I'm a huge fan of author K.A. Holt, and I was thrilled to come across THIS IS NOT A DRILL at a local Scholastic Book Fair. Many of Holt's books are novels in verse, but this was a bit different. It is written entirely in a text message and comment format making it a quick read in a style middle grade readers will love.
Ava and several friends are arriving at school one morning and communicating as many middle school students do via texts. To add a bit of levity to their conversations, Ava sadly still has a flip phone with no emojis. Considering her out-of-date technology, she types incredibly fast and creates her own descriptive and entertaining emojis.
Not long after the start of lunch, the alarm sounds for a lockdown drill. As it is during lunch, many of the students are not in classrooms and there's some confusion about where everyone should be. Ava ends up alone in a bathroom and she realizes her phone charge is about to give out. She tries to remember the rules of lockdown and decides she should be heading to the nearest unlocked classroom.
Ava ends up in the art room with a group of students she describes as stinky Tater Tots (sixth graders). It is quickly discovered that the lockdown is not a drill. There really is a dangerous person in the building. What follows is a tense afternoon of figuring out what to do with a sixth grader having an asthma attack, a phone running out of battery power, and a man yelling and running through the halls.
The scenario in THIS IS NOT A DRILL is an all too familiar tale of a school dealing with an emergency situation that has students, staff, and frantic parents trying to stay calm under extremely stressful conditions. Perfect for middle grade readers!
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