Friday, December 8, 2023

"Prank War" by Olivia Jarmusch

About this book:

  “Millie can’t wait to celebrate “Galentine’s Day” with her friends at Chestnut Academy! But when her father asks her to spend the day with her kid brother, Willie, Millie fears that she’ll break the most important club rule: No Boys Allowed!
    Meanwhile, the boys at Craven Hall have a surprise of their own up their sleeves. They challenge the young ladies of Chestnut Academy to go head-to-head in an exciting competition! But the invitation comes with a twist: they must attend the Craven Hall school dance!
    Will Millie and her friends defeat the boys? Or will they be forced to surrender in the middle of their prank war? Ride and laugh along with Millie and the M&M gang in a brand-new adventure!”


Series: Book #2 in the “Chestnut Academy” series. Review of Book #1 Here! (Connected to the author’s other series, “The Tales of Tarsurella”, but does not have to be read first or together.)


Spiritual Content- A Scripture is indirectly mentioned (about turning the other cheek); A mention of God giving someone a sibling to help the other grow in love and patience; A mention of using your time to glorify God; A mention of the good Lord saving someone (in a war-like setting); A mention of things that have no eternal value; A mention of a nunnery; 
             *Note: A mention of Joan of Arc; A mention of Santa Claus.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘buzz off’, a ‘for crying out loud’, a ‘good heavens’, a ‘jeesh’, a ‘oh my peppers’, a ‘oh snap’, a ‘pickles’, a ‘stupid’ and two ‘oh my heavens’s (most are exclaimed); Some eye rolling, sarcasm, & sass; Prank wars (including taunting notes, silly-string, water balloons, trashing a bedroom, destroying & stealing others’ items), Sneaking out (which Millie’s friends know that that’s not allowed but do it anyway), & Trying not to get caught by the adults (Millie and McKayla are all for the pranks and getting back at the boys because they’re confident that their plans will work, but Misti and Mimi are concerned about getting into trouble and the punishments; When something personal is destroyed via a prank, Millie becomes incredibly upset; *Spoiler* Towards the end, when her father finds out, he’s disappointed in her and has her removed from the competition; Millie and her brother make-up at the end *End of Spoiler*); At the beginning, Millie’s father tries to talk to her about spending time with her brother and talks about not being selfish and practicing self-control, but Millie thinks it’s not selfishness, that her friends need her for their party; There’s a snooty girl who makes mean comments & brags about herself (Millie and her friends try to avoid her because it’s hard to hold their tongues when she’s around and it’s a waste of energy; There are some confrontations between them and bickering happens; Millie and one of her friends are more prone to reacting and gets very upset at their taunts); Mentions of mean/snooty mean girls (bullies) & their comments/teasing; A few mentions of wars & a massacre (figuratively); A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of manure; A mention of a burp; 
             *Note: There’s boy-girl arguments and banter between Millie’s friends and her brother’s friends (taunting/mocking, smack-talking, and implying they are better than the other) along with pranks (boys vs girls rivalry); Millie and her friends want to cream the boys in a competition and they sneak out (without permission) to spy on the boys to gather information (this ends in another prank involving silly-string and a vow to get them back); Millie’s headmistresses tells her and her friends that doing things you don’t want to do is a good test to be able to do it with a good attitude and see the best in others; *Spoiler* Millie buys her and her friends expensive items (dresses, accessories, stuffed animals, and a very expensive saddle) with the debit card her father gave her for emergencies and necessities only; Millie feels good about helping her friends, but has a feeling that she should have asked for her father’s permission; This causes a friend to be very mad at Millie, but they later make-up after Millie apologizes; Towards the end, when her father finds out, he’s disappointed in her and has her work at the school to pay off the bill *End of Spoiler*; A few mentions of brand names (Twizzlers); A couple mentions of fictional characters (Narnia).
 
 
Sexual Content- A teacher tells the girls from her school and the boys from the other school that if they are to be respectable citizens, they must have a “proper understanding of interacting with the opposite gender” and makes them dance with each other; Mentions of boys, boy crazy girls, & a boyfriend (Millie’s older sister has a boyfriend and Millie’s friends talk about that being a waste of her “horse-loving potential” and not being girls who are crazy about boys; Millie says “there’s no danger of that ever happening with us” and it’s true that all four girls’ thoughts are only on their horses and pranking the boys); Mentions of there being a “No Boys Allowed Galentine’s Party”; Mentions of a school dance (Millie’s friends aren’t happy about being with boys and say so, but some of the other girls are excited and call them immature); A mention of a girl calling a boy handsome; 
             *Note: A boy comments on his muscles to show off. 
 
-Princess Millie of Tarsurella, age 10
                                P.O.V. of Millie
                                                        133 pages


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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{ Please note the content about the mean girl and the boys vs girls rivalry as that may be a deal breaker for some families. }

After reading the first book in this series a couple of months ago, I was definitely interested in this next book. Millie learned at the end of the first book about telling the truth about her identity was the best way for her to honor her family and also be kind to her new friends—which comes to play in this book for sure, but there’s also new lessons to learn as well. 

Millie really must learn about self-control when there’s a mean girl and her comments plus a prank war happening between her and her friends & her brother and his friends. Things get messy quick! 

Because of this book having a mean girl about the same (if not a touch more) than the first book and there also being a boys vs girls rivalry and pranks, some families may want to read together to discuss different parts and add their own thoughts on Millie’s actions. 

 

 

See y’all on Monday with a new review! 




*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

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