School Rules Are Optional: The Grade Six Survival Guide 1
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley November 3, 2020
Author Alison Hart
Distributor: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781760525712
Publisher: A & U Children's/A & U Children
Release Date: November 2020
Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com
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Perhaps School Rules Are Optional; The Grade Six Survival Guide 1 from Alison Hart should come with parent alert built in for any parents who have children beginning year six, as Jesse and his friends certainly do redefine what going to school is all about as they front up to a new school term and year as the top group in the school.
It is only the first 30 minutes of the new term and Jesse is already is a bit of a pickle as he realises that maybe he could be the new School Captain, something he really does not want to be, he has Mrs Leeman as his class teacher, who in his opinion is simply antique, he has lost his special Grade Six jumper, Mum won’t be at all happy about this at all; and so begins term one with the school at Assembly, sitting in a boiling hot gym waiting for the announcements to be made before they can get out of there and get into fresh air.
Alison Hart has capture exceptionally well the first day angst that comes with the beginning of a new school year when the rules are about to be changed, more responsibly is expected from the children and how, some children simply can’t help being themselves.
The role of the teachers had been carefully created as people who care but have learned to cope with the unexpected; like the day when the toilet block seemed to explode with water, naturally it has to be the girls toilets, the camp that Jesse so desperately did not want to attend that went terribly wrong but came out classed as pretty special and so much more that does or will or could occur in any school, given time and young, fertile minds.
Kamp for Kids turned out to be everything a school camp is not supposed to be; there were goats everywhere to begin with and then things quickly went downhill from there, or did they as invention became the name of the game and survival, cold, mud and heaps of fun became the everyday norm. What a term it was turning out to be as Jesse made a new friend, several actually and in the process of term one learned much about who he was and how true friends support each other when the going really does get tough, at least in the world of grade six!
Reading School Rules Are Optional: The Grade Six Survival Guide 1 as an adult and grandmother there are so many laugh out loud moments that totally relate to raising children, especially those who do think outside the square, don’t always do the expected and come armed with loads and loads of charm.
As a first novel from Alison Hart School Rules Are Optional: The Grade Six Survival Guide 1 is a deliciously funny, laugh out loud, often cringe worthy tale of life through the eyes and emotions of a grade six boy and his friends, as they learn to negotiate life with all of its left and right turns. I can’t wait for the next installment of Jesse and his friends as term two surely has to commence sometime soon, even though I am slightly grown-up!