Elsie was gross. Her eyes were squished above cheek bubbles of fat. Her chins rippled down her neck. She really didn’t have a waist except where her stomach bulged out below her chest. Her legs looked like two bed pillows with the ends stuffed in shoes. I knew everyone hated having Elsie in our room.
When Elsie Edwards joins Mrs. Hanson’s fifth grade class, no one wants to even look at her much less make friends. But when Jenifer is asked by Mrs. Hanson to show Elsie around school on her first day, she has no choice but to oblige. “Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade” tells all about the hardships that Jenifer and her friends go through being in the fifth grade. Mostly, though, it is about Elsie Edwards and her transformation from just “the fat girl” to Jenifer’s friend.
It is true that no one is thrilled to have Elsie in their class, but things get worse when lunch money begins to disappear. Everyone who buys lunch brings two quarters and suddenly those quarters start to go missing. Of course everyone suspects that the culprit is Elsie — well, the students do anyway. Mrs. Hanson finally decides to inform the principal who announces that he thinks he knows who did it. That day, Jenifer figures out for herself who it is. While at the 7-Eleven buying milk, Jenifer spots Elsie buying licorice whips with two quarters! When she says hi to Elsie, Elsie knows that she has been caught.
As Jenifer begins to find out what kind of trouble Elsie has at home, she starts to get friendly with her. Then, she has a great idea! Since she has not been doing so well in math, she asks her mother if Elsie can tutor her. Jenifer’s mother can pay Elsie fifty cents per hour, and that way Elsie can pay back all of the money she stole. But what happens when the book club money goes missing? It is throughout the course of tutoring Jenifer — and her friends — that Elsie finds out that things aren’t always going to be so bad.
“Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade” is a great book for the older elementary school crowd. Not only is it an entertaining read, but it teaches about accepting people for who they are and not judging a book by its cover.
“Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade” is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.