★★★★
Susanah felt sweat break out on her forehead. She couldn’t make up her mind. A buzzer sounded, making her jump.
Susannah is a little girl with a big problem.
She thought she could handle everything but the more she tries, the worse it gets.
Her homework is constantly late, her best friend’s house is haunted (and she wants Susannah to sleep over), and so much more.
Third grade was proving to be a lot harder than she thought…using her toe, she pushed the homework under her book bag.
Her friends notice that something is wrong but Susannah is at a loss.
Susannah looked at her friend. She didn’t want Lola to clean up her mess. She didn’t want to clean it up either.
Susannah deals by putting everything in her backpack – out of sight, out of mind. But soon, even the biggest backpack in the world won’t be enough to contain it all.
“I couldn’t make up my mind.” Susannah threw her hands into the air, lookling at the collection of papers on the floor. “My head feels too full.”
I adore Carole Roman’s books and this was no exception! The writing was sweet, the plot was fun and the book was all-around fabulous!
I feel that so many people look back on elementary school as this idyllic time but it was stressful – really stressful – going through it.
There’s so many changes happening so quickly – school starts becoming serious, friendships are strained and you are constantly being pulled in every direction.
Carole Roman depicts that really well – I felt the stress that Susannah (and her backpack!) were going through.
And the moral/overall message of the book was solid and subtle. SO many times, children’s books are SO heavy-handed with the message. Very glad this wasn’t the case.
Also, as an aside…I loved the illustrations. Susannah was absolutely adorable.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review
Interested in this one from Carole P Roman? Buy it here: Amazon
Miranda Reads 