Josh Baxter Levels Up

This story is about a middle school student named Josh Baxter. He has been to three middle schools in the past two years. His father recently died and his mother works a lot. He misses his father and loves playing his video games because it was something he always did with his dad. He is a lot like many middle school kids and many of my friends who are obsessed with video games. Unfortunately his grades start to slip and his mother decides to ground him from using his video games until his grades improve. I could easily relate to this part of the story because the same thing happened to me when my reading skills were starting slip. My parents took away my iPad. Josh decides to change his thinking and decides to commit to the video game lifestyle and mindset by doing whatever it takes to “become the hero who could get the grades, beat the bullies, and maybe even impress a princess.” It was interesting to see how the video game characters came to life in his real-life situations. This made me think of ways I could handle situations in my life like the video game characters I play. I loved the updates at the end of each chapter on Josh’s health status, remaining lives, and other important stats related to his life. I thought that was an interesting part of each chapter. This is a great book that I am sure all my friends would love to read. It was very engaging and easy to read. I could see myself in many of the same scenarios that Josh had to deal with in life. I will be in middle school in a year so this helps me get a glimpse of what that may be like.