Middle Grade Review: Like Bug Juice on a Burger by Julie Sternberg

Like Bug Juice on a Burger by Julie Sternberg

Hardcover, 176 pages

Published: April, 2013 by Amulet Books

Source (ALAMW or a gift, I'm not sure)

AGE: 7-10

GRADE: 2-5

I hate camp. I just hate it. I wish I didn’t. But I do. Being here is worse than bug juice on a burger. Or homework on Thanksgiving. Or water seeping into my shoes. In this sequel to the critically acclaimed Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, Eleanor is off to summer camp. At first she’s excited to carry on the family tradition at Camp Wallumwahpuck, but when she gets there she finds icky bugs, terrible food, and worst of all: swim class, where she just can’t seem to keep up with everyone else. But as the days go on, Eleanor realizes that even the most miserable situations can be full of special surprises and that growing up is full of belly flops.

Summer is a hard time to get kids to read.  My daughter likes to read but when it's summer she wants to swim and ride bikes and play, play, play.  Reading is not her first choice in activities.  Luckily our library has a reading program and you get prizes.  So we got in a routine of reading 20 minutes (her, by herself) every night after I read a bunch of books to her.  I had her pick out a chapter book she could read on her own and this was her first pick.  Often with chapter books she jumps around, she reads a little then moves onto another.  But I was amazed, she read this book (practically begging for reading time) every single night.  She even squeezed in time during the day for 20 minutes here and there.  She was absolutely loving it!

I didn't read the book, so I had her write up the review, but I'm going to share a few things that I do know first.  This is a younger middle grade book, it had larger print and fairly frequent illustrations.  Not only that, but it's in verse, so the words are more sparse.  

She had to write up a review for the library and it was limited space, so it's very short, but here's my 8 year old daughters opinion about the book:

 

This is called Like Bug Juice on a Burger.  I love it.  Her name is Eleanor. Her friends name is Joplin. I had fun reading this book. 

 

Yeah, a bit short, but we'll work on that. (I think she really only cared about getting that prize! Which ended up being Go Fish playing cards, BTW.)

When I was trying to figure out what to put for a rating I asked her if she super loved it, if it was AMAZING and if she would read it again.  She said yep, so this one's a 5 star read for her! 

 

This is the sequel to Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, but apparently it works fine as a stand alone (I read some other reviews and that seems to be the consensus.)  But if you are rushing to buy the books, I just wanted you aware.