Lessons Learned: Middle School in 80 Verses

by Megan Anderson

I decided this summer
I didn't like who I was...

Everyone has stories about middle school—
Embarrassing things they said,
Clumsy things they did,
Terrible decisions they made,
Bad haircuts and poor clothing choices.

But there are good parts, too:
More freedom,
New friends,
First jobs,
First loves.

Lessons Learned is a collection of poetry celebrating the highs, lows, and in-betweens of being in middle school.

156 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2015

About the author

I've been writing since before I could actually spell and published my first poem when I was fifteen. I grew up in Cincinnati and went on to study education at Miami University of Ohio. Currently, I live with my cat, Luna, on the outskirts of Philadelphia, where I write all the things.

As of September 2017, I also maintain the website A Writer Reads (https://awriterreads.com/), where I review diverse books for the benefit of teachers, librarians, parents, and students.

Reviews

[Jessica Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway. I was interested in it because my son is about to go to middle school. I don't usually read poetry. Maybe from memories of trying to decode poems from school left a sour taste. These poems were much easier to understand. They brought back memories of feelings and thoughts from my own middle school and even high school days. They made me think of what my son is going through now. I'm hoping to be more mindful of his situation. I'm going to try to get him to read it for his summer reading program. It's a really quick read! Each verse could have been written by different people. I even wondered if it was a compilation of poems from actual middle schoolers because they seemed so true, yet so different. Glad I took the time to read this!