Jojo vs. middle school

Review by Booklist Review

Jojo's first day of middle school is comically terrible: oversleeping, perfect first-day outfit ruined by cat puke, twisted ankle, phone confiscated, hole-y pants displaying her kitten-themed underwear. When facing the cafeteria is unimaginable, she sneaks to the forbidden wing of the school, housing the old gym and locker rooms. When three other awkward sixth graders find their way there, too, a friendship takes root. Unfortunately, a bobcat-induced school lockdown--while they're in the forbidden locker room on day two--complicates matters. Jojo's first-person narration nails the middle-school voice, capturing all the uncertainty that comes with big change as well as the roller coaster of emotions. The foursome's new, tenuous friendship is supported by realistic dialogue from well-developed characters. The lack of consequences from some bolder stunts may read as loose plot threads to some, though this could be addressed in book two. From a confiscated-phone heist to dealing with her mom's boyfriend being a famous cat-influencer, Jojo faces big changes via a series of hilarious high jinks with her new friends.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Bybee (A Few of My Favorite Things) and McCullough (Basil & Dahlia) team up in this hilarious series launch. On top of preparing to start sixth grade at Kagan Middle School, Jojo Lopez is struggling to adjust to a new family dynamic after moving in with her mother's well-known catfluencer boyfriend Paul, aka Mr. Meow. And if this arrangement doesn't work out, Jojo, her brother, and her mother will return to the original plan: move to Texas to live with Jojo's abuelos. Despite all the changes, she's excited for her first day of middle school. But everything goes wrong, culminating in a mortifying situation that finds her in Kagan's forbidden hallway, where she encounters fellow classmates Leah, Ryan, and Izzy, all of whom have their own first-day horror stories. As the racially diverse tweens confront challenges relating to perfectionism, busy home lives, and plain old bad luck, they're each aided by their new friends. Depictions of open communication and sincere, vulnerable friendship cultivated amid cat-astrophically laugh-out-loud misadventure offer maturing readers an exceptional model for what fulfilling relationships can look like. Ages 8--12. Agents: (for Bybee) Ann Leslie Tuttle, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret; (for McCullough) Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Feb.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

The ups and downs of a newly formed group of friends as they weather their first days of middle school. Jojo, a biracial Guatemalan American 11-year-old, is adjusting to some big changes; she's about to start sixth grade, and she, her brother, Sam, and their mother have recently moved in with Mom's embarrassing boyfriend, Paul, an influencer known for his social media posts about his cats. After Jojo accidentally flashes her cat-themed underwear to her classmates (unbeknownst to Jojo, one of Paul's felines ripped a hole in her leggings), she avoids the cafeteria and instead eats lunch from a vending machine in an abandoned locker room. She stumbles upon three other girls who are also feeling isolated and disconnected; each shares her own awkward and mortifying first-day story. The following afternoon, reports of a bobcat on the premises prompt the school to initiate a lockdown. The girls shelter in place, but because of the faulty announcement system in the locker room, they don't initially realize the building has been evacuated. When they finally discover what's happening, they bond further, dubbing themselves "Team Awkward" and venturing through their empty, potentially bobcat-filled school together. Filled with fun callbacks, the humorous dialogue rings true, and the lively, fast-paced though implausible plot will keep readers hooked. Additional characters--including family members, classmates, and teachers--are introduced intriguingly, suggesting they will get more time to shine in future installments. Jojo's school is diverse. A fresh, witty, and friendship-focused series starter.(Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter 1 1. By the time I arrive for my first day of sixth grade at Kagan Middle School, I'm starving, exhausted, and limping. And school hasn't even started yet! I should back up. None of this would have happened if my family were still living in our apartment two blocks from the middle school. But no! Over the summer we had to pack up our whole lives and move all the way across town. My brother Sam says I should be glad about the move. The new house is a lot bigger than our old apartment, and mostly, Mom's a lot happier now with her new boyfriend. It's his giant house we moved into. I'm not getting too comfortable, though. Our dad didn't stick around, and there's no reason to think this guy will either. If not, we'll probably do what Mom was planning right before Mr. Meow showed up: move to Texas to live with my abuelos. I love them, and their ranch is the best for a visit. But the tiny K-12 school closest to them definitely doesn't have a softball team, which is a major bummer. For now we live with Paul, which is Mom's boyfriend's real name, but the entire internet knows him as Mr. Meow. I'm not even kidding. He's a catfluencer. AS HIS JOB. He spends his whole day making silly videos and social media posts with his cats. Don't get me wrong. I love a good internet cat video as much as the next person. Give me all the cats on robot vacuums, cats surprised by cucumbers, and cats in death matches with laser pointers. But don't make me live with the guy who makes those videos. Sam says, "It's dope that he's making bank doing what he loves." But Sam's mostly just glad the guy has an extra car he gets to drive. Mr. Meow is nice to our mom and he makes her happy, but he is seriously the most embarrassing person on the planet, and now my clothes are permanently covered in cat hair. Also, he's entirely to blame for my disaster of a morning. Every year since kindergarten, my mom has made a big production of waking me up with breakfast in bed on the first day of school. It's a whole thing. Even in fourth grade, when my dad left and she had a hard time getting out of bed, she managed. The frozen waffles weren't totally defrosted, but still! This morning, though, my first morning of middle school, I woke not to my mom's gentle shake on my arm, but to a wild beast devouring my face! I've never had a problem with cats. At least not before Mr. Meow was shoved into my life. But I don't want them sticking their paws in my water glass, randomly batting at me when I walk by, or sitting on my computer when I'm trying to watch videos. All of which have happened in the last week. And I definitely don't want them biting my nose first thing in the morning. (Or ever!) "Ugh, Purrito, get off." Mr. Meow's followers named this particular kitten, even though Mr. Meow claimed she was a gift for me. It doesn't matter anyway. She'll stay here when we move to Texas. I rolled over, hoping to catch a few more z's before my breakfast in bed. But I happened to see my clock before my eyes drifted closed again. 8:29?! Mom was supposed to wake me up at seven fifteen! If I wanted to catch a ride with Sam, I had to be ready in six minutes! And I HAD to catch a ride with Sam. My alternative was a ride from Mr. Meow, in his Meow-mobile. I promise, I am not making any of this up. The Meow-mobile is a minivan covered entirely in cat stickers--not just on the bumper, like a normal cat lover's car. Mr. Meow sells these stickers on his website: goofy cartoon cats paired with all his catchphrases. Things like With the right cattitude, anything is pawsible and I've got felines for you and Enjoy every meowment. They completely cover the van--front, back, and sides. I would rather move to the Australian sheep farm where my dad is currently living--or at least where he was the last time we heard from him--than arrive at the first day of middle school in the Meow-mobile. And my dad lives in a tent! Thankfully, I had laid out my first-day-of-school outfit the night before. I'm not usually super into fashion, but the first day of middle school only happens once. So I admit it: I had planned this outfit for weeks. First, when we were moving, I found a red plaid skirt in Mom's closet. It was part of the uniform at her Catholic high school. She said she hated it, so who knows why she's kept it all these years. Adults make weird choices. But she didn't care when I took it and paired it with a black T-shirt and chunky black boots. At least that's what I was planning for my first-day-of-school outfit. But when I grabbed for the skirt, instead of getting a handful of fabric, I stuck my hand into something gross and wet. I knew what it was before I looked--cat puke. "Purrito! What did you do?!" I looked around for the suspect, but I only caught a flash of tail zipping out of my room as Purrito fled the scene. So much for my perfectly preppy-cool first-day-of-school outfit. I ran for the bathroom to clean the puke off my hand (blech!!!) and then back to my bedroom. I was down to five minutes. I grabbed the first T-shirt and pair of leggings I saw and pulled them on as I hurried down the stairs. Guess what's not a great idea? Putting on leggings while going downstairs. Of course I tripped and twisted my ankle. But I couldn't let it stop me. I ran my fingers through my tangled hair--so much for the intricate braid I'd spent all summer learning--as I ran limping into the kitchen to find my mom perched on a barstool at the kitchen island, staring with heart eyes at Mr. Meow. Excerpted from Jojo vs. Middle School by Joy McCullough, Veeda Bybee All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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