An energetic protagonist takes readers on a fun, light romp through a largely idyllic childhood.

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Have you ever read a book in which the main character could be your long-lost twin? When Rae Marsh reached out to me over the summer to see if my family would enjoy her Love, Maggie series, I couldn’t believe how much it sounded like the main character and my younger daughter had in common. Turns out my younger daughter is also the target age range for these books, so I responded and said we’d absolutely love to give these books a try. After reading them, if I didn’t know better, I would have told you Marsh modeled Maggie after my daughter because they had so much in common!

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Love, Maggie: The Chronicles of 3rd Grade is the first book in the series by Rae Marsh. After her “best” summer, Maggie Montgomery shares her experiences at home and in third grade with her diary. Maggie discusses lessons about responsibility and hardships while adding a heavy dose of humor as she winds through her third-grade school year. She takes readers through her days filled with adventures like skiing, a theme park, getting braces, playing soccer, trying out for basketball, and navigates through nervous gas and the additional requirements of her classwork. At the end of the book, Maggie provides twelve takeaways she’s learned during the school year and expresses her excitement about fourth grade.

Told from Maggie’s perspective through the lens of an eight-year-old child, Rae Marsh delivers Maggie’s thoughts and feelings in a way children can understand and enjoy. Through the diary entries and cute pictures, children get to know Maggie, who may be just like someone they know from school or their extracurricular activities. The extraverted child is always a good friend to her classmates as they struggle with a grandparent who must move into a nursing home, parents who work different shifts, divorce, a friend who moves away, and disappointment. Marsh delivers good messages in the story like always supporting your friends and asking your caregivers if you don’t understand or you are bothered about something. Love, Maggie is a great selection for children who like conversational and comical stories with real-world topics that are handled delicately.

This book was a quick and fun read. We follow Maggie’s life as a 3rd grader with her diaries.

I felt it was authentic and realistic look at this age. Starting a new grade can be scary, but she has a supportive family and wonderful teachers.

I enjoyed how she explained real-life experiences/talk for this age. She touches on what kids go through at this age. Between her teachers and family she learns some valuable lessons. Try new adventures, ask for help, don’t be afraid to fail, talk to your friends and encourage them even when life is tough.

Thank you author Rae Marsh for this copy. I plan on passing it along to a friend who is a teacher that teaches third grade.

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This book is giving me serious Judy Blume vibes in all the best ways!

I love books written in a diary format! Love, Maggie is the cutest story about an 8 year old girl and a neat look into her year with her diary entries. Maggie is outgoing, funny and so lovable and I really enjoyed her very honest and relatable perspective as a 3rd grader. It brought back so many memories and reminded me of this time when we were still learning about friendships, social situations and how every family is unique in their own ways.

It’s such a great book for elementary aged kids and shows how they can have experiences and use self reflection to grow and learn, just like Maggie does.

This chapter book not only would be a great read aloud as a parent or teacher but would be such a helpful text for writing assignments and journaling. It also leads itself to so many valuable discussions such as overcoming nerves, different family structures and being a good friend. We enjoyed this one and I think it would be a fun addition to any home or classroom library.

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In Love, Maggie Chronicles of 3rd Grade, we are introduced to Maggie Montgomery, an outgoing social butterfly determined to make 3rd grade the best year yet! Follow along with her adventures in planning pizza parties, learning to ski, and her nervous toots. Through her diary entries, we follow Maggie as she learns valuable lessons in friendship and realizes that families are all different.

Love, Maggie Chronicles of 3rd Grade would make a powerful read-aloud between adults and early elementary children. All in all, this book is sure to delight all 3rd graders (whether past, present or future)!

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When I look back at the time, being a kid with no worries and all the time to play and grow was the best time of my life. And God do I wish to go back to it. Which is why books like the one that we have today is especially a favourite genre of mine, that makes me escape the adult world realities. Love Maggie is a beautiful story written in the form of Diary entries from eight-year-old Maggie Montgomery who is writing about her summer break and life in general as a third grader.

It is a perfect book for all ages in my opinion. The kids and the adults can enjoy it alike. While the children will find the experiences shared by Maggie to be relatable, the adults will find them nostalgic. There’s something for everyone in this book. The book might also seem inspirational to the kids to inculcate the habit of keeping a journal and recording their life as they go.

The book is truly amazing and I really hope all my fellow readers to give it a read. The sheer amount of happiness I felt in reading it can’t be described in words, all I can say is I had a really great time.

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