Happy Kid Literature Guide
Grade 5-8–To Kyle, Bert P. Trotts Middle School is the gateway to hell. All he wants is to get through seventh grade unnoticed. Since he's infamous for an incident with a screwdriver on the bus in sixth grade that was blown way out of proportion by the administration, and he has been placed in accelerated classes, he has lost all of his friends. On the night before school starts, his mother gives him a book to help him counteract his negativity, claiming that Happy Kid: A Young Person's Guide to Satisfying Relationships and a Happy and Meaning-filled Life just screamed his name when she saw it. But the book seems to have a plan of its own, falling open to the parts that are pertinent to the zany situations that Kyle finds himself in, although sometimes offering advice that makes his life more complicated. Gauthier perfectly describes a typically self-absorbed teenage boy who sees himself as an underdog. Her one-liners, rapid-fire humor, and sharp ear for dialogue make this a quick, funny read. This portrait of middle school will ring all too true to students who run that gauntlet daily.
–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
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