  | This is not a drill Author: Holt, K. A. | |
| Price: $23.08 | ||
Summary:
Told in text messages, middle-schooler Ava is having a really bad day: her parents are getting divorced, she has had a big argument with her best friends, and the charge on her cellphone is getting low; but things are about to get a lot worse because the lockdown alarm has just gone off, and there is an intruder in the school building.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 3.70 Points: 2.0 Quiz: 514752 |
Reviews:
Booklist (05/15/22)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 05/15/2022 Holt returns to all-text tales of publishing past in this fast-paced, friendship-filled account of one day in the life of Ava, who regularly forgets to fully charge her phone, as her middle school goes into lockdown for an unknown intruder. Told in texts between Ava and friends and her divorcing parents, as well as updates from the school’s app, this walks the fine line between humorous—especially jokey tone of middle-school texts between friends and the inevitable miscommunication—and harrowing, as readers don’t know what is happening outside the locked doors. More a story of friendship than a tale of a school’s worst nightmare, this book does deal delicately with the issue of the intruder (but—spoiler alert—there’s thankfully no long-lasting impact, as it is an intruder, not a school shooter). Holt’s propulsive writing style makes this a quick read, though the ending lacks the satisfaction a school-intruder story demands. This book is perfect for late-elementary or early-middle-school readers who communicate primarily through texts and want an uncommon reading experience. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.
