{"id":36937,"date":"2020-02-06T23:38:43","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T03:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36937"},"modified":"2020-02-06T23:38:43","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T03:38:43","slug":"review-of-homerooms-hall-passes-by-tom-odonnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36937","title":{"rendered":"Review of Homerooms & Hall Passes, by Tom O’Donnell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Homerooms & Hall Passes<\/em><\/p>\n

by Tom O\u2019Donnell<\/p>\n

Balzer & Bray (HarperCollins), 2019. 337 pages.
\nStarred Review
\n2019 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #9 Children’s Fiction
\n2019 Cybils Elementary\/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Finalist<\/a><\/p>\n

This book is a whole lot of fun, standing the idea of Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games on its head.<\/p>\n

As the book opens, we meet a band of young adventurers \u2013 Thromdurr, a barbarian; Sorrowshade, a gloom elf; Vela the Valiant, a paladin; and Devis, a thief. They are scouring a dark and dismal dungeon for treasure and uncover an ancient evil, which they must defeat. Then the scene flashes back to Albiorix, an apprentice wizard, who is eagerly looking forward to his friends\u2019 return, when they will play their weekly role-playing game, Homerooms & Hall Passes.<\/p>\n

Welcome to Homerooms & Hall Passes, the role-playing game of nonadventure! With this book (and a set of dice), you and your friends will unlock a strange new world of routine and boredom set in the fictional realm of Suburbia. Imagine, if you will, a place without monsters, magic, treasure, elves, quests, or even, to be perfectly honest, much excitement at all. This place is called middle school.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Albiorix is an avid Hall Master, with a pile of manuals explaining all aspects of the game.<\/p>\n

The module he was currently running was called The Semester of Stultification.<\/em> In tonight\u2019s game, the players would face a daunting series of challenges: a grueling five-paragraph essay dumped on their characters right at the beginning of JADMS Spirit Week. Not to mention an upcoming earth sciences quiz, a concert band recital, a class election, and a big algebra test. To rise to these challenges would take skill, cunning, impeccable time management, and of course a few lucky rolls of the dice. Albiorix chuckled maniacally to himself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, after defeating an evil sorcerer in the dungeon, Devis came back with some cursed treasure. When Albiorix translates the inscription aloud, a curse takes hold \u2013 and they are all transported into the game. Can our adventurers actually handle middle school?<\/p>\n

They appear in Suburbia with their characters\u2019 names and families \u2013 but unfortunately they didn\u2019t magically get the skills of their characters. If they fail or get expelled, they\u2019re out of the game. And that\u2019s a challenge more daunting than any dungeon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all full of humor as our characters reflect on how different middle school is from \u201cthe real world.\u201d I like the way they need help in all their classes \u2013 but dazzle everyone in gym class. And I laughed out loud when the gloom elf falls under the sway of the popular girls\u2019 clique. <\/p>\n

Our heroes do have some resources ordinary middle school students don\u2019t. But things become much more complicated when an evil part of the \u201creal world\u201d shows up at school.<\/p>\n

tomisokay.com<\/a>
\nharpercollinschildrens.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/homerooms_and_hall_passes.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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