I volunteer each year to be a Literature Circles mentor for Grade 6 students. That means I have to read some YA each year. The first book for this year was Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson. I had high hopes for this selection since it wasn’t myth or fantasy YA, which I really despise. However, I didn’t love the book along the way until the end when things sped up and came together. Amazon: “Everyone knows there are different kinds of teachers. The boring ones, the mean ones, the ones who try too hard, the ones who stopped trying long ago. The ones you’ll never remember, and the ones you want to forget. Ms. Bixby is none of these. She’s the sort of teacher who makes you feel like school is somehow worthwhile. Who recognizes something in you that sometimes you don’t even see in yourself. Who you never want to disappoint. What Ms. Bixby is, is one-of-a-kind. Topher, Brand, and Steve know this better than anyone. And so when Ms. Bixby unexpectedly announces that she won’t be able to finish the school year, they come up with a risky plan, more of a quest, really, to give Ms. Bixby the last day she deserves. Through the three very different stories they tell, we begin to understand what Ms. Bixby means to each of them—and what the three of them mean to each other.” Overall, this was fine, but not amazing for me.