Book Review: Don’t Vote for Me by Krista Van Dolzer
Media Type: Ebook (ARC)
Title: Don’t Vote for Me
Author: Krista Van Dolzer
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Pages: Hardcover; 240
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Source: Publisher / NetGalley
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Content Screening: Nothing of note.
HDB Rating: 3 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Readers who enjoy stories about middle school friendships and lessons.
Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | BookLikes
Veronica rules the school.David’s starting a revolution. It’s class president election time, and no one is surprised when Veronica Pritchard-Pratt is the only name on the list. She’s the most popular girl in school, a social giant who rules the campaign every single year. David, for one, is sick of the tyranny-which he says. Out loud. When Veronica hears about this, she issues a public challenge to David. With his pride on the line, David accepts his fate and enters the race. But as the campaign wages on, and David and Veronica are also paired up for a spring musical recital, David learns this Goliath is more than just a social giant-and maybe deserves to win more than he does…
I have a soft spot for contemporary MG fiction. I think that this age group is the perfect opportunity to start discussing a lot of real life issues that kids either are, or will possibly someday, tackle. My favorite topic of these, is dealing with middle school life. Ah, middle school. It has the power to be so amazing, and so awkward. I generally tend to snatch up any book that deals with that wild world, and Don’t Vote for Me was no exception.
This was a cute, if slightly simple story line. David, our witty protagonist, overzealously vows to overthrow his middle school president and tyrant, Veronica Pritchard-Pratt. This creates a funny, misguided campaign with David’s friends at the wheel. I admit, it was pretty hilarious to watch them try to run against such a popular girl. There were a lot of giggle worthy moments. It took me back to my middle school friendships.
Below all the whimsy though, was another story line. One about a girl who was misunderstood. Veronica isn’t quite what she seems on the outside, and once David starts to discover that he slowly realizes how unfair he was really being. It was refreshing to see a an MG story about not judging others. Still, I felt like this addition could have been a lot stronger. I wanted to see more growth from both Veronica and David, but there just wasn’t time.
Final verdict? A sweet, fun story about MG politics and friendships. With a little bit of a moral thrown in, it’s a solid 3-star read.
FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.
