Lissy Strata reviewed Ask Emma by Sheryl Berk
Review of 'Ask Emma' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The first in a new series by a mother-daughter writing team, Ask Emma is a book that beautifully encapsulates middle school awkwardness. (And I don’t mean that negatively- this gave me flashbacks to my own junior high years and I was like “oh no, that one thing!”) Because let’s face it- middle school is the awkward years of your life. You’ve hit a new stage in life where the hormones have started to kick in and you’re trying to figure out how to navigate all this social weirdness and you just want to survive until the final bell.
Anyhoo, Emma loves helping people and solving problems, so she decides to start an advice blog on the school’s website. (With her computer teacher supervising, of course. We may have technology in schools now, but let’s not get too crazy.) Excited, she writes her introductory blog post and kicks back to wait …
The first in a new series by a mother-daughter writing team, Ask Emma is a book that beautifully encapsulates middle school awkwardness. (And I don’t mean that negatively- this gave me flashbacks to my own junior high years and I was like “oh no, that one thing!”) Because let’s face it- middle school is the awkward years of your life. You’ve hit a new stage in life where the hormones have started to kick in and you’re trying to figure out how to navigate all this social weirdness and you just want to survive until the final bell.
Anyhoo, Emma loves helping people and solving problems, so she decides to start an advice blog on the school’s website. (With her computer teacher supervising, of course. We may have technology in schools now, but let’s not get too crazy.) Excited, she writes her introductory blog post and kicks back to wait for the responses to roll in.
And waits…
…and waits…
…and waits some more.
Yeah, these things don’t take off overnight.
While she’s waiting, she tries to play lab-partner matchmaker with her best friend, Boy A, Boy B, and the New Guy. She uses White Lie! It’s…not super-effective. Actually, it makes things worse. For her saving throw, she writes to herself anonymously and gives herself advice.
And now for the cyberbullying!
Her teacher told her that not everyone would agree with what she says, but still to have someone send her anon hate is devastating! And as her blog starts to take off, more and more people want her advice. (Okay, a lot of them just want to get out of class and skip homework assignments.) In school, everyone seems to genuinely love her blog and her advice, but online? The hate gets worse and worse. (The comments we get to see are age-appropriate for the book, but who’s to say the authors didn’t show us the really terrible ones?)
I can appreciate that this book tries to tackle the concept of cyberbullying for young readers. Most of Emma’s friends and family tell her the bullies are just jealous, insecure, unhappy. Her teacher explains that some bullies do it to look cool for others or just to get a reaction. One thing I wish the book had given more focus to is the fact that some people just get off on tormenting others; no rhyme or reason. She is advised to block and ignore the hurtful comments. In real life, that’s not guaranteed to work 100% of the time, but ultimately the advice is “Seek help. Find someone who will listen and will do something to help”. And for young readers, who are just starting to experience this stuff, that’s probably the best advice to give them.