Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer {Book Review}

We all love new books around here and I'm so happy that both Faith and Ben love to read.  When we were offered the chance to receive a copy of Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer by Ali Maier, I knew it looked like a book that both kids would enjoy.  Written in the alternating perspectives of 10 year old twins Max and Maggie, F&B found it hysterical to read the entries and then the comments of each of the characters.

From the online summaries:

A sister and brother, forced to write in the summer, and share ONE journal?  This is exactly what happens to 10-year-old twins Maggie and Max Pruitt. 

When Mom comes up with a plan for them to keep a summer journal, Maggie and Max can t believe it. Worse yet, they have to share! Through their writing, Maggie and Max find out they have very different (and hilarious) views about growing up, family and life a conclusion they only discovered because, as Max and Maggie say, Mom Made Us Write This.

But, according to F&B, the book is even better!

Ben loved all the illustrations, the doodles the twins would write in their journal entries, and how funny their opinions were.  He really liked the Max character, possibly because he relates well to the slightly pesky brother.  He's actually read it a couple of times and reviewed it on his own book blog.

One of the in-the-book doodles, can you see why Ben loves it?

Faith agreed with Ben's assessment and also added how much she liked that the stories/chapters/topics would be the same for each twin but told from opposite points of view.  She also mentioned that it seemed like each segment revealed more and more about the twins, and how their attitudes changed from dreading the journal to actually enjoying it.

Another cute doodle, but this one is more Faith's style!

I asked them who they'd recommend the book too and they both agreed that fans of the diary-style novels would really like this series as well.  Both kids have also asked if there will be more to the series and we are certainly hoping so!  They'd love to read another installment and highly recommend the first one!

Disclosure: We received our copy of Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer for the purposes of this review.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are our own.