Olive is the only one running on the issues.īecause Olive is the only one running on the issues, classmates keep coming up to her and confiding in her about their problems. Lastly, Tyler, who is technically running but only because his parents are forcing him to. You have Belinda, whose whole schtick is that her dad works in the mayor's office so she 'knows all about politics' and is pretty and popular.

You have Trent & Sawyer, swaying the people with promises of chocolate pudding, but they are class clowns and obviously are taking the whole election as a joke (while at the same time being determined to win). The other candidates are also realistic, which is depressing. I liked seeing this, it's an interesting concept of how situations and decisions can lead us to friendships with people who weren't really on our radar before. They haven't been close before, but the election brings them together as Ava is passionate, supportive, and full of ideas for Olive's campaign. Olive teams up with an unlikely suspect - Ava, a cheerleader. Willow isn't even siding with Olive for the election, she is siding with Trent and Sawyer - two boys whose entire campaign is based on having better lunch food and offering chocolate pudding in the cafeteria.

Olive is feeling awkward about her best friend, who has developed a crush on a boy named Hugh. This eventually coalesces into her running for student council.Ī big boon of this book is realism. And Olive also has access to the public library, where she reads up on all sorts of peaceful protests throughout the ages. Olive is determined to change things! Luckily she has a radical leftist aunt (Aunt Molly, you'll recognize her and her 'wild' ways from the previous books) whom the mother disapproves of ( 'Please stop radicalizing my children.' the Mom implores of Molly) but is very popular with the children. But what seems ho-hum to an adult seems vastly unjust to a child. The reason turns out to be pretty mundane IMO - her family is poor and can't afford the $30 fee. What SCANDALOUS reason was Beth excluded from the field trip? One classmate, Beth, gets pulled aside by the teacher before the trip and she doesn't come along. It starts off innocently enough - Olive and her classmates are off to see the play REVOLUTION! in the big city (akin to Hamilton or something). Now she is a sixth-grader and in this book she ends up running for student council. The unfortunately named Olive Branche (I think the author thinks this is 'cute') is someone we know from the previous two books, Click and Camp. It's real, it's gripping, and it's immensely readable. I am going to have to give this five stars. OLIVE: 'Things don't always have to be FUN! Sometimes things are serious! Trent and Sawyer might be having more fun, but they don't seem to get that this MATTERS to people!' pg. WILLOW: 'You know what - you haven't been ANY fun lately!'

Click kayla miller