President of the Whole Sixth Grade

Gr 4–6—In fifth grade, Brianna Justice's most difficult tasks were running for class president and staying true to herself and her friends. Sixth grade ups the ante. Brianna is handed the sixth grade presidency along with a financial deficit that could keep her class from their trip to Washington DC. Her civics teacher gives the kids an assignment to compare life in middle school to life in ancient times. As Brianna struggles with fundraising failures, self-doubt, posturing classmates, and friends drifting off to new cliques, she begins to have a whole new understanding of ancient Rome. In the beginning, Brianna is a rather unsympathetic character. She has the self-absorbed, narrow focus of, well, a stereotypical middle school student. As she gets more involved in her community and lets herself open up to the possibility that change can be good, Brianna becomes much more likable. She has passion and heart and her good intentions show through, even when she is making bad decisions. The story accurately captures the ups and downs of changing friendships in middle school and features an intelligent, talented, African American protagonist. Brianna's actions match her age, but her introspective thoughts and civics journal entries maker her seem slightly older.