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Genre - Middle Grade Humor
Rating - G
More details about the book
I have to admit, I had never heard of the
Page 99 Test before being asked to dissect my own page 99, but now that I know
about it, I love it and will be using it regularly to take a closer look at
books I may be interested in reading.
My book, Nate Rocks the Boat, is a
children’s chapter book. It is only 134 pages in total, so by page 99, the
reader is already a good ways through the book. To give you some back ground...
Page 99 happens to be the first page of
Chapter 13, which is one of my favorites. In this scene, Nathan (aka Nate
Rocks) and his bunkmates are getting ready for parent visiting day. Their
counselor is trying to get them to clean up their cabin.
For the last six years, my two oldest
children have gone away to overnight camp. By the time we go pick them up
almost four weeks later, I can tell you that their cabins are worse than
disgusting. Especially the boys...sorry boys, it’s true. This is the imagery
(as painful as it was for me) I had in my head while writing page 99.
Poor Nathan just doesn’t understand why his
counselor keeps trying to get them to clean:
I don’t get the point. Our parents already know we’re
slobs.
This is a true statement. However, as a
parent of one of these said slobs, there is always a glimmer of hope that
spending four weeks away from home in your own space will teach a smidgen of
responsibility. Sigh.
At the same time, Nathan wonders why it is
his Mom sent him away to summer camp to begin with. She claimed she had to take
care of his Grandmother, but it sounds suspicious to Nathan. She seemed a
little too enthusiastic about sending Nathan and his sister off to camp. He
makes a mental note to investigate this further when he sees her again.
In the end the cabin does in fact get
cleaned up – including the bathroom, which Nathan admits was too disgusting
even for him.
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