Popcorn – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Popcorn

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

book2024

91%

WISE Score

4.5

Amazon

A funny, messy, and deeply relatable look at what happens when your brain won't stop 'popping' with anxiety on the worst school day ever.

Popcorn

book

2024

91%

WISE Score

4.5

Amazon

A funny, messy, and deeply relatable look at what happens when your brain won't stop 'popping' with anxiety on the worst school day ever.

4.5

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Screenwise Verdict

Popcorn is the kind of book that should be in every middle school library. It’s not 'brain rot'—it’s the opposite. It takes the very real, very annoying experience of 7th-grade anxiety and turns it into something visible and manageable.

Rob Harrell doesn't pander to kids. He writes like someone who actually remembers that 12-year-olds are smart, funny, and often incredibly stressed out. If your kid liked 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' but is ready for something with a bit more soul and substance, this is the play.

Age Fit

Perfect for the 9-13 crowd. It’s sophisticated enough for middle schoolers but accessible enough for a 4th grader who is starting to feel the pressure of social standing and school performance.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

It models emotional honesty and the reality of living with mental health struggles without being preachy. The family dynamic, including a grandfather with dementia, is handled with genuine warmth and patience.

Imaginative

Rob Harrell uses his signature 'hybrid' style—mixing traditional prose with comic panels and spot art—to visually represent the 'popcorn' of anxiety. It’s a creative way to show, not just tell, what an intrusive thought feels like.

Safe

Completely safe for middle-grade readers. It deals with stress and OCD but contains no inappropriate language, violence, or mature content that would catch a parent off guard.

Enriching

This is a high-level tool for building empathy. It gives kids the vocabulary to talk about their own mental health and helps 'neurotypical' kids understand what their peers might be going through under the surface.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Rob Harrell (author of Wink) knows exactly how to balance heavy topics like OCD with actual, laugh-out-loud humor.
The comic-strip elements make it a great 'bridge' book for kids who might be intimidated by long blocks of text.
It treats anxiety like a manageable part of life rather than a tragic flaw.
Great representation of a multi-generational household and the chaos that comes with it.

⚠

What to Watch For

The depiction of anxiety is very realistic; if your child is currently in a high-stress state, they might see a lot of themselves in Andrew's 'worst-case scenario' thinking.
Subplot involving a grandparent with dementia might be a sensitive spot for some families.

Conversation Starters

"Andrew calls his anxious thoughts 'popcorn.' What would you call that feeling when your brain gets too loud?"
"Why do you think Andrew felt like he had to hide his OCD from his friends?"
"Which part of Andrew's disastrous school photo day would have been the hardest for you to handle?"
"How did Andrew's family help him, even when they were dealing with their own stuff?"

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