Arthur and the Popularity Test

Series novel: Arthur and the Popularity Test #12 by Stephen Krensky

Ages 7-9

The characters in the book bring a bunch of stuff from home to school in order to make music with. Someone accidentally brings a magazine in their bag from their teenage sister. The magazine is called popular girl and two of the girls end up taking a quiz about how likable they are. The results of the girls quiz were that one draws too much attention to herself and the other not enough which means neither are likable. They end up trying to change the way they act so that they will be likable when they are teenagers. All of their friends notice these changes and are not happy with them. They like their friends the way they were before they took the quiz. This book shares a good message for kids about being yourself no matter what. Even though it may seem cool to act one way, it’s better to stay what you’re comfortable with and not change for anyone.
I really liked the descriptions in this book, it gets you involved in the story right away. It was also easy to follow along with which is needed for a beginning reader of chapter books. I think these characters were created well, they each have very distinct personalities. I think that is a necessity for books in a series. The characters in each book are the things that connect all of the books in the series together. If the characters aren’t created well so you can visually see them in the readers head then the author won’t have a successful series.