I thought it’s just an ordinary book about Bindy Mackenzie and how her life is at school. How she’s like a genius and takes her schoolwork seriously. She even takes life a little too seriously. If you had met her, she might seem a little bit odd and perhaps a little unemotional. I guess she rarely shows her emotional side. All that come out from her mouth are hard, scientific facts so it could be like talking with a walking encyclopedia.
Bindy is a student at Ashbury High, in Year 11 which she thinks is the year that will determine her whole life. Yeah, I guess she’s kind of an extremist too. Anyway, there’s a new self-awareness course called Friendship and Development or FAD. Meetings are held every Wednesday in the storage room at the back of the gymnasium. Bindy’s FAD group consists of 8 people: she, Finnegan, Sergio, Emily, Astrid, Elizabeth, Briony, and Toby. Their teacher is Try Montaine from Ohio. Finnegan has been chosen to be Bindy’s FAD Buddy.
It all started from the Name Game where the members of the FAD group were supposed to write a comment on somebody on a piece of paper with the person’s name printed on it. Everyone knows Bindy is a high achiever, has weird social skills and is always ready to lend a helping hand although it’s sometimes rejected. So for the Name Game, Bindy thinks that the other seven students wrote unkind remarks about her. She has promised herself that they’ll pay for it.
Bindy chose animals to represent the members in her FAD group. For example, she compares Toby to a cane toad. She then lists out the unpleasant characteristics of the cane toad and indirectly refers them to Toby’s personality. She does this to all seven of them. However, when things got too far, Bindy deeply regrets her actions.
She decides to make up to them and begins to spend a lot of time watching their whereabouts. She keenly observes them and thinks of new animals to compare them with. Since this new personal project takes up a lot of time, her assignments and schoolwork are neglected. For the first time in her life, she thinks she might fail Year 11!
Furthermore, Bindy loves writing memos, e-mails, philosophical musings in her diary, entries in her dream diary, letters, and also transcripts. She listens to people’s conversations around her and types them out in her laptop. In other words, she loves to eavesdrop but not with bad intentions. She happened to witness the argument between two supposedly substitute teachers. When one slapped the other, Bindy quickly rushed to the victim and offered to testify about the assault. There’s your Bindy, always ready to offer help to the needy.
The book is meant to be funny but I think I only started laughing at page 387. And during the final pages of the book, it’s no laughing matter though. There are 491 pages and I can say that I enjoyed reading almost every one of them. Bindy’s fellow schoolmates were likeable enough. I thought Bindy likes Toby but she also pays a lot of attention to Finnegan. Toby seemed a little retarded in the beginning because nothing he said seemed intelligent. But later in the story, he appeared to be mature and thoughtful.
I have read reviews on Amazon that this book was really boring but I beg to differ. It is far from boring, I assure you. I like it probably because it’s a school story and I like school stories! By the way, The Kool-Aid Mom sent me this book as I was one of the winners in her book giveaway.
Other reviews: Liz B, Bibliovore
Popularity: 3%
I would give 
a rating of 7 out of 10. The whole story is told from Amal’s point of view. Amal is 16 and she considers herself as a young Australian-Palestinian-Muslim girl. A few days before the start of a new school term, she contemplates whether to don the hijab or not. 
The story starts with Jenna who is reluctant to open the letter from Harvard University. Would it be a rejection letter or an acceptance one? Well, she got accepted into Harvard anyway and she’s simply thrilled just thinking about it. She’s also 100% positive that her boyfriend, Scott, has been accepted too. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get into Harvard.
. It’s been a good and quick read. I’m going to check out other books by Niki Burnham. =)
Fat and Skinny had a race
sounds like a really simple title, doesn’t it? Well, this story is much more than simple actually. My sister recommended this book for me to read. I wondered why she never recommended it earlier!
Stanley Yelnats has always been unlucky in life, that is, he’s always been in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, many Yelnats have had the same fate like him. It’s as though they’ve been cursed, which might just be true.
is a downright entertaining book with moral values, too, that is try not to break the promises that you made or you’ll suffer the consequences like Elya Yelnats! Furthermore, you will chuckle each time Mr. Sir says, ‘This isn’t a Girl Scout Camp.’ And oh yeah, there’s the 2003 Disney movie, 
, which is based on this book. The movie is just as entertaining, too. Enjoy! 
To be honest, I was pretty appalled when I began reading this book. Appalled by how three sexually-hungry teenage boys think about ‘it’ and girls. Perhaps that’s really the way they think?
is written from the characters’ points of view, which is what makes this book interesting. How guys think and how girls think, too. Besides that, this story is easy and fast to read. You could finish it in a day or two. It’s a fine book but not one that I’ll be reading again.
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