Book Report By: Sarah Syed

By: James Patterson

Book Report By: Sarah Syed

I really enjoyed the book, “Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life”. This is my book report about the book. The main characters in the book are Rafe, Leo, Jeanne, Miller the Killer, Bear, Jules, and Ms. Donatello. In the following characters you will be able to learn more about them and what they do in the story.

Rafe, the main character, is the person who writes the book. At least, he thinks he did. Rafe exaggerates a lot and his goal is to be the first person to break every single rule in the school. Rafe is a good kid if he tries to be one but he is also the master of all troublemakers.

Leo, Rafe’s “imaginary friend,” is made up of Rafe’s imagination. Leo is really Rafe’s twin brother who died when they were really young. Leo pushes Rafe to all his abilities to get him into lots of trouble. Though Leo is always trying to get Rafe into trouble he is a very loyal friend to Rafe.

Jeanne is Rafe’s friend but Rafe really likes her. When Rafe tells Jeanne about his rule project, which is actually called Operation R.A.F.E., he gets into more trouble and ends up getting a tutor which just happens to be Jeanne. Even though Jeanne is pushing Rafe to get better in his academics she still doesn’t spill the secret about Operation R.A.F.E.

Miller the Killer is Rafe’s worst nightmare. Miller gets into Rafe’s way a lot and they end up fighting each other. Miller is the worst bully in the whole entire school so either get on his good side or get on his bad side. The only problem is that he only has a bad side.

Jules is Rafe’s mom. Jules is the only person Rafe can actually trust. She is always there for Rafe whenever he needs help and is a loyal and faithful friend to anyone who meets here. Between Jules and Jeanne, as the person he likes the most, Rafe would obviously choose his mom in a heartbeat.

Bear is Rafe’s second worst nightmare. Bear is Rafe’s stepdad whom Rafe hates. Bear is always getting in the way of Rafe, his intelligence, and just a wrinkle in his life. Between Miller the Killler and Bear, Rafe hates Bear the most.

Ms. Donatello is probably Rafe’s favorite teacher (if he ever did like teachers). Rafe made Donatello seem really mean at the beginning of the book but nicer as the book goes on. Rafe also called Donatello “The Dragon Lady”. Donatello did the best thing any teacher could do but you would have to read the book to find out. Rafe and Donatello still have their fights but she is a great teacher to Rafe.

Those were the main characters in the book, “Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life”. The next following paragraphs are about a summary of the book to make readers like the book and what it is about.

Rafe starts out middle school like any other 6th grader does which is moaning about summer ending and school starting and how they are going to have so much homework. But the thing about Rafe is that his master plan is to break every rule in the book, “HVMS Rule Book”. Rafe then meets this girl called Jeanne Galleta whom Rafe likes a lot. Rafe suddenly tells Jeanne about his project. Still even though Jeanne Galleta doesn’t like him that much she wasn’t going to stop him from breaking all the rules. Miller the Killer was going to stop him though.

With the rivalry between Miller the Killer and Rafe is that Miller is worried that Rafe will turn into the next big bully or troublemaker and steal his spot. Meanwhile, Rafe just keeps on getting into trouble and thinks of something called Operation R.A.F.E. Rafe decides to earn points if he breaks a rule that is mentioned in the book. He would earn extra points if something special happened like Jeanne Galleta laughed at him. Though at the end of sixth grade he would have to have 1,000,000 points to pass the grade.

With Rafe going on with his Operation R.A.F.E. he soon ends up in his first detention which is probably not his last either. Soon comes Rafe’s mom’s birthday. The thing is that Jules doesn’t know that Rafe had gotten a detention yet but she found out on her birthday. With Rafe’s heartbroken mom he decides to stop Operation R.A.F.E. for a little while. But the worst is yet to come.

When Miller somehow gets a hold of Rafe’s notebook for keeping track of all his points and everything for Operation R.A.F.E. Miller’s secret plan is too ask money from Rafe to get back his notebook, a dollar at a time. Rafe’s only plan, since he is broke, tries to steal a bit of zoom from Bear, his step-dad, secret stash. Zoom is a type of soda so Rafe decides to sell Zoom for one dollar at his locker. With the money Rafe is slowly getting his notebook back. Then the worst happens.

Rafe gets caught for braking the rules and he deserved a tutor which just so happens to be Jeanne Galleta. Then all of a sudden Jeanne gets a detention and Jules, Rafe’s mom, and Bear get into a huge fight because of Rafe’s grades and behaviors. Read the book to find out all the details and what happens at the end of the book.

That was my summary for the story. The next few paragraphs is my recommendation to who should read the book and my ratings also.

My ratings for the book, “Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life”, would have to be a variety of ratings. First and foremost I thought the book was a great book and I really would like if James Patterson, the author, wrote a sequel. The rating I would give the book would be 3/5 stars since I expected the book to be more of a sixth grade reading level. I also expected the book to be not that childish since I did not really like how the author wrote imaginary events instead of the real events from the story.

I would recommend this book to people who are just starting of middle school and having trouble with it. It might be a fun way of learning what to do and what not to do from the book to teach kids some lessons. I would also recommend this book to all imaginative writers who have a big imagination yet want to incorporate a little bit of realism to the book since that is exactly how James Patterson wrote the book. I overall enjoyed reading the book since it was a good book for 6th graders just like myself but I would have liked if the author would have improved it from its imagination mixing into its realism.