“Angel or Not?”
Author: Lori Diez
“Angel or Not?” by Lori Diez looked like a cute, albeit short, book so I asked to review it. Angel, the book’s main character, is the youngest of four children in the Hennessey family and believe it or not she has been looking forward to the start of 4th grade all summer long. Apparently summer vacation was really boring that year…
The first day of school finally arrives and, boy, is Angel ever in for a shock. Her day was nothing like she expected it to be. For starters, the teacher that all the 4th grade students love, the one whom Angel was looking forward to having this year, is out for several months. Angel takes one look at her new substitute teacher and doesn’t particularly like what she sees. Then she learns that Sonya, a girl who has bullied Angel in the past, is going to be in her class. As the day progresses Angel contemplates her misfortune. She is certain that somehow all these mishaps can be traced back to her forgetting to kiss her father goodbye earlier that morning. To top it all off not one but two people close to her are injured and Angel is left wondering how to handle things.
As I read “Angel or Not?” it seemed that “Angel or Not?” was the non-stop question throughout the book. However, I’m not going to give anything away by telling you whether she finally decided if she was an angel…or not…
I did find “Angel or Not?” to be a cute read. Lori Diez did a good job of writing her book from the perspective of a 4th grade girl and this does; of course, include all the drama that goes along with being that age. “Angel or Not?” was a funny read. I did enjoy Angel’s sense of humor although I must say; at times, it did come across as more mature than that of a 4th grader.
In summary, “Angel or Not?” is a nice fictional story for juvenile readers but be aware that there are a lot of religious overtones throughout so don’t gift this book to anyone who may not appreciate that aspect.