Thursday, March 3, 2011

Book Review- The Secret Life of Ms Finkleman


By Ben H. Winters
Released on June 25th, 2009
Ages- 5th-7th grade
Source- author/publisher
5 stars- Highly Recommend

Ms Finkleman was one of those people so totally unremarkable as to be essentially invisible. She was until the Seventeenth Annual All-County Choral Corral, this is. Until Little Miss Mystery and the Red Herrings. Until Bethesda Fielding and Teeny Boyer got caught cheating and were very nearly expelled...... (quoted from the back of the book).

The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman is a fun, engaging middle grade read.

When 7th grader Bethseda Fielding is giving a class assignment to solve a mystery, she takes it upon herself to find out who their shy, mousy voiced music teacher, Ms Finkleman really is. When her ambitions of solving the mystery get ahead of her, Bethseda will not only have gained new friends, helped some of her fellow students discover their talents and turn the school upside down with her latest discovery, but she'll learn an important lesson from Ms. Finkleman herself.

Ben's writing really paints a vivid picture of middle school, and it's not hard to see why middle graders would enjoy this read. Mix that with some wonderful relatable characters, and add an awesome plot that has a mystery and a little of rock rock and roll, and the end result is a book I would highly recommend 5th-7th graders pick up and read.
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~