Side Effects May Vary

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Book:  Side Effects May Vary (Book Link)
Author: Julie Murphy (Author Link)
Illustrator: None
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Date of Publication: 2015
Genre: Middle School Readers, Written in the last 4 years, Early Chapter Book, Diverse Protagonists
Lexile Score: HL760L
Citation: Murphy, J. (2016). Side Effects May Vary. New York, NY: Balzer & Bray.
Online: https://www.amazon.com/Side-Effects-Vary-Julie-Murphy-ebook/dp/B00DB39UAE

Summary: In this book the main character gets cancer and basically shuts down and is against everyone in her school.  However when she later goes into remission she realizes that she has to fix every problem that she created.  She creates a bucket list and has her friend Harvey complete it.  However on the bucket list they do some things that end up humiliating people, or hurt peoples feelings.  It's an interesting love story, and solving problems along the way.

Audience:  I would say this book would be targeted at grades fifth through eighth.  In these grades the readers would be able to connect with the characters.  The book is also given in multiple different perspectives throughout which might also resonate with many readers.  Also this might be an emotional roller coaster time for students in middle school therefore they might connect with the reading. 

Evaluation: I thought this was a great book for middle school readers.  It had an interesting message that would keep the reader hooked.  It might be a good book to connect to medical issues that people are living with.  Since the characters in the book go through many tough times, it would be a good time to provide background information on that topic.  Since some students might know of someone who has serious medical issues, or they have themselves it would be a good additional research point. Overall however I think that it was a great read, and something that students would enjoy.

Activity:  Have the students find a current medical topic and summarize it.  This way they will be able to find an article and make connections to it in a short writing activity or explain something difficult they have gone through. 

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