Sean Kawahara’s Reviews > The Worst Years of My Life > Status Update

SUMMARY: The story in my book is about a middle school kid named Rafe and his "imaginary" friend named Leo. Together, they made up a game called Operation R.A.F.E where Rafe has to break every single rule in the HVMS code of conduct. (Basically the rule book for the school). He has a younger sister named Georgia who he hates because she can't keep secrets, a mother, and a stepfather who he hates the MOST.

VISUALIZE: My book has some pictures in it, so about 25% of the book has picture pages. A good visualization scene is when the time Rafe ran through the school in his underwear. In the text, Rafe states that he isn't wearing anything at all, "I went in the bathroom and came out a minute later without my ninja costume...just sneakers, a pair of boxers, and a big old smile." This helps me visualize his actions+state.

TEXT to SELF: This reminds me of a time that I got into trouble often. One time, my friend and I were just chilling during lunch in elementary school, and the kid who thought he was our friend, came up to us and said bad things about others. (He also stole stuff from teachers and students). So, we walked away and he FOLLOWED us. Then, we flipped him off and he said he was going to tell on us. We did this a lot to him

CHARACTERIZATION: The author shows what the character thinks by making "snap back to reality" type images or "what if" statements. In the book, the main character, Rafe, was at an assembly and his crush asked him if he wanted to eat fries with her? And a picture of a loudspeaker in his mind said, "Rafe Khatchadorian, report back to earth!" Which he imagined.

ANTAGONIST: The antagonists in this story are the teachers and Miller, the school bully. Miller is pretty self-explanatory, he bullies the main character, Rafe, and does what bullies do. The reason the teachers are antagonists is because in this book, Rafe has to break every rule in the school, and of course, the teachers won't allow that because rules are rules.