School Rules are Optional by Alison Hart

Jesse is in Year Six and things are not off to a good start. He has Mrs Leeman as his teacher (she was his prep teacher and she even taught his dad!); he has lost his Year Six jumper (sweater) and it is only the first day of the year; and the heat of Summer is unbearable when your teacher will not turn on the air conditioning.  This story also contains snails, nits, two floods, the Year Six Camp and goats! Alison Hart covers so many recognisable aspects of school life here in Australia especially for kids navigating their final year in Primary school. 

When I was given the advance copy of School Rules are Optional I did not think this was a book for me! This was confirmed when the sales notes said "for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid". So it was a big surprise when I found myself really enjoying this Australian school story and feeling happy that was nothing like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I especially laughed all through chapter seven which could be titled - Let the snail racing begin! 

School Rules are Optional will be published in early November. I would add it to your shopping list for a school library and as a Christmas present for any 10+ kids in your life.

After reading School Rules are Optional you might look for the Paul Jennings short story Wunderpants from his story collection Unreal and these novels:

Andrew Clements 1949-2019

I arrived home today to find the March/April (2020) edition of the Horn Book Magazine in my letter box. Browsing through the magazine I discovered the truly sad news that one of my favourite US Middle Grade authors died at the end of last year.

"He wrote about children with lively imaginations who liked to challenge the status quo as well as the teachers who helped nurture their creativity and guide them towards making a positive impact. He had enormous respect for his audience, and never let them down, as is evident in the long-lasting popularity of his books and his numerous children’s choice awards." Amy Berkower in Publisher’s Weekly

Andrew Clements was the author of over eighty books - what an amazing output. Here is his first book published under the name Andrew Elborn.

I put my favourite book by Andrew Clements at the top of this page - Extra Credit.  Here are some books by Andrew Clements which I have talked about on this blog:

Frindle 

8.5 Million copies sold, 15 languages

Lost and Found

Trouble-Maker

I was surprised to see I had not talked about this next set of books - all of which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I was an avid collector of Andrew's books and my former school library boasted a large collection of his books. I do appreciate the cover art which is by US illustrators Brian Selznick, and Mark Elliott.

Here are three very new books by Andrew Clements which I need to add to my to read list.

I want to expecially mention The Jacket which is a very short book (96 pages) by Andrew Clements with a very powerful story. I often recommended it for reluctant readers in my senior classes.

Here is a recent interview with Andrew Clements where he talks about the writing process. His school stories come in a set with very detailed teachers notes.

Here are some picture books which were in the collection of my former library.