Middle School : Get Me Out of Here!

VOYA The second book featuring Rafe Khatchadorian (who we met in last year's Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life [Little, Brown, 2011/Voya August 2011]) opens as Rafe explains and describes his family's move to "The City," where they will live with his Grandma Dotty. Mrs. Donatello, Rafe's sixth-grade English teacher, arranges an interview for him at Cathedral School of the Arts, where it is hoped he will get into less trouble than he did at public school. Surprising no one but himself, Rafe is accepted, and though he resolves to not get in trouble anymore, circumstances and snooty classmate, Zeke McDonald, work against him. Zeke and his friends conspire to make the newcomer feel alone and shut out; the only student who likes Rafe is "Matty-the-Freak." Unfortunately, Matty's way of making Rafe feel welcome is to set him up to take the fall for Matty's not-so-funny capers. When Rafe finally realizes what Matty is up to, he refuses to cooperate, which causes Matty to turn on Rafe. This heavily illustrated (a la The Wimpy Kid series) book will be enjoyed by middle-grade boys, particularly reluctant readers, especially because of the deus ex machina ending in which they return to Hills Village, along with Grandma Dotty, where Rafe completes seventh grade at Airbrook Arts along with his friends. Reviewer: Marlyn Beebe