Review (Becky): Totally Joe

Title: Totally Joe

Author: James Howe

Pages:208

Genre: contemporary realism

Audience: Tweens (Middle School)

Rating: I'd marry this book if only I was its type :(

Meet Joe Bunch: lovable misfit and celebrity wannabe from Paintbrush Falls, New York. When he's given the assignment to write his alphabiography -- the story of his life from A to Z -- Joe has his doubts. This whole thing could be serious ammunition for bullying if it falls into the wrong hands.

But Joe discovers there's more to the assignment -- and his life -- than meets the eye. Especially when he gets to the letter C, which stands for Colin Briggs, the coolest guy in the seventh grade (seriously) -- and Joe's secret boyfriend.

By the time Joe gets to the letter Z, he's pretty much bared his soul about everything. And Joe's okay with that because he likes who he is. He's Totally Joe, and that's the best thing for him to be.

This is a marvelous book for middle graders, GLBT or not.  It was colorful, candid, realistic, and had the overall message of "just be yourself".  I'll be honest, I thought Joe was incredibly annoying at times.  He was obsessed with himself and somewhat hypocritical in how he thought his friends should treat him versus how he treated them.  Nonetheless, he was charming because he meant well and I had to root for him anyway.

I loved the "life lessons" at the end of his chapters, and how he was surprisingly introspective for such an extroverted person.  I also enjoyed the format of the book as a school report.  I felt like I was the teacher he'd written it for.  I also got addicted to reading the smiley face footnotes, lol.

This book would be great for a middle grade classroom, although it does have some course language.