My Schoolwork Is a Mess!, by Jennifer Licate , Suzanne Beaky (illustrator)

 Publication August 27, 2024

Yes! We gave a winner! 

Seriously, this one is great. Provides easy to follow, direct ideas for how to get organized and take charge of your life or, in this case, school days. As an adult who uses variations of many of these suggestions, I can definitely recommend it to not just teacher friends but parents struggling to help their children who are also struggling in school. The colorful illustratins and fun and main character Dakota is easily likeable. You'll root for him as his mother and counselor work to help him,. I particularly liked that these aren't ideas engraved in stone, either, but ideas that recognize the need for down time, too.

I won't detail the basic suggestions, the blurb does a good job of that, but will note that I also liked the emphasis on reaching out for help. Dakota's mother is there for him but every child wanting to appear cool and in control will relate to how Dakota struggles to do a simple task that seems easy for most, simply pick up the phone and call a classmate to ask what the homework was for a class that night. Dakota's mother, who calls him Kota, is disappointed but instead of going off on him, she shows him ways to get things done. Then, she herself reaches out for help, enlisting the counselor's assistance, showing that even adults need a helping hand at times. I definitely liked that his math teacher, the same one Dakota accused of being out to get him, took time to praise him one-on-one, too, rather than doing it in front of a classroom of Dakota's peers and possibly causing embarrassment. A good reminder to us so called adults, I'd say, on taking the time to acknowledge effort and improvement. 

Bottom line, I highly recommend this book to not just my teacher and parent friends but anyone, quite frankly, not just the targeted middle grades, who maybe needs a bit of a help getting organized. Honestly, I use many of these suggestions without thinking, including the idea of using modern technology to snap a photo of information that I need to remember. Thanks #NetGalley and #BoysTownPressPublishing - #IBPA for sharing an early peek at this title with me. Let's face it, part of getting organized is getting started, so I assure you I'll be sharing this with others.