Honestly Mallory

Honestly Mallory (Mallory #8)

Laurie Friedman, illustrated by Barbara Pollak

Carolrhoda, 2007

$5.95, Paperback

978-1580138406

February 10^th, 2012

Genre: Realistic, School Story, Humor

Age: 7+

Description: Career Day is coming up and Mallory feels left out. She doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. When she finally decides on a potential career in fashion design and two of her classmates make fun of her she makes the mistake of fibbing a little and telling them that she has actually won the Fashion Fran Young Designers contest. The problem is she never even entered the contest and now her whole class is celebrating. How will her friends feel when they find out she lied to them? 

Opinion: This series attracted my attention because of the fun covers which are featured on all the books (currently up to 18 volumes). Like the quote from School Library Journal on the back cover says, “Mallory is an appealing character who deserves a place among Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody, Amber Brown, and Clarice Bean.” I wholeheartedly agree. Mallory is a character any child, from late elementary school age to older tween age, can relate too. The topics of the books are very pertinent to young readers’ lives. Each book of the Mallory series continues to offer something new to the experience of a young girl that everyone can relate too. While Mallory might seem whiny at times, it is all just a testament to how great Friedman got the self-absorbed worldview of an eight-year-old girl down. Each book begins with an introduction to the reader from Mallory and usually incorporates handwritten letters or emails to friends within the pages. Each book also ends with a special ending of something relating to the story—such as class pictures, scrapbooks of photos from the events, Valentine’s Mallory received from her friends, instructions for things, and so on. Everyone will find a little piece of themselves in Mallory.