" Welcome to a day in the life of five middle school students, Ashley, Kenisha, Taara, Ryan and Andrew. Their day begins in the early morning hours when each of them is roused from slumber. Some awaken to the sound of an annoying alarm. Others are scared out of bed by Mom or Dad. Then there's Ryan, who oversleeps, again. He forgot to set his alarm clock and no one's ever at home to wake him. Ryan gets to school late. Kenisha arrives excited, but also jealous of her friend. Taara comes anxious and distracted. Andrew shows up ready to bully someone, and Ashley enters sad and sulking because of unkind gossip she heard on the bus. As they walk the hallways, attend class and navigate the dreaded lunchroom, they experience all of the messiness of middle school: The fragile friendships. The peer pressure. The fickle social hierarchy. The relationship drama. Issues at home and interactions at school influence how they relate to one another, their classmates and their teachers throughout the day. Readers soon realize that there are many layers to each young character in the story than what you first see, and by the story’s end, you’ve had the opportunity to walk in each characters shoes and understand how one simple event can impact so many different people. The story addresses important concepts, such as making friends, building relationships, showing empathy for others, building resiliency and coping mechanisms, and making and accepting apologies. Author Melissa Minery gives the reader a birds-eye view of a middle school day as it unfolds for each character, offering an unflinching look at how a child's backstory; family life, values, beliefs, triumphs and tragedies; influences his or her actions. Written for middle schoolers in grades 4 to 8, it’s a true-to-life story with a valuable message about courage, forgiveness, empathy and understanding. ”This book was an absolute delight. The story is engrossing, the characters are interesting and likeable, and it's hard to put down. The way the story is told from the point of view of each of the characters is really unique and gives great insights into how different people can have very different perspectives on the same conversations. Fun to read and a great educational tool for teaching empathy. .” - John S Wilson, Verified Purchaser ”I wish there had been a book like this when I was growing up. Great for teaching and reading at home. Gives great insight into the minds of other kids who are also going through different things at home and school. - Allie Thomas, Purchaser" Written to specifically appeal to middle schoolers and enhanced with the black-and-white artwork of illustrator Sephanie Hider, The Good, the Bad, and the Backstory is a true-to-life story with a valuable message about courage, forgiveness, empathy and understanding. These attributes make it an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to family, elementary school and community library collections for young readers. --Midwest Book Review This is a very relevant book for not only 7th graders. The issues presented and the thoughts reflected are pertinent to all students. There are many ways this book can be used to generate empathic discussions with students. --Elyzabeth Richards The school counsellor has an important role in this story and I liked the way the children stopped and thought about the lessons from the counsellor and how they could use these lessons in the situations they found themselves in. The Good, the Bad and the Backstory brings up everyday events that children will encounter in the school environment, bullying, jealousies, rumors and feelings of anxiety and offers effective solutions by encouraging children to voice their feelings, own up to their mistakes, offer forgiveness to others and have compassion. This book will be a valuable teaching tool perfect for classroom discussions about the different families, the situations that arose for the children and the coping skills and strategies they used to handle them. Each chapter is headed by a full-page cute greyscale pencil drawing depicting a scene from that chapter. --Veronica @ The Burgeoning Bookshelf Seventh-graders Ashley, Melanie, Tara, Ryan and Andrew all go to the same school. Though you can tell by looking at each of them that they are each different people, there's so much more to each student than others know. This unique story presents a timeline of events from sunup to sundown, in a day in the life of these five young people. See how each character wakes up for the day. Experience what they're home life is like. See the same event happen to each at school, and how it is felt, lived, experienced differently. When a hurtful comment is made on the bus, it starts a snowball rolling that affects all three girls in different ways. And when Ryan's day starts out rough, see its impact on Andrew and others. Over the course of the story, the reader, and characters, soon realize that the