The Meaning of Life... and Other Stuff

Amelia Rules : The Meaning of Life... and Other Stuff

by Jimmy Gownley

160 pages

©2011

New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

ISBN 9781416986126

Annotation

The Amelia Rules characters navigate middle school and a couple of grownup crises.

Commentary

I'm not familiar with the Amelia Rules series, so I kind of wandered into the story at the seventh volume. To me, the comic seems like a middle-school version of Peanuts, what with all the philosophizing about the meaning of life. Amelia is often dreary and resigned like Charlie Brown on his bad days, but flashes of enthusiasm (in friendship, school spirit, or empathy with adults) shine through occasionally. All of the characters have very expressive faces and are easy to tell apart.

I'd recommend this book (and presumably the whole series) to 7th- and 8th-graders.

No Author Info

Media: pen and ink