2K12 Author: Joanne Levy - Small Medium at Large

A long while back I was approached by Caroline Starr Rose to help promote the fantastic group of authors in the Class of 2k12.  These are a group of authors being published in 2012.  I jumped at the chance to help out.  

What we came up with was a series of guest posts.  The topic: 

MIDDLE SCHOOL!

 Since I teach 7th grade I live and breath middle school (ok some of you can stop shuddering now). 2

So over the course of 2012 you will get to hear from some the the 2k12 authors and their memories/thoughts about that time in their life.  I thank each of them for jumping in a tackling the subject!

To learn about all the 2k12 authors check out their site: Class of 2k12: Fiction that Rocks

Today our 2k12-er is:

Joanne Levy 

Book: Small Medium at Large

Release Date: TODAY!!

After she’s hit by lightning at a wedding, twelve-year-old Lilah Bloom develops a new talent: she can hear dead people. Among them, there’s her overopinionated Bubby Dora; a prissy fashion designer; and an approval-seeking clown who livens up a séance. With Bubby Dora leading the way, these and other sweetly imperfect ghosts haunt Lilah through seventh grade, and help her face her one big fear: talking to—and possibly going to the seventh-grade dance with—her crush, Andrew Finkel.

Now you've got to see the words she picked to describe herself while in middle school!

Welcome Joanne to The O.W.L.!!

What was I like as a middle-schooler?

Wow, this is a tough one, because not only has it been a looooong time since I was a middle-schooler, but I’m sure what I wish I was like and what I was actually like are completely different posts.   But with that in mind, I’m going to do my best and use a few words to describe how I remember myself being, for good or bad. 

1.   Bossy.  Yes, it’s true.  I am a control freak and I’m sure this was evident even back then, before I had the benefit of experience and maturity which now, as an adult, allow me to be diplomatic and collaborative.  You know, most of the time.

2.   Loud.  I’m such an introvert as an adult, that I truly find it hard to believe how loud and brazen I was as a kid.  This part of my childhood personality won me some friends, but also made me some enemies; I had my fair share of run-ins with mean girls who thought I was obnoxious.  Back then, that meant not only running the risk of getting cornered in a bathroom stall, but also getting tripped at the roller rink.  The eighties were a scary time, for a lot of reasons.

3.   Funny.  I think.  I mean, I sure remember being funny and getting a lot of laughs.  If you knew me then and disagree, please just play along.

4.   Boy-crazy.  I was constantly smitten in middle school.  I’m not going to name names, because my former victims crushes might be out there somewhere Googling me and eventually reading this.  But it’s not like they wouldn’t have known I had a crush on them, because let me just say that if I was sweet on someone, they knew it as I did everything in my power to try to get him to be my boyfriend (see #1)

5.   Duran Duran-obsessed.  No explanation necessary, right?

6.   Fearless. Wow, I did a lot of stupid things as a middle grader.  I believe most of them were due to #4

7.   Determined.  No matter how many times I got shot down pursuing boys, I kept on trying, knowing eventually I would be successful (I managed to get married, so I guess it worked).

So that was me, a brash, bossy loudmouth who tirelessly chased boys while singing Hungry Like The Wolf.  What can I say, it was the eighties. 

Thanks Joanne!!!  

I love the words you picked.  And trust me I see a lot of that still only now it's One Direction-obsessed!!!

To learn more about Joanne check out her blog.