Homeroom Diaries by James Patterson and Lisa Papademetriou

Homeroom Diaries is a YA realistic fiction book about the unique and complicated social life in high school. Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke's mother left her. She is now living with her next door neighbor, after a short stay in "Crazytown" mental institution. She is determined to put the past behind her with "Operation Happiness" and escape the Haters and Terror Teachers by writing and drawing in her diary. She also creates imaginary conversations with her favorite characters from books and movies.

She and her friends, who call themselves the "Freakshow," want to try to bring all the cliques of high school together and get along. When her best friend is pushed too far with a prank from the Haters and an event changes her life, Cuckoo decides that she has had enough and she has to take action.

In Homeroom Diaries, there was constant activity, and every event had a clear reason for being there. James Patterson did a great job connecting to a teen audience even though he writes mostly middle grade and adult books.

There were a lot of illustrations in her diary, which I liked. She had a habit of making up alternate endings to movies and books, and they were funny. She also made up alternate realities with her and the characters. Homeroom Diaries deals with a lot of issues in high school, and Cuckoo shows ways to handle stress and bullying. Writing in a diary is one technique, and the book is her diary! The book deals with friendship and helping others get back up after they fall.

The ending of this book highly implies that there would be another book, so I am disappointed that there is no mention of another one coming soon.

I highly recommend that you read this book!

Title: Homeroom Diaries

Author: James Patterson and Lisa Papademetriou

Publisher: Jimmy Patterson

Pages: 272

Series: No

Rating: 5 Stars

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