“It was a sunny spring morning, but there was murder in the air.”

From Andrew Clements’ About Average.

Jordan is average in almost every sense of the word; she’s an average student, musician, and athlete from an average family.  She plays violin for the school band and she wants to be great at it, but she knows that she’ll never be great at anything.  Jordan’s friends Kylie and Nicki are some of the above-average students she knows, and Jordan often finds herself criticizing them for not living up to their above average potential.  In an attempt to help herself determine what she’s really good at, Jordan makes lists of everything she is good, average, and bad at.  However, when the school bully Marlea takes Jordan’s lists and uses them to make Jordan a walking joke in school, Jordan is stuck figuring out how to stop Marlea without going through the school’s anti-bullying rules.  Jordan’s hidden struggle with Marlea pushes Jordan to occasionally act out in anger as she goes through her day, which distracts her from enjoying her math and reading classes like she normally does.  Unable to find anything else she’s good at outside of gardening and babysitting, Jordan decides to try being nice to Marlea, because that would require above-average kindness.  So on one of the hottest days of the school year, with no other ideas, Jordan decides to put everything on the line and give Marlea the kindness treatment.

Clements writes in a manner that is endearing for readers of all ages, despite being written and marketed for a younger audience.  The narrator’s struggle with being average and being better is relatable and believable.  Above Average develops easily and quickly draws the reader into the surprising story.