Episode 16 – Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life
The Worst Bestsellers
Worst Bestsellers
4.5 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2015
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kait, Renata, and their guest Abby (The Librarian) read Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts. It’s an unexpectedly dark psychological thriller (of sorts) that made us reflect on our own middle school years and also wonder if James Patterson has ever actually set foot inside a school. Listen now to hear why James Patterson once again failed to win the Newbery Medal!
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: The Henry Ford of Books
Candy pairing: Abby says Almond Joys, Kait says Airheads X-Treme, Renata says Starburst jellybeans.
Coming up next: Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the worst bestsellers where we read about middle school delusions so that you don't have to. |
| 0:16.1 | I'm Kate. And I'm Renata. And for this episode, we read Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, by James Patterson. |
| 0:24.3 | Joining us to discuss James Patterson's middle grade money grab is Abby, librarian slash middle school rule follower. |
| 0:32.0 | Hi, Abby. |
| 0:33.3 | Hello. |
| 0:34.6 | I'm super glad Abby could join us. |
| 0:37.1 | She was at full disclosure. |
| 0:39.8 | I work with Abby, and she is awesome. |
| 0:42.1 | And she's one of the first people I wanted to have on the podcast, but she has been on the |
| 0:46.6 | Newberry Medal Committee the last year, so she could not read shitty books like those |
| 0:51.0 | because she was too busy reading actually good ones. |
| 0:54.0 | Yes. Sadly, |
| 0:55.0 | James Patterson has never won a Newberry medal. I was really thinking this was going to be his year. |
| 1:02.9 | I mean, he is apparently the children's choice author of the year, whatever that is. |
| 1:08.3 | It says that on my book. Isn't that the same one, Rush Limbaugh one? |
| 1:12.7 | I think it was. |
| 1:14.1 | I think that's the one that they choose via, like, online radio button poll. |
| 1:21.2 | So, yeah, I think, I think we are now, like, truthers of this children's book award. |
| 1:27.4 | We're going to have to get to the bottom of that. |
| 1:29.9 | Want to see James Patterson's birth certificate? |
| 1:36.0 | Oh, goodness. |
| 1:37.8 | So this book, I mean, obviously you probably have heard of James Patterson. |
... |
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