Posted - by John David Anderson

About the Book

The acclaimed author of "Ms. Bixby's Last Day" returns with a humorous, poignant, and original contemporary story of five friends struggling to fit in, to find themselves, and to summon the courage to say the things that need to be said.

Book Synopsis

With multiple starred reviews, don't miss this humorous, poignant, and original contemporary story about bullying, broken friendships, social media, and the failures of communication between kids. From John David Anderson, author of the acclaimed Ms. Bixby's Last Day.

In middle school, words aren't just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever.

When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes--though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well.

In the middle of this, a new girl named Rose arrives at school and sits at Frost's lunch table. Rose is not like anyone else at Branton Middle School, and it's clear that the close circle of friends Frost has made for himself won't easily hold another. As the sticky-note war escalates, and the pressure to choose sides mounts, Frost soon realizes that after this year, nothing will ever be the same.

Review Quotes

Praise for Ms. Bixby's Last Day: "Anderson skillfully balances realism and comic exaggeration in an emotionally rich tale that holds no miracles, other than the small human kind." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Sad and satisfying in just the right amounts." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A smart, funny, ultimately moving novel." - Booklist (starred review)
Praise for The Dungeoneers: "In a delightful deconstruction of role-playing clichés, Anderson gives D&D-style dungeon-delving the Harry Potter approach." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Praise for Minion: "One of the pleasures of superhero stories is guessing what's coming next, but the joy here is that most of the time readers will guess wrong. Michael is as complex as the best Marvel and DC characters, and his dialogue is just as funny." - Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Sidekicked: "From memorable characters to a complex yet accessible plot, this is a superhero story that any comics fan will enjoy." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"As riveting a rendition of superdom as even Superman's creator, Jerry Siegel, could have pulled off." - New York Times Book Review
★ "Written with understated humor and fine-tuned perception, Frost's first-person narrative offers a riveting story as well as an uncomfortably realistic picture of middle school social dynamics." - Booklist (starred review)
★ "Anderson dives into the world of middle school with a clear sense of how it works and what it needs. Kids, and the rest of the world, need more books like this one." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ "Anderson captures the tumultuous joys and pains of middle school with honesty, creating characters with whom readers will find common ground and insight. Words have lingering and persistent power, Anderson makes clear, but so does standing up for others and making one's voice heard." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Acute observations about social media and school life and a smart, engaging narrator make this a journey well worth taking. Readers might even want some Post-it notes to mark the good parts." - The Horn Book