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Reviewed by Emma Megan for Readers' Favorite
Daphne Higginbotham Battles the Fifth Grade by Rosemary Starr is a powerful story. It's about an imaginative ten-year-old adopted Asian girl. Daphne Xiao-fen Higginbotham loves to spend the summer break playing with her best boy-slash friend Byron who has autism. Daphne believes that school is a scary place and hopes the fifth grade will be better than the fourth grade. But when she sees an old man walking a three-legged cat, she takes it as a sign of impending doom. She starts to believe that fifth grade will be truly awful. Even the first day of school confirms Daphne’s worst fears. Will Daphne avoid ending up in the vice principal’s office on the very first day of the fifth grade? Will she survive fifth grade to put her big plans for an adventurous life into action?
Bursting with memorable characters and building tension, frustration, and confrontation, this book holds readers in its grip. Rosemary Starr offers a highly relatable story that will likely resonate with anyone who struggles in school or is an adoptee. I sighed many times and felt mixed emotions while reading Daphne Higginbotham Battles the Fifth Grade. Starr skillfully touches on common issues that children often face and struggle with and have trouble talking about such as school anxiety, bullying, pressures, punishment, scary teachers, etc. Daphne's terrible luck and trials will have readers rooting for her throughout the whole book. This gripping story is sure to inspire. It reminds us that we should never judge people, especially if we don't know how they are on the inside.
