takes place in Bensalem,Pennsylvania. In this book David Greenburg is the main character. He really enjoys making these talk time videos on YouTube. He really struggles with middle school because his friend just left him and he gets bullied. Some main characters are David, who is very funny and fun to be around, Sophie, who is really kind and caring, Tommy,who is very mean and does not care about other peoples feelings, and finally Elliot. Elliot is very shy and in the beginning he is also a little selfish.
Theme: The theme of the book is to not bully other people. Tommy bully's David everyday. For example when David walks by their lunch table everyday at school Tommy yells "Hey Lameburg" It always makes David sad. Another time when Tommy bullies David after he runs out of science to the bathroom. Tommy sees him in the bathroom and sticks David's head into the toilet. David misses several days of school due to the embarrassment. Tommy then makes a mean video on YouTube saying mean comments about David and shows a clip from when Tommy tripped David at lunch. in the clip David is cleaning his lunch up after Tommy tripped him. That is why I think the theme is to not bully other people.
I enjoyed this book because even though David continued to be picked on was still able to make great clips. He continued to have a sense of humor in his videos. I think the book was definitely complete and gave me a view of what someone may feel when they are being picked on. The ending was great and it really fit with the book. I also would not have done anything different. Except maybe Tommy could have apologized to David and realized that he was mean and finally stopped bullying David. I highly recommend this book to gain a view on how people feel when picked on. Thanks for reading my review.
How to Survive Middle School by:Donna Gephart is a realistic fiction book that takes place in Bensalem,Pennsylvania. In this book David Greenburg is the main character. He really enjoys making these talk time videos on YouTube. He really struggles with middle school because his friend just left him and he gets bullied. Some main characters are David, who is very funny and fun to be around, Sophie, who is really kind and caring, Tommy,who is very mean and does not care about other peoples feelings, and finally Elliot. Elliot is very shy and in the beginning he is also a little selfish.
Theme: The theme of the book is to not bully other people. Tommy bully's David everyday. For example when David walks by their lunch table everyday at school Tommy yells "Hey Lameburg" It always makes David sad. Another time when Tommy bullies David after he runs out of science to the bathroom. Tommy sees him in the bathroom and sticks David's head into the toilet. David misses several days of school due to the embarrassment. Tommy then makes a mean video on YouTube saying mean comments about David and shows a clip from when Tommy tripped David at lunch. in the clip David is cleaning his lunch up after Tommy tripped him. That is why I think the theme is to not bully other people.
I enjoyed this book because even though David continued to be picked on was still able to make great clips. He continued to have a sense of humor in his videos. I think the book was definitely complete and gave me a view of what someone may feel when they are being picked on. The ending was great and it really fit with the book. I also would not have done anything different. Except maybe Tommy could have apologized to David and realized that he was mean and finally stopped bullying David. I highly recommend this book to gain a view on how people feel when picked on. Thanks for reading my review.
February 26, 2019
How to survive middle is about David Greenberg who wantsElliot to just let loose, have fun, and enjoy their last summer before attending a new school in September, Harman Middle School. But Elliott, having other plans for how to spend his summer vacation, This caused David and Elliott to have a colassal quarrel, which led them to go seperate ways when middle school started. So, David met a new girl at school, Sophie, who greatly enjoyed and appreciated the TalkTime videos he created and posted on YouTube. Having been previously homeschooled, Sophie then sended all of David's videos to her national homeschooling network, so that the many children around the globe could view and comment on David's breathtaking, and hilarious, videos. Before David knows it, his videos have gone viral.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2024
I was skeptical to pick it up as I'm in high school now and Middle school is long gone. Reading the back sent me into nostalgia because I too used to make YouTube videos in middle school. So I picked it up and gave it a try. At first it was a bit boring but then... the drama....Safe to say I freaking loved it. TW for soft hearties:Death of a pet. That really broke me even though this is a middle school grade book. Everything was good and I just wish a certain pet hadn't died but yea this was certainly well written. There are about 73 chapters within these 263 pages. Some chapters are single paged so it was really easy to get through this kid's book by saying "Just one more chapter". I read it in one day but I keep forgetting to update my Goodreads 🥲
October 8, 2018
I wonder how it is like wanting to become a big tv superstar, Jon Stewart. But he is just another kid terrified of starting middle school. I was scared of starting middle school. I thought that there was loads of homework and that it was going to be even harder to make friends. But that turned out differently for me. There wasn’t loads of homework, and it took some time to make friends because I was also new to the school. The author does good with humor. And he also does good with entertaining the reader. Thanks for the book.
March 13, 2024
Middle school is hard. This story involves the breakup of a longtime friendship and bullying. Early on I didn't think the voice sounded very authentic (more like an adult trying to sound like a kid), but it got better. Only occasionally did a word pop in that definitely did not sound like a sixth grader. The main take away seems to be that face-to-face friendships are worth more than likes and internet followers, but in the end David gets them both. I'm anxious to try Bubbe's Jewish apple cake recipe at the end.
November 18, 2018
Absolutely fenomenal. I loved it.This book was super awesome with lots of dialogue. When sad things happened it just seemed so realistic to me.I really liked that.The author did very will in progress.What I mean by that is the author really showed the progress of David being a average 12 year old kid to a kid who was a star in the internet.The author did amazing and I do not find anything wrong with the book.It deserves 1000000 stars but I gave it. Because that is the maximum.
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