Roger Tarkington and the Magic Calendar: The Quest for Middle School Greatness
I. M. Maynard
Taft Publishing
Published March 9, 2019
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About Roger Tarkington and the Magic Calendar
Meet Roger Tarkington.
The almost 11-year-old has a plan for middle school greatness. A perfect plan that—lasts for all of about five minutes. 286 seconds, to be exact.
It’s all ruined when Kyle-the-Vile Brossman appears unexpectedly on the first day of school. Making matters worse, Kyle pledges to make Roger’s year miserable, just like he did at Bellingware Elementary School.
Roger’s unlucky start to sixth grade turns magical when his calendar turns into a time travel portal that allows him to repeat days. Influenced by his Middle School Greatness Tip #31 (Don’t wait for it to happen, make it happen), Roger devises a new plan to use his magic calendar to beat Kyle, clearing his path to middle school greatness.
Foolproof plan for middle school success, right? Maybe in real life, but remember, this is middle school!
Will Roger succeed in using his magic calendar to standout at Jefferson Middle School and achieve middle school greatness? Or will he fall under the constant attacks from Kyle and the unexpected, everyday obstacles of middle school?
My Review
This is such a silly story– it’s a lot of fun to read. It does tackle the issue of bullying, showing Roger repeatedly picked on by his nemesis, Kyle. Mostly, though he seems frustrated and discouraged at times, Roger seems to bounce back and stay focused on his quest to gain popularity or notoriety in school.
In service of that quest, he does some selfish things to his best friend, and I wish that he had confronted those choices a little more fully. He does feel bad for letting her down, but doesn’t really seem to totally realize that he is living his life focused on achieving some kind of greatness and sort of assuming his best friend will be there to assist him whenever he needs her.
Other than that, though, it’s an upbeat story. I think fans of MY LIFE AS A POTATO by Arianne Costner will enjoy this one.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Representation
Most characters are white.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
None.
Spiritual Content
A calendar gives Roger the ability to time travel to the date or event he’s touching on the calendar.
Violent Content
Some instances of bullying, including trapping someone in a locker.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of ROGER TARKINGTON AND THE MAGIC CALENDAR in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.