Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga

by Teddy Steinkellner

Jake Schwartz is not looking forward to middle school. Puberty feels light years away, he's not keen on the cool clothes or lingo, and he has the added pressure of preparing for his bar mitzvah. The only saving grace is that Danny Uribe, his lifelong best friend, will be by his side. . . .

Or will he? Since Danny's summer growth spurt, there's been a growing distance between him and Jake. Danny is excited to explore all that junior high has to offer-especially the girls (and most notably Hannah, Jake's older sister). But gang life has its allure, and he soon finds himself in over his head.

Meanwhile, Hannah is dealing with her own problems; being queen bee is not easy. The other girls are out for blood, and boys are so. . .exhausting. Danny surprises her with his maturity, but can her reputation survive if she's linked to a sevvy? And what would Jake think about his sister hooking up with his best friend?

Dorothy Wu could not care less about junior high drama. She is content staying in her bedroom and writing epic stories of her adventures as a warrior mermaid maiden. But that changes when she discovers the school's writing club. There, she meets a young lad with heroic potential and decides that life outside of her fantasy world just might have some appeal.

Genres: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary, Humor, Teen

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Teddy Steinkellner is a young adult, an author, and a young adult author.

He has written two novels, Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga and Trash Can Nights: The Saga Continues. Both books tell the story of four middle schoolers -- Jake, Danny, Hannah, and Dorothy -- as they experience the hilarity and the humilation of junior high.

Teddy is a 2011 graduate of Stanford University, where he majored in English and American Studies, and where he began writing Trash Can Days. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA. He was indeed dumped in a trash can himself as a seventh grader, but luckily he managed to avoid receiving any purple nurples or swirlies.

Learn more at teddysteinkellner.com, and follow him on Twitter @TeddySteinkelln.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take four Middle School kids, each unique, yet tied to each other as their lives are chronicled throughout the school year, thanks to one brilliant teacher! The assignment? Write something every day about your life so “future you” may look back on it. What the reader ends up with is an endearing tale of the lives of Jake Schwartz, his older sister Hannah, his best friend, Danny Uribe and Dorothy Wu, who admits to a crush on Jake. Who would think seventh and eighth grades could be so pivotal in the lives of these four? You’ll laugh, cry, worry, and let out a sigh of relief as each story unfolds, told in their unique styles.

What was important to you in Middle School? Did you face being an outcast? Did you suddenly go from being an obscure blip on the radar of life to a hot commodity? Was your reputation on the line? Did you try almost anything to feel accepted, noticed or relevant to life? Did you risk longtime friendships in the name of popularity or carving out a name for yourself? Was there a life altering moment, good or bad that has stayed with you? If you’ve said yes to any of the above, you WILL identify with and learn to love these kids as they navigate the shark infested waters of that dangerous time between being a “child” and being almost an adult, or at least almost a YOUNG adult.

Trash Can Days by Teddy Steinkellner is brilliant in its concept, execution and delivery! Teddy Steinkellner has a talent for writing that brings his characters to life and endears them to your heart. I was stunned to find that this is Mr. Steinkellner’s DEBUT novel, and then double-stunned to find that he is a Young Adult! If this first time out is any indication of what we can expect from him in the future, all readers, regardless of age have a LOT to look forward to!

An ARC edition was provided by NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion in exchange for my honest review.

Expected Publication Date: August 20, 2013
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
ISBN: 9781423166320
Number of Pages: 352
Genre: YA Fiction
Age Recommendation: 10+
My Rating: 5 Stars

Available at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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[Joni Chancer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book – start to finish. I am an adult – a teacher and an Educational Consultant – and reading Trash Can Days was, in fact, an educational experience for me. I’ll tell why later, but I want to begin by saying why I fell in love with the characters in this book. On Page 1, the narrator, Jake Schwartz, lets us into his head as he describes how Danny, his best childhood friend, has shot up – 6 full inches! – in one summer. Jake, sadly, still has not spurted. Jake writes: “I never fully realized what was happening as it was happening, and yet somehow it happened.”

That’s the joy of this book – the author lets us into Jake’s head and heart in a very authentic way. He’s funny and sincere, and ultimately reflective – we gradually come to know what happened and how it all played out. Steinkellner skillfully sets up the various relationships and conflicts between the main characters – both male and female. This is a book for all young adults – boys and girls – and will help them understand each other at this very vulnerable time in their lives. But the author broadens the field beyond boy and girl relationships - issues of social class, gangs, popularity, and bullying eventually emerge in the story. The four main characters range from an upper middle class Jewish kid (a little naive, with a tender heart) to a more street-wise best friend, who has to work through the pressures of joining a gang, and possibly leaving his former pal behind. Juxtaposed to the two male lead characters are two very different girls – Jake’s older sister Hannah (smart, popular, and a “queen bee”), and odd and highly creative little Dorothy Wu, who lives in her own fantasy world.

The various chapters of the book are written from the point of view of each of these four middle school kids, and each has his/her own developing character arc or bumpy road to budding maturity. The reader comes to care about them individually, and their intersecting relationships develop in very interesting ways. They each face dilemmas to work through – real issues that reflect the ups and downs of life in a Middle School or Jr. High with accuracy, poignancy, and humor.
The book is dear without being sappy, realistic without being harsh, and truly funny without being silly.

How did this book educate me – an English teacher and literature specialist? My own children are now young adults, and I am outside of the social world of today’s Middle School student. I think texting is often senseless and a waste of time, but Steinkellner helped me to see that those quick texts actually contain more emotional messaging than meets the eye. Following the brilliantly included string of messages woven into the narrative provides an adult reader an opportunity to see the back story to this new world of communication – not just how it works, but what gets communicated between the lines.

I always look for books with strong themes and lessons about life. That being said, I resist books that focus on particular “inspirational character traits” – they often don't ring true. Trash Can Days touched my heart. It’s filled with drama and reflection, dialogue and wonderful description – and it works. It's the genuine article - a book I would love to put into the hands of Middle School students and their parents!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! As a younger reader, I devoured books about kids my age who were just a little different from their peers. As I grew up, I moved from Roald Dahl to Judy Blume to Madeleine L'Engle, feeling kinship with the characters, laughing at the silly escapades, and learning lessons from my fictional compatriots. I also loved the adventure and escapism of some books, like From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I think this book will become a classic just like the ones mentioned. It is both silly and serious, touching on issues of race and class as well as the important and all-encompassing social intricacies of pre-teen and teenage life. The cast of several middle schoolers muddles through a year full of mistakes and gifts, dealing with teachers, grades, betrayals, first loves, and basketball.

The author understands just how pressing the contents of a middle-school bulletin can be, and the extremely high stakes of a dance. As an older reader now, I loved remembering just how important those situations seemed at the time, and the reactions of the characters are spot-on. The dialogue and inner thoughts seem real, not like some adult trying to put words into kids mouths. There's also an adult character that I related to, especially as a young adult who wants to do well in my first ventures into the job market. The adult teacher character is especially wonderful because he makes mistakes -- he isn't a mystical "grown-up" who has all the answers or can magically fix things. This character would have been great to read as a younger kid, and was great to read now.

I also appreciated the treatment of the characters and their issues -- while they are put in context, the young people are never made to seem little or their problems inconsequential. As a middle-school reader, I would have noticed and appreciated the seriousness with which issues that I also deal with are written about. Nobody is being talked-down to, while the prose is still sophisticated, intelligent, and witty.

The two themes that I personally connected with the most in this book were that of the desire to connect and feel validated in the social morass of middle school and the desire to create and write and make things (obviously, I connected most with the character Dorothy, a crazy and wild young writer). However, the great thing about this book is that there is something for everyone. Kids who like sports, kids who have family issues, kids who like make-up, kids who like jokes -- this book just gets it.

On top of everything, it's just fun! Lively, clever, sassy but not disrespectful. A quick, easy, reminiscent read for older kids and grown-ups, and a solid read for the middle-school age group.

I look forward to more from this talented young author.

[Casey Khademi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am obsessed with this book! Though currently a college student, I'm fascinated with the middle school years and Trash Can Days' capturing of them is unCANny!

The book follows the stories of four adolescents and is told in alternation between narratives and other modern-day modes of communicating (like Facebook status updates and PA bulletin announcements). Teddy Steinkellner has a gift for capturing the "tween-age" mind. Each character's voice is unique and full of charm. Their stories and relationships intersect beautifully and the switches between characters and sections are timed so well you'll be turning the pages until you're done!

On top of well-developed characters I fell in love with, the story itself contains all the bubbly charm of middle school without being superficial. The conflicts were real. The character's concerns were provoking for individuals of any age with no patronization of 12/13-year-old's lives.

I'd recommend this book to anyone. First and foremost the young adults that it spotlights (this is a must read for anyone in junior high or about to enter), as well as anyone over 14 that wants a taste of junior high. It's funny, captivating and realistic and you'll feel yourself inserted into those days instantly! (Trust me, it won't be a WASTE of time.)

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jake Schwartz, Danny Uribe, Hannah Schwartz, and Dorothy Wu are students at San Paulo Junior High. In Trash Can Days, the lives of these four characters intersect during a school year filled with changes. While Jake prepares for his bar mitzvah, his sister Hannah desperately seeks popularity and acceptance from her peers and from boys. Danny falls in with a gang, while Dorothy imagines battles and romantic entanglements in the fantasy stories she writes. As these characters interact over the course of the school year, feelings are hurt, friendships are broken, secrets are revealed and a life is saved.

This chatty middle school soap opera definitely has very strong tween appeal. Like a season of Degrassi Junior High, it takes on every middle school issue imaginable from sex, to gang violence, to changing friendships and conflicts with teachers and parents. In addition to first-person narrations from each of the four main characters, the story also includes IM conversations, text messages, and Facebook statuses of supporting characters that flesh things out and keep the lengthy story moving along fairly quickly. Nearly every event in the story is told with a sense of urgency and drama that is typical of kids in early adolescence, and the stakes only increase for each character as the book progresses. This heightened sense of suspense and excitement keeps the pages turning, and propels the reader toward the dangerous and surprising conclusion. This is a book kids will want to read, and that they might pass onto their friends as well.

With all these things going for it, though, I still found this book disappointing. What especially bothered me was the story’s apparent worldview. Lots of books about middle school portray it as an ugly, superficial place filled with unknown dangers and unfair situations, but I think most of those books find some way to deconstruct, or at least criticize, those ideas in order to find a glimmer of positiviity. Trash Can Days, on the other hand, seems to buy into the idea that middle school absolutely must be a miserable experience, and that kids must be prepared to face violence and hatred in order to grow up. There are lots of adults in the story, but very few who have any impact on the lives of the kids. They don’t know what’s going on with their kids, and they rarely step in to provide advice or discipline. The characters in this story almost exist in a vacuum where everything that happens is their sole responsibility. If I were about to start middle school and I read this book, I’d be a basket case, worrying about all that was about to fall on my shoulders. I suppose one could argue that much of the book is not meant to be taken seriously, like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, but the serious gang situations toward the end of the book make it impossible to walk away from this book without being emotionally affected - and even upset - in some way.

As a librarian, I would suggest this book to kids who have enjoyed Lauren Myracle, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Judy Blume, Chris Crutcher, and Lauren Barnholdt. As a parent, though, this is a book I might actually disallow in my household, if my child were a tween right now. I don’t like its one-sided, shallow portrayal of middle school life, and I think there are many better-written books about surviving the middle school years, including Robin Mellom’s Classroom series, The Dear Dumb Diary books by Jim Benton, the Origami Yoda books by Tom Angleberger, and James Patterson's Middle School series.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trash Can Days is a funny and entertaining read, offering a realistic look at a year in the lives of four junior high school students. Despite being older than the target audience, I found myself thinking back to my own seventh and eighth grade years and recognizing commonalities in the triumphs and defeats of Jake, Danny, Hannah, and Dorothy. These twelve- and thirteen-year-olds' stories intertwine through separately narrated chapters, where each voice is skillfully differentiated from the next. Trash Can Days has elements of a traditional school story but is brought into present-day California through the inclusion of ephemera like social media activity and class assignments. Readers won't take long to get caught up in the lives of the students of San Paolo: their antics are compelling but still relatable, so much so that I swear lines of text were taken straight from my own adolescent diary. It was also refreshing to see a YA novel that includes both male and female narrators, since many young readers (1990s me included) tend to stick to books about their own gender.

It's easy to empathize with each character as they struggle with the desire to fit in while overcoming the obstacles of evolving friendships and relationships (or lack thereof). Steinkellner's astute observations of the middle school experience also include a vivid depiction of his characters' environments. The school and its surrounding community are defined by racial divisions and economic inequality, and such social strife is a subtle presence throughout the novel. But it's never heavy-handed, and there's still enough lightness in squeeing over crushes and basketball scenes to balance out the more heartbreaking realities of growing up.

Overall, the work is a sharp, poignant story of junior high school life. Each character is allowed the same complexity they'd have in a novel all to themselves, but it's the multiple perspectives that make this book so rich.

[Kohl Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book other than the story-line because of the fact that it was hard to follow due to the frequent switching of perspectivesof characters.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.5 of 5

Four youngsters are about to start middle school - Hannah and Jake Schwartz, Danny Uribe, and Dorothy Wu. They attend San Paulo (California) Junior High. They of course have the 'usual' concerns including who likes who, friendships that come and go, who is going to be the best basketball player, and how to be the 'queen bee' and stay on top.

But these four students have an additional challenge facing them. Gangs are in the neighborhood around the school. Gangs are recruiting, and one of the San Paulo Junior High students will see an opportunity to be a big shot by joining the gang. But the consequences may prove disastrous.

Author Teddy Steinkellner has packed a lot of story into this middle grade YA novel. He tells the story from all four points of view, along with a few extra bits (such as the school announcements from the Principal). But it's not just a narrative that makes up this story, we have text/on-line chat transcripts, stories written for classes, sign-up sheets, sex-ed Q&A sheets, and just about anything else that middle schoolers might use to communicate.

Steinkellner does a really nice job of keeping the story moving and the multiple points of view and forms of story-telling really help this. A lot of what happens here is the ordinary - the day-to-day concerns about friendships - which will be of interest to many students. We don't get much classwork - we understand that they have a sex-ed class, math class, and creative writing.

But maybe junior high students in California grow up a lot faster than those in the Midwest. In rural U.S. we don't have the gang problems that provide the real conflict in the story. ( WARNING -POTENTIAL SPOILER AHEAD ) The scene of the gang initiation is beyond violent. It is brutal and it is vehement. Our thirteen year old gets beaten within an inch of his life and each strike, each blow to the head, each gouge to the eyes or punch to the groin is meticulously described by the victim while he counts the seconds. His goal is to survive the brutal attack for a specific length of time and then he becomes a member of the gang.

While I don't believe that we have these issues in the rural Midwest, I can see some of the more aggressive middle schoolers deciding that this sort of initiation might be a good idea to prove how tough he is and starting it up.

When a gang-related stabbing happens later in the book, it isn't unexpected to the adult reader - in fact it's the only potential outcome for a friend who's become a gang member - it is also quite violent and exciting.

Though there isn't a lot of violence here, what there is comes on without warning and is detailed explicitly. And it isn't really needed. There's enough here to appeal to middle school readers, but the inclusion of gangs and violence sets it apart and makes it much less appealing.

Looking for a good book? Trash Can Days by Teddy Steinkellner may appeal to your junior high student if you live in areas where violence is a way of life and something that thirteen year olds have to face, but the gang violence inside may drive other readers away.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[raya (a little mango) · Rating 3 out of 5]

How many times have I heard someone say high school is the best years of everyone’s lives? Too many times. For me, high school did not make up the *best years of my life, but they weren’t the worst. The worst is reserved for middle school. I never think back and feel a warm, bubbly wave of heated affection for middle school, because those years mark the cruelest three years of my… my what, exactly? Childhood? Adolescence? No. Middle schoolers are at that awkward in-between age, stuck leaving their childhoods behind as they move on to becoming full-fledged teenagers. It’s the pre-teen years, and for many students, this not only means fluctuating hormones, but changes in social hierarchy. I will shoot the most incredulous look I can muster if anyone claims these years bring back fond memories. Because they don’t. And no child can escape the terrors of †tweenhood. And Teddy Steinkellner? I think he understands this.

Pre-adolescence is a confusing period to navigate, and Steinkellner’s debut novel, Trash Can Days, captures just how uncomfortable it can be. The book surprised me by how realistically the author portrays junior high (or in my case: middle school) life—this is no Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Alvin Ho, or even Lizzy McGuire or Breakfast Club. Characters are betrayed by their friends and family, several are bullied, others desperately wish to fit in while one wants to dominate the top of the social ladder, and a more serious matter of gangs and gang violence threaten to permeate one character’s life. Despite all this, Steinkellner writes with laugh-out-loud humor that balances the novel’s drama.

In first-person narrative, Trash Can Days follows the lives of four characters voyaging through junior high. Jake and Hannah Schwartz—siblings, separated in age by one year—couldn’t be any more different from each other. Jake—with his bushy hair, questionable fashion taste, and endless love for “childish things”—becomes not so much of a nerd but a scapegoat. He’s an easy target for bullies, even for his sister and (former?) best friend. Hannah, however, is the Queen Bee we all know and hate—but Steinkellner humanizes her character, however self-absorbed and irritating she remains. Next is Danny Uribe, a boy whose body is growing faster than his brain, which reels in all sorts of drama that rivals Hannah—and that’s a lot of drama. That leaves Dorothy Wu, the loveable weird girl who feels perfectly undisturbed about her friendless state or low social rank.

It’s on rare occasions that I’m not completely turned off by alternating perspectives in a book, and Teddy Steinkellner’s Trash Can Days is part of the exception. Often, I find that I become attached to one character and will skim-through other passages to read more from that person’s perspective. I can’t say this didn’t happen with Trash Can Days, as I instantly fell for Dorothy. What’s not to love about “weird” characters? They’re exceptionally different from the herd, and that is what makes them interesting. The diversity Steinkellner provides—and not just ethnically, but in depictions and personalities—makes a curious hook for all characters, so as much as I adore Dorothy, I find Danny’s, Hannah’s, and Jake’s storylines equally engaging.

I felt so engaged, in fact, that it maddened me. Why couldn’t these characters have been a part of my childhood or pre-adolescence? I wish they had been, because no matter how devoted I am to Lizzy McGuire, Trash Can Days is an accurate snapshot of school-life. I wasn’t one of the popular elite, but I wasn’t sitting with the “geeks and freaks” at lunch, either. I related to Lizzy because we were alike in this way, but I didn’t always have a loyal twosome who had my back at all costs. Middle school is a vicious place sometimes, and the lives of many middle schoolers aren’t PG-rated—sorry, Lizzy. This is what attracts me to Trash Can Days, and the well-blended humor makes for an added bonus.

Realistic portrayal aside, I found I relate to Steinkellner’s book because I see parts of myself in many of these characters, and I think others will, too. Where Jake and I are alike rests in his habit to brood and wallow. Ugh! (In self-defense, I look back on this period of my life in shame. “It was hormonal,” I say. “What almost-teen/actual-teen isn’t moody?” I don’t puke rainbows and sunshine for anyone.) As frustrating as he is at times, I extend my sympathy toward Jake because I understand him. And Dorothy? I saw my old thirst to write reflected in her, but her character brings so much more than passion to the story.

Dorothy feels no fear in doing what she wants to do. Unlike many teenagers, what people think doesn’t worry her. She’s bold enough to attend dances solo and scare people in the hallways with feral animal noises. She loves to write and writes about anything, reflecting reality in her fantasies. Her favorite activities include manga-reading, Internetting, video-gaming, and following her morning ritual of brushing her hair 151 times (one stroke for each original Pokémon). She’s strange but quirky. Dorothy is simply Dorothy, and it’s this unique quality that makes her a courageous, beautiful character.

Hannah and Danny are the two I had the most difficulty connecting to. It’s not that I didn’t see aspects of myself in Hannah, because I do, but in a much less diva-like way. In Hannah’s mind, her school is “Hollywood” and she is “US Weekly.” She can write a book with the amount of gossip she files away, which—yes!—she does, but in blog-form. A couple cruel and undeserving incidents happen to Hannah, and although these experiences allow her to change, it’s a turtle-slow process.

But Danny? I have never felt so frustrated by a fictional thirteen year old before. Danny enters junior high a changed boy, and not just physically. Athletic and attractive, he’s much more well-liked than Jake. He’s the guy girls begin to notice, Hannah included, but he also attracts attention from the local gang. From the start, I rooted for him. I wanted him to do well, and then… Danny makes one wrong choice after another. He questions where he belongs: with Jake’s ritzy folk, or with his Hispanic family from the gang-run east end?

I am white, middle-class America living in a less-than-diverse town. Of course I don’t relate to Danny on personal levels, but I feel Steinkellner articulates Danny’s struggle in comprehensive detail. Why Danny upsets me, however, is not about him questioning his place in the community. It’s about him behaving like a terrible friend and not acknowledging it. It’s about his lack of apologies, and how he dares to intentionally lead a friend into a life-threatening situation. Danny makes me angry because he steps up a little too late.

So yeah. Danny pisses me off!

But the book? The book is fresh air. It’s what realistic fiction needs to be: realistic without the cheese-lathered side-dish of hunky-dory.

(*If high school is as good as life gets, then I am a rolling wrecking ball crumpled in eternal regret.

†I know, “tweenhood” is an abomination of a word. I did wrong. I am sorry.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Book Group for providing a free copy of Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga in exchange for my honest review. This review and more can be read at midnight coffee monster.

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were quite a few things I did not like about this book, but before I get to those, I'm going to give credit where credit is due. The fact that this book touches on gang violence and does so in a realistic way is great. Many authors are afraid to approach that subject, especially in a middle-grade book, but here we see a very accurate depiction of what that looks like in a real-life situation. We are shown the buildup and the consequences, which gives us an unflinching look at the reality of being in a gang or living in an area that suffers from a gang violence problem. That was a huge plus, hence the three-star rating. Oh, also, Ieally liked Dorothy as a character. She's funny and smart and I love that we get to see excerpts of her writing. Also, Jake's bar mitzvah scene was very well-written and I liked that we got to see his speech.

But now I have to talk about the overwhelming downsides. First of all, this was probably just me, but I disliked most of the characters. Hannah and Danny were both just being awful people the whole book for no reason, and while I liked Jake a bit more, I sort of felt like he had his moments too of just being awful to everyone. No issues with Dorothy though; I loved her.

Also, I felt like the amount of cursing and sexual content was a bit much for a book that is intended for a younger audience. It would have made sense if it was a book meant for high schoolers; but it wasn't, it was marketed as middle grade, so I feel like there should have been a little less of that. It just didn't add anything to the story and realistically, most middle schoolers don't really think about things like that. Sure, some of them do, but not all of them. Heck, I didn't even know what making out meant in middle school, let alone anything else. Also I know the cursing is probably just a me thing, but I just felt that it was a bit much. It also bothered me that Hannah's parents just enable her mean girl behavior and don't actually do anything to stop her. I will say, I did like her turnaround at the end, but it took so long to get there that by the time I DID get there, I already just really didn't like her at all.

That concludes my rant. Like I said before, a lot of this stuff is probably just me. Maybe this just wasn't my cup of tea, and that's OK. But I do agree with other readers on the gang violence point; I just felt like the middle-school-daily-life aspect wasn't webbl done. That concludes my rant, for real this time.

[Emily McDaniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trash Can Days tells the story of several young teens and their experiences in junior high. It tackles experiences we have all dealt with--untrustworthy friends, crushes, embarrassing moments, cliques, and more. Their stories overlap in different ways, and in ways that the other characters sometimes do not realize. This book is a three star book for me, but mostly because these experiences feel a little far behind me. I think upper middle school students and high students would enjoy this book because they are still dealing with many of these topics. I like seeing the altering points of view, and the different genres the book is written in. I'd recommend this book to fellow lovers of realistic fiction, and those who like coming of age high school stories. Thanks for the recommendation, Braxton! Bring on any other good books I should read.

[Mikey Jacquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating from 0-100%: 88%

[Nakyah-Cerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for teens real life events and suspense keep you on your feet.

[Lila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of books set in middle school/junior high because I never got that experience due to homeschooling. This had such good commentary of middle school in general and I enjoyed it a lot.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trash Can Days reads more like a young adult novel than a middle grade novel so I'd definitely recommend it for the highest end of middle grade readers to ya readers. It chronicles the lives of the narrators through one year at middle school. But there are words like slut written in the bathroom, a lot of bullying, and gang violence and hooking up. It just feels like an older novel even though the characters are in middle school. Maybe I don't know what goes on in middle school? If it's as bad as this, I am so glad I'm not there anymore and maybe I should cut my rising 8th grader a little more slack. What does this say for high school? Or is this just what happens in California? There are a lot more questions this novel raised and it's made me ask a bunch of questions of my kids.

The main characters of the novel, Jake and Hannah Schwartz, Jake's best friend Danny Uribe and Dorothy Wu all come from a school called Arlington, attended by the privileged children of movie stars and directors, music stars and other such people along with a few lucky kids that live near enough to attend. When these students join the rest of the student body at San Paulo middle school, a small microcosm of the world seems to form. All kinds of students from different backgrounds with different troubles, different goals and different cliques (or no cliques) mix together in one soup pot called middle school. Teddy Steinkellner writes separate chapters from each characters point of view, sometimes a random character narrates which can be a little jarring as you try to figure out who this person is, but for the most part, the narration works well. Four characters is not too many to keep up with. Their personalities are so distinct yet overlap and interweave in a way so that at the end, they come together for one pivotal showdown. You'd never believe from the beginning of the novel that this where the end would lead.

I think the synopsis, as is true in so many cases, gives away way too much. I know it's supposed to hook you as a reader and maybe it did when I first grabbed the book off NetGalley. But I didn't reread it before I read the novel so I had no idea what was going to happen as I read. It was so much better that way! I had no preconceived notions, no thoughts, I didn't know anything. I was blind as to who these kids were and where the story was going. Try to read it that way. So much better.

What Trash Can Days reminded me was that no matter what group you are in, popular, eccentric, gang you still have pressures and worries that you have to deal with. And despite your friends changing alliances, your changing body, the changing scenery, there will always be someone, somewhere that you can identify with if you just take a chance. There will always be someone that you don't get along with. And your friends will change as your interests change. ( And, puberty will come, no matter how much you think it won't, it will eventually get there!)

I'd recommend this novel to older MG and all YA lovers who like contemporary reads. I wouldn't call this dark, but it isn't light either. It has it's own hopeful outlook at the end. It's written very well, lean on description, but you still get an idea of what "The Big Top" looks like and the view from on top of it. Despite the length, the novel flows rather quickly with a satisfying conclusion.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Lourie · Rating 2 out of 5]

*** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ***

This was one of those books that I just didn’t like for two many reasons but there were also some strengths that should be noted so I am going to just do a simple pro’s and con’s list for this book.

Pro’s
Eight grade is really a time where you start to come into your own. Things in your life are changing and you start to develop likes and dislikes that may differ from your childhood friends. The author hits the essence of this spot on from the beginning of the book to the end.

I will also say that the representation of the social gauntlet of being popular, a nerd or a jock is also well developed and hits the mark.

I liked getting the point of view from four different students, who individually have their own unique personalities. It added a depth that does tend to be lacking in many books for this age group.

Sports are a huge topic in the schools where liberal arts tend to fall by the way side. Seeing how important the writing club was to the students I think was a huge boon and refreshing.

The use of the many social media outlets such as face book, twitter and email was also appropriate because this age group is starting to immerse themselves in it.

Con’s
The use of the social media was also problematic for me as well though. It was to disjointed and hard to follow at times. There were posts that were not from the 4 main students that gave more back round info but they were just thrown in and left me wondering if they were pertinent in the end.

Sexually boys and girls are starting to notice each other and want to hang out and kiss but this book offers more advanced sneaking around. At times I felt as though the characters were supposed to be 15-16 instead of 11-14.

For the first half of the book I had to wonder how these kids were coming together. Not all four do. It was more like three are related in ways and then the fourth hangs out with just one of the boys.

The blog was far fetched for this age group and it was hard for me to believe, and then going from all gossip and cruelty to here is were we need to grow in life, it just didn’t have a ring of truism.

I have to mention the gang violence as well. Do I believe that this is the lives of some kids? Yes I do. Do we need to give this to our kids to read at that age if they are not exposed to it? No we don’t. – Since I don’t want to spoil the ending for those that would like to read the book I will leave it there.

This author does get the social nuisances for the tween to teen age but I would have liked to see something more wholesome for this age level.

[Mangosk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I adored this book. It could've gotten 5 stars if some of the characters didn't annoy me so much... though their behaviours were still understandable.

What I like the most about this book is how it allows the reader to see the same situation through different perspectives. It is obvious that Jake looked up to Danny a whole lot, despite their straining relationship, yet from Danny's perspective Jake seems to be a whole lot more annoying and clingy. Everything slowly unravels as we see into the minds of each of the four teens, come to understand what they think and feel as they reflect on their actions, and ultimately root for them despite the 'wrongs' that they have done. And this book talks a lot about social issues -- the usual BGR, bullying, labels, social hierarchy, and gangs. The upper-class Jewish boy, Jake Schwartz, naive and innocent, is actually incredibly observant about some things (see the end), though he faced the trouble of being stuck in the past as his friends moved on without him (thus making him feel betrayed by said friends). His best friend, Danny, who left Jake behind as he joined new cliques and did new things, had to face the pressures of BGR and joining gangs. Jake's sister, Hannah, whose high social status made her more susceptible to the pressures of her actions and how people thought of her. Finally, Dorothy Wu, this bizarre girl with an overactive imagination, who doesn't mind being alone and doesn't care about what others think of her.

This book really underlines the social issues people face throughout their schooling life, regardless of how old they are, and how difficult it is to navigate such waters. All the four of them made mistakes, of varying degrees of severity, but they also reflect upon their mistakes and own up to them. And while some mistakes were more fatal in nature, I'm glad in the end that they all had a happy ending. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book!

(P.S. about the annoying part... Well, Jake felt betrayed because Danny was moving on without him, hanging out with his other friends and leaving him behind... and you know, negativity begets negativity. All his bitterness made him blind to other people and he ends up pushing his new friend away (the endearing Dorothy), opting instead to wallow in his self-pity and lash out at the world. And while I understand that -- hell, I do that a lot myself -- it is annoying to read, because he could've felt so much better, he could have been in so much a better place if he hadn't allowed such negativity to fester. But I guess it all turned out well in the end.

[Kathy Cowie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes I read a middle grade book and they get it just right, so that I feel like a kid again when I read it. Other times, I feel like a Mom, reading a book that I shouldn’t be reading. If I try to convince myself that I am twelve and reading this, I guess it has the kind of drama I liked when I was actually twelve. But I’m not so sure. For one thing, in the sheltered existence that my kids live, here on the east coast of the country, I’m pretty sure that my kids, (or most their age — 9-11), thankfully have no awareness of gang culture. And there is a lot of conversation about gangs in this book, which I guess I did not realize by the relatively benign description of it on Amazon. There is a lot to handle here, and honestly, I felt like a bit of a prude when I was reading it. It seems too sexually advanced for the intended 10 year old audience (according to the publisher), especially considering that most kids this age are just having their first fifth grade “health” classes. As the mother of an 11 year old who often reads well above her grade level, I would hold off on this one for a while. This book seemed more appropriate for an early YA title, but the main characters are in seventh grade, which does not feel right for that age reader.

There are different narrators in this book, and I found myself sighing when certain characters took over. There are email posts from principal to new teacher that I hope do not really happen in real life, but I imagine they do. (“Stick to the basics, easy on the creativity” kind of thing) Given the general maturity of the characters, there are two exceptions in Jake and his oddball friend Dorothy. But Jake and Dorothy truly bring outsider to a new level. It was incomprehensible to me that Dorothy could go from a seemingly lunatic kid (who walks around the school talking to herself and making animal noises at people), to an immensely popular girl in less than a school year. Every single main character is so extreme as to be almost completely unbelievable to read – I am a huge reader, and this was a challenging book to finish. I have to say, that one of the biggest surprises was that Disney published this book. Not what I would expect from them. However, I like that they would take the risk and go edgy, I would just like it to be better written. Honestly, if you need to read a good book about teenagers and gangs, read The Outsiders.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing in this book was nothing special, although it definitely grasped a middle schoolers mind very well. The transition between characters POV's was very smooth, and all the characters stories intertwined except for Dorothy's. It bothered me how much Danny, Hannah, and Jake were involved with each other, while Dorothy was only connected to the trio via her friendship with Jake. I think that there could have been a little bit more manipulation to the story to allow Dorothy to be more involved. The climax of the book was not just intense, but also surprising. The end of the book sort of made up for the adequate bulk of the story.

Characters:

Danny:

Danny is exactly what you expect every Middle School boy to be like, and that led him to be extremely annoying. His involvement with the gang and his secret relationship kept him interesting, and at least in the end we know that he's not entirely bad.

Jake:

Jake was my favorite character. He is the poster boy for that kid who is suddenly in middle school and has no clue what has happened, yet instead of trying to be something that he was not, Jake stayed true to himself. It was sad how lonely Jake was throughout the book, but in the end his friends and sister came through for him, even though it was kind of, no it was really, too late.

Hannah:

Hannah's ideas and thoughts flopped around like a fish; who she liked, who her friends were, and whether she was nice or not. At first she was extremely superficial, and then her big change came across as fake too. In the end, Hannah remained sort of a mystery to me, she was harder to figure out than I expected.

Dorothy:

Dorothy kind of bothered me throughout the book. Her lack of interest in school, and her addiction to things like video games kind of made her not appealing. While it was cool that she was a writer. like myself, her stories for sort of sprinkled awkwardly through out the book, and felt like fantasy romance novels that she had found under her mother's bed. Dorothy's one redeaming quality was her determination to be a good friend to Jake.

Final Findings:

This book ended up beings so dramatic and full of things that just don't happen in regular middle schools that I was disappointed, and yet the ending was surprising and unexpected. I enjoyed the characters most of the time, and was usually able to look the other way when something happened that just usually wouldn't.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Junior High is not an easy time for Jake, Hannah, Danny or Dorothy. In this book, the author takes us through one year of these adolescents’ lives, showing us the highs and lows, the moments where they experience what life throws at them, learning more each time about coping. Though not a young person, I enjoyed the great insights into what junior high school is today. One big lesson I found interesting is the way the author depicted gangs and how they can take over and control lives of those who join while suggesting alternatives to gang violence. Jake and Danny have been friends forever, but will they remain so? How will Danny’s growth spurt and new maturity affect his life, that of Jake and his sister Hannah and the rest of the group they routinely interact with? Can Hannah remain the center of it all as she works her way through her last year of junior high? Is there a place for Dorothy, the quiet, intellectual reader and writer—a place she fits and be accepted for who she is? This book uses incidents and a good mixture of social media to tell the story of these junior high students as they weave their way through this pivotal year. The school can be anywhere. The students can be any students. They cope with racial issues and income disparity issues, while trying to work through their own emotional or hormonal/emerging sexual issues. All the issues adolescents must cope with today. I think students at or near the ages of these students would enjoy and could benefit from this book, for it covers well most of the issues they deal with at this age. At times, I was a bit anxious to move along faster in the book than it was taking me, but, all in all, the book moved along well enough. I recommend this book to adolescents in or close in age to junior high, to their parents, to teachers and to anyone interested in or working with students this age. There is a lot to be learned from the book. I was fortunate enough to receive this book on-line as an advance copy to read and review.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like a lot of things about this novel by a debut novel: the different personalities of the four voices in the story, the constant struggle--via email--over the course of a year between Principal Quentin Greene and new teacher Ruben Morales. Many teachers can probably relate to his desire to nurture a writing club only to be handed the responsibility for the basketball team. The author does a good job of describing the ups and downs of middle school and the way students pick on one another, even through petty gossip and blogs. Although it might not happen often, there's nothing harder to deal with than when your best friend gets involved with your older sister as is the case for Jake Schwartz. As his friend Danny Uribe seems to be moving in different directions than Jake, Jake is completely confused and clueless about the changes and wonders how Danny suddenly became so popular. All four main characters are dealing with changes or deciding just how much they want to change themselves in order to fit in. It was interesting to contrast the different ways Jake's sister Hannah dealt with stress and how budding author Dorothy Wu handled it. Readers will be able to find themselves and their own coping skills among one of these four characters. What I didn't like was the absence of the parents. What were Danny's parents doing when he is drawn increasingly into the gang life? How did Hannah's parents not know about the romance between Danny and Hannah? Why couldn't anyone talk about the problems they were having? I also found the casual references to wealth bothersome. There was too much money being tossed around casually, as though that could solve problems. Although Jake's bravery in confronting Guillermo was not unexpected, I also found it pretty unlikely. Nevertheless, despite some of its failings, the story kept me engaged especially because the author captures so well the drama of middle school.

[Lindsey Toiaivao · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this down! Though I haven't been in middle school for some time, I will still consider myself a "young adult" if that is what it takes to be in the target audience of this novel. This book is fresh and innovative and represents everything that YA fiction should be: a core of solid storytelling set in an arena that will engage young readers.

Trash Can Days is an exciting and fast-paced story, filled to the brim with a cast of charming, believable middle school characters, characters so vividly imagined they seem THIS close to popping off the page and making fun of your outfit. The dynamics between them feel tangible and real, and when the story escalates, we care about the outcome because we feel we relate to the characters in a personal way. It is a very well-crafted book, particularly impressive as a debut novel from a very young author.

The real fun, though, is in the telling. Steinkellner takes advantage of every trick in his bag, deftly switching perspectives between characters, unraveling his story using all of the channels modern teens and preteens use to communicate. Witty prose is complemented by text conversations, emails, phone calls, and instant messages. This tactic creates an almost cinematic feeling. The author gives us the story in carefully measured pieces, character by character, bit by bit, in a cleverly designed fabric of layered interactions and character motivations.

This book is YA gold. It appeals to readers young and old alike. Steinkellner captures the drama of middle school perfectly, creating a world to which any current or former middle schooler (there's one inside all of us) can connect. I can't wait to see more from him!

[Courtney Channing · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Trash Can Days! The story follows four students who, during the course of a middle-school year, both lose a little bit of themselves and grow up a little bit as well. For me, the most remarkable part of TCD was the sharp, goofy, and observant way that Teddy Steinkellner tackled this theme of entering young adulthood. TCD was about more than coming-of-age; it captured how jarringly and comically uncomfortable it can be when what we think growing-up should look like meets the realities of our tween/early-teen years. Teddy Steinkellner describes the awkward outcome in a way that I thought was both hilarious and meaningful.

At the same time, the book is about the world of middle school, pure middle school, and the characters and landscapes that give rise to everything that is uniquely sucky, gossipy, scary, and awesome about it. TCD captures what the crucible of middle school means to who you start to become after childhood. And I would probably be remiss if I didn't mention some of its other - arguably just as compelling - themes, because issues of race and what race means to your identity and how you place yourself in your environment are a big part of the book, as are socioeconomic status and privilege. And I didn't think the book imparted some obvious moral or ultimate lesson once these themes played out; the value of the themes was simply in their existence, and I thought TCD brought them to bear thoughtfully and sensitively.

Anyway, I had a great time reading TCD. I would have been grateful for it during my own seventh-grade years, and I hope plenty of middle-schoolers get a chance to read and enjoy it as much as I did!

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this book was just ok. I struggled to get through it and skimmed a lot. I did not like the parts that were written as if they were texts and facebook posts. I found them annoying and distracting and difficult to read. I think that will make the book seem dated very quickly. The middle school kids that I know use other forms of social media because their grandparents are on facebook. I also did not like Dorothy's stories very much and I did not like that they were in italics.
I found the characters to be incredibly, horrifically, insultingly stereotypical. I did, however like the way the book ended.
This book follows four students along with some of their friends in the text and facebook parts. Hannah Schwartz is in 8th grade and her brother Jake who is sort of the main character out of the 4, is in 7th grade. They are incredibly rich Jews. Danny Uribe is also in 7th grade. His parents work for the Schwartz's and they live in a house on the Schwartz property and because they have done so since the boys were 7, Danny and Jake have been best friends. This year, however, Danny gets involved in an Hispanic gang. Dorothy Wu is Asian, and dresses all in black and is into Pokémon and writing her own fantasy stories.
Perhaps middle school kids will enjoy this book. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

[Jeff Bjorgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trash Can Days is a coming of age story of how friends learn to deal with growing up at different paces and growing apart due to different interests. Steinkellner does a stellar job of capturing the personalities and language of middle school culture. His use of telling the story through the journals and conversations of his characters is an interesting approach. However, it is also the books biggest detriment, particularly when it comes to some of the other forms of communication the characters use (Reading pre-teen's text-feeds, for instance, even for a pre-teen, is simply painful). Steinkellner does rescue the style through sharp writing and and a page-turning tension that he develops between the characters.

Although I don't want to be prudish, this is no "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book. Steinkellner captures realistically some of the blunt conversations and language that one might find in middle school. However, young readers (and their parents) don't always expect the more explicit culture of the school yard to find it's way into junior fiction. There's nothing that someone in Junior High hasn't heard before, but depending on their age (and their pace of growing up)the language might be more than what they bargained for.

[Brendan F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trash Can Days a middle school saga by Teddy Steinkellner is about many different kids in middle school trying to get through middle school in their own way. First theirs Jake who is kind of a nerd, then there is Jakes sister Hannah which is the popular one in this book, then theirs Danny Jakes best friend, and then there is Dorothy the big nerd in this book. One of the important things that happend in the book is that Danny and Hannah dated and Jake and Dorothy dated but they haven't told each other. I like humor in this book because its not like kid humor any more its like young adult humor. It also seemed like it really happend because it relates to real life too. The story kept on getting me guessing on what would happen I usually guessed what was going to happen though. The book made me laugh because theirs this one part where the teacher asks for students to ask questions on a question board and the students start asking weird questions. I didn't really dis like any thing. This is probably one of my favorite books that I have read. I recommend this book to anyone going into middle school or any teenager. I gave this book 5 stars because this book was humorous to me and I think I would read it again.

[Kathleen Pacious · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash Can Days covers the hopes and worries of four middle school friends. While it offers highly entertaining characters with authentic voices and perspectives, it also offers several scenes of middle schoolers making out and more (in bedrooms, at home with parents gone, etc), gang initiation, bully/rumor blogging, vulgar language, jokes about homosexuality, and largely absent adults. In a style that is similar to Mean Girls, Trash Can Days offers an insightful look at the reality of many middle school/junior high school experiences; unfortunately, while trying to expose and critique the negative and funny moments of middle school life, it offers them as normal and worth living.

While it may be worthwhile for parents to skim through Trash Can Days to understand how texting and facebook play into the social lives of this age group, and to get inside the fears, worries, and dreams of 12-13 year girls and boys, (many of which are quite insightful), it is not worth reading by the age group (middle school) at which it is targeted.

Reviewed for: www.goodreadingguide.com

[Julie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I'll cut right to the chase. I didn't like this. I actually decided I didn't like it during the first chapter but as a member of the Maine Student Book Award committee I feel obligated to finish the 2013 books that I read. The book was about 4 students Jacob, his sister Hannah, Dorothy, and Danny. Hannah is in eighth grade and the rest are in seventh. The story follows their year in middle school and is full of drama, gossip, love affairs, and gangs.

I work at a school that is currently grades 4- 6 so the book is a bit beyond the reach of my students. I would be naive to believe that my students have never been exposed to the topics in the book but that doesn't mean I need to endorse it. I felt there was way too much language and sexual innuendo for a book aimed at middle school Although things mostly worked out by the end I felt there was too much angst and bad behavior. Again I may be just naive or too straight laced but I didn't like it. Others may disagree with me and that's fine.

[Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an accomplished MG novel with enough sophistication to appeal to older readers as well. It employs an eclectic narrative technique with four distinct first person points of view, mixed with excerpts from text exchanges, tweets, blog pages, letters and school announcements. Thank you Dos Passos. The setting is suburban LA, the weight comes from the drama of the relationships and the interplay of wealth and poverty, social status and gang violence. These contrasts are nicely captured by the central premise: the central friendship is between two boys, one the 7th grade Jewish son of a rich Hollywood producer, the other the Hispanic child of the family's maid and gardener. The other two narrators are Harrah, the 8th grade daughter of privilege and queen bee of middle school and the most intriguing character of all, outsider eccentric Dorothy Wu, who provides a sort of Greek chorus on the goings on. All this from a recent Stanford grad who has no right composing such a polished, complex and satisfying novel at such a tender age.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teddy Steinkellner’s debut novel, Trash Can Days, follows the lives of four middle school kids through the course of one eventful school year. Jake Schwartz, at the center of the four characters, is anxiously waiting for his growth spurt to kick in, while his best friend, Danny Uribe, is tempted by the attractions of gang life and/or girls. Jake’s sister Hannah discovers that being popular is an occupation that’s possibly more trouble than it’s worth. And would-be writer Dorothy Wu manages to find time to have a crush on Jake while spending most waking hours composing charmingly over-the-top fiction. (Dorothy was my favorite of the four characters; she’s gawky, self-deluded, and gifted in equal proportions. Everything she says seems to have been dictated by a little author voice in her head, as if she’s translating her own life into romantic fiction in real time.) All four characters are quirky, articulate, and vibrantly written—just like the book itself.