Review Detail

Crunch (Click #5)

Middle Grade Fiction 1068

Olive's Overscheduled Adventures

August 30, 2022

Overall rating

3.7

Plot

4.0

Characters

3.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Olive has been taking guitar lessons for a while, but starts throwing herself into a lot of activities. Her best friend Willow is being pressured to join the Berry Scouts because both of her parents were in the group when they were young; instead of supporting Willow in trying to tell her parents she didn't want to do this activity, Olive ends up signing up herself. When several girls in her class are given dress code warnings, Olice is angered and puts together a group to present information to the principal about why the code should be changed. Even though the principal is open to this, Olive and her friends charge head first into a complicated fashion show exhibiting forbidden fashions. She wants to enter a short film competition, so makes a costume for her brother and spends a lot of time on stop motion animation. With all of this going on, she forgets to practice her guitar, often struggles to complete her homework, and finds it hard to get out of bed and make it to school on time. Will Olive learn to balance all of her activities before she gets burned out?

Good Points

It's exciting to do new activities, and middle school students are not the best judges of how to fit everything into their schedule. I've had a number of students who thought they could do both cross country AND competitive soccer even when both have practice at the same time every week day. Olive's mother is supportive, but often gives Olive permission and just information support to get her into trouble! Olive really enjoys each activity, but all of them together stress her out. It's important to see her deal with these issues, but there aren't a lot of middle grade novels that deal with time management. Hurwirtz's Calli Be Gold and delle Donne's Belle of the Ball are two notable exceptions.

Miller's bright graphics are a fan favorite, and her previous books (Click, Act, Camp, and Clash) are popular with readers of Chmakova's Crush series, Libenson's Invisible Emmie, and Scrivan's Nat Enough. Olive's anxiety is something we're seeing in more books these days, but I love that she is surrounded by good friends who are willing to help her.

Like the Baby-Sitters Club Graphic novels, the Click series is a candy colored confection that readers can't gobble down quickly enough, but which also has a tiny bit of added vitamins and fiber in the storyline about school and life balance.