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.