Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Themes

Ever heard of a struggling artist? Rafe definitely fits that bill. Though he loves to draw and sketch, he just can't seem to figure out where he fits in the world of arts and culture. He won't even...

Life is filled with all kinds of choices…and Rafe starts to make bad ones from day one of middle school. Once he decides to start up Operation R.A.F.E., he makes progressively worse decisions unt...

Middle school makes Rafe feel like the Rolling Stones—he can't get no satisfaction. (Hey, that's probably why he titles this thing Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life.)Basically, walking th...

After we learn what a nightmare sixth grade is for Rafe, we get to see that his home life is…also a nightmare. Maybe he should have called this book Bear: The Worst Years of My Life instead of Mi...

Who am I, and who aren't I? With all due respect to Hamlet—that is the question. It's one Rafe struggles with throughout Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. Who is he exactly? Is he just s...

At the beginning of Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, Rafe Khatchadorian is a lot like Spider-Man before he got chomped by a radioactive spider—pretty powerless. But once Rafe gets...

Rules were made to be broken. That's what Leo thinks when he and Rafe first see the Hills Village Middle School Code of Conduct. This thing is a whopping twenty-six pages long and filled with all k...

Reality is a funny thing. What's right in front of our face is real…but are the stories we tell ourselves to get through the day any less real? Take Rafe for example. He's got a pretty active ima...