Back to School, Mallory

Mallory McDonald #2

by Laurie B. Friedman

Summer is over and that can only mean one thing for eight-year-old Mallory McDonald (like the restaurant, but no relation)―she has to go back to school. But not just any school, a new school with all new kids in it. To make matters worse, her mom is going, too! She’s the new music teacher, and Mallory can’t think of anything that could possibly be worse―until her first day. She has to sit with Pamela, who always says the right thing and steals her ideas. Joey is so busy with his old friends that he has no time for her, and to top it off, she’s picked to be an eggplant in the Fall Festival her mom is putting on. It’s not fair! What can Mallory do? Should she give Pamela, and her new school, another chance?

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Friendship, Audiobook, Family, Chapter Books

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Laurie Friedman is the author and ghostwriter of over 300 award-winning picture books, easy readers, chapter books, and novels for young readers including the bestselling Mallory McDonald series, the Moose the Dog easy reader series, the Camp Creepy Lake and Wendy & Willow chapter books, and may picture books including Cows in the House and Love, Ruby Valentine.

Reviews

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 4 out of 5]

I re-read it along with a Scribd audio and now it was very easy for me to do this. When I read it in the first time, it was very hard to understand the English vocabulary, even though it is a children's book. I hope I'm really improving my English.

[Galib · Rating 4 out of 5]

৪.৫

নতুন এলাকায় যাওয়া মানে, নতুন স্কুল; পুরাতন বন্ধু রেখে-নতুন বন্ধু খোজা । মেলোরিতো এটা চায় নি!! এজন্য সে বিরক্ত। তার বিরক্ত ভরা মনের কাহিনি এখানে লেখা হয়েছে।
মজার বই। সাবলীল লেখনী। টিনএজার আর বুড়ো দের পছন্দ হবে বইটা 🤭

[Ann-E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute book!!! I love mallory and her cute personality because I can totally relate to her in this book.
In this book mallory is going back to school. But this year, she's going to a NEW school, making NEW friends, and most important, she's taking her mom with her!!! Mallory thinks there is nothing worse than having her mom for a new music teacher! But later she thinks different. I think Laurie Friedman's writing style is made for making reading enjoyable. I'm not that big a fan of reading, unless I have an interesting book to read, and this is one of my favorites!!!!!!! this was an amazing book to read and I recommend it to most girls! :)

[Kaitlyn W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently I have started reading Back to School Malorry by Laurie Friedman. I think that the theme of this book is to overcome change and fear, because Mallory thought that her new school was going to be terrible but in the end things came together and ended up better that she thought. Mollory immediatly thatought that she wouldnt know anybody, she wouldnt see her best friend, and the first day she had to take her mom with her to school. In the end she ends up staying in touch with old friends, finding new ones along the way,and doing new things with new people.

[Kryssy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page graphics: cheeseburger the cat and a backpack

It’s cool that Mallory is slowly getting new friends at this new school. First it was Joey and now Pamela. Although she may not like it, Mallory is adjusting really well. Unfortunately, she makes a poor decision every book so she has to learn a lesson. But then again… she’s 8…

Shows what can actually happen with friends you make over the summer

- Mom is going to teach at Mallory’s new school
- Nail polish all over face and no remover in the house
- Gets wrong sandwich at lunch
- First day off each class and meet teachers
- First day of music and Mallory is nervous. They learn a song
- Automatic card shuffler
- Street friends vs school friends
- Fall festival show is about a farm. Mallory will be an eggplant
- Upset her mom is treating her like every other kid and won’t let her redraw
- Class newspaper
- Pamela is definitely a teachers pet. Even steals mallory’s idea for the name of the paper
- Dress rehearsal and Mallory is very cranky about it
- Mary ann is coming to see the festival
- Pretends to break her leg on stage so everyone has to look at her which is what she didn’t want
- Talk with dad about everything she’s mad about
- Mallory thinks mom would like it if she only has max as a kid when she’s mad
- Pamela has a plan for mallory’s mom to stop being mad: write an article about her for the teacher of the month section of the newspaper
- Joey, Pamela, and Mallory are 3 musketeers candy bars for Halloween
- School pictures outfit “poll”

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mallory has settled into her new house (somewhat) and is so not ready for school. It's daunting to be the new kid and having to figure out the friendship groups. It's even harder when you're determined not to give anyone a chance. It's made even harder by having her mom be the new music teacher at her school. How awful is that?

(Actually to that last point I can relate. My mom started working in the school office when I was in 4th grade and it led to some new levels of bullying when my classmates figured it out).

Mallory is staying true to form in this book. She really does hate new things with a passion and struggles a LOT with every single change. Once she relaxes and allows herself to make friends with her seatmate things get better for her, but gosh, it's an uphill battle with this kid. It makes her a little hard to like, but very relatable to those who fight for everything to stay exactly the same.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Kids take notebooks and pencils and rulers and erasers to school, but they don’t take their moms!”
-
Mallory starts a new year at a new school. She misses her best friend Mary Ann, questions her friendship with Joey (is he just a street friend? - this is actually very relatable lol, even to me as an adult), gets upset about her part in the play with her mom as the music teacher, and is annoyed at her classmate Pamela. Overall, Mallory is grumpy about quite a few things, but learns to be open to new things in the end.

[Cheryl]

LFL find. Boring because I cannot relate to this child's fussing & self-centeredness. And then when the teacher supported the idea of including horoscopes in the third-grade newspaper I decided that the book wasn't going to get any better. Glanced at the end, saw that it seems pretty lame, ordinary. Done.

Oct. 2023

[Kaytee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think mallory is selfish and she always wants everything kinda like..............me but the book was still good. I think that it was terrible what mallory did during the show that her mom set up and she should not be embaressed by her mom.

[Maggie Schlieman]

This book is perfect for a young child starting school. With being in a new class and starting school with a new teacher every year children are bound to be scared. This book helps children show how to go through the struggles of going back to school.

[Janaya Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and what it's about

[Monique B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back to school Mallory is a really great book!! Mallory basically continues from where she stopped in the first book.

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn! I can’t decide if I like Mallory or thick she is a spoiled brat. Certainly not a slam dunk for greatness.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read. The character arc was very realistic and the story fun.

[Markus Pietilä · Rating 3 out of 5]

2/5?

[Gwendolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I take issue with the frozen meatballs thing

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mallory starts at her new school, with her mom being a new teacher there, and faces a variety of problems. Again, the author does a great job of getting inside an 8-year-old's head. Throughout most of the book, Mallory is unhappy with various situations, but like in the other books, she learns how to deal with the issues and change her attitude, and the problems are resolved. The main lesson in this book is about giving people/situations a chance, rather than pre-judging the situation as a something that is horrible. I like also that this also deals with accepting the changes in her life as she lets go of some of the past, and doing what you have to do, even if you don't like it. As in the other books, the heart-warming resolution and lessons learned all happen rather quickly in the last couple chapters. I appreciated that, in the end, she and her parents talked openly about her frustrations and feelings, and that's a reminder to me to listen and dig deeper into what my kids are thinking and feeling when they are acting out with bad attitudes or behavior. Maybe if these issues were talked about earlier, it could have prevented some of the bitterness.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer is over and that can only mean one thing for eight-year-old Mallory McDonald (like the restaurant, but no relation)--she has to go back to school. But not just any school, a new school with all new kids in it. To make matters worse, her mom is going, too! She's the new music teacher, and Mallory can't think of anything that could possibly be worse--until her first day. She has to sit with Pamela, who always says the right thing and steals her ideas. Joey is so busy with his old friends that he has no time for her, and to top it off, she's picked to be an eggplant in the Fall Festival her mom is putting on. It's not fair! What can Mallory do? Should she give Pamela, and her new school, another chance?

[Ariana Modiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing, it's about girl who moves to a new place and a new school. At first she doesn't like it at all the since her mom is the new music teacher and her best friend Mary Ann get the teacher that they had both dreamed of since kindergarten. Then she is incredibly upset cuz there is a play called the Fall Festival, she doesn't get the part she wants. She gets a eggplant. Then she has the invite her best friend to come and she doesn't want to. When it is her part she pretenses to break a leg since brother said to in show talk!

[Hasbi Nursyahbana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lingkungan baru bagi beberapa anak memang sulit untuk beadaptasi , salah satunya Mallory

Ceritanya sendiri setelah "Mallory On The Move" , setelah musim liburan berakhir , Mallory gugup dengan keadaan ibunya jadi guru musik di sekolahnya sendiri , temen temen baru , dan juga hari pertama yang bisa dibilang "kacau" sekali . Terus , konflik sama temannya , Drama musikal ibunya dan juga tidak ketinggalan selalu ada "Mary Ann" setiap Mallory mau curhat

Walau terbita lama , tapi menghibur kok . Ilustrasinya juga menarik , dan terkesan tidak membosankan .

[Fizi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku paling disuka (antara jaman SD atau SMP, lupa lagi). Karakternya digambar dan sesuai buat umur aku di jaman SD. Buku ini punya makna moral tersendiri, cara bagaimana berkomunikasi yang baik kepada orang tua, menghormati orang yang lebih dewasa, dan juga cara bagaimana agar kita percaya pada diri sendiri. Buat aku ini memorable dan buku yang menurutku baik untuk di share ke anak-anak.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

when mallory figures out that her music teacher was her mom mallory is embarrassed because her mom put on a (stupid show that's what mallory thinks because she has to be a eggplant)and she has to invite mary ann her friend and when mary ann sees her in her costume she laughs.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book! I didn't know it was a series when I started reading this with my third grader. She loved it. Great storytelling, entertaining read and fun characters. I love that it teaches live skills without preaching.

[Erin Dunlevy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

Mallory is at a new school and she has her own.......MOM as the music teacher! But when she finds out that there putting on a show her friends get to be farmers and she is .........a eggplant. What will she do?

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was ok

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

great on how to make friends.

[Makenna]

cute!

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok, easy book, fine book. was on mallory's side for the entire book. everybody is mean to her!!!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was about mallory going to a new school and her mother was the music teacher.
and they have a play and she tries to ruin the play.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute 7-9 year-old girl series.