Kori Logan

 Eighth grade, like algebra, has become pretty complicated for Tess.  For one thing, there are the patterns she’s noticing everywhere, like how charming on-the-outside Richard keeps playing scary pranks on her, and how annoying copycat Lynn always has to follow what everyone else is doing.  Then there’s the pattern of graffiti that keeps appearing on the wall by her school, could those numbers be a code meant for Tess? Is it up to her to find out what they mean? And most importantly, if Damien keeps up with his pattern of waiting for her after school, does it mean he likes her? Or is that just a coincidental system?  Tess looks for formulas to help her figure it all out, but she’s afraid there may be none, sometimes you have to make up your own solutions.  Sometimes you just have to risk it.

 In The Writing On The Wall there are many confusions and misunderstandings.  It starts out with Tess’s friend finding the writing on the wall.  Tess wanted to figure out who started the fire in Mr. Z’s class so she started to write on the wall to get some answers.  She figures out that Marcus, a boy in her class, started the fire because the teacher was making fun of him.  After she figured out who started the fire she wanted to know who started writing on the wall in the first place.  The custodian, Mr. Henley, found the matching colors of the paint sticks in Tess’s locker and turned her in.  She got suspended for 4 days and couldn’t attend the math contest.  At the end of the story Lucia admits she started the writing on the wall, but they still remained friends.

 Tess- Wrote back and forth over the wall, had a hard time in the story  Miranda- a friend, positive person  Sammy- the friend who discovered the writing on the wall, drama queen  Lucia- a friend who started the writing on the wall  Damien- a boy who likes Tess  Richard- a bully  Grandpa- helped her solve some of the problems on the wall

Lucia Miranda Sammy Tess

 Ms. Balford- the principal of West Lake School.  Ms. Saltzman- teacher, who has her good and bad days.  Mr. Z-mean teacher who always thinks he’s right.  Mr. Henley-custodian of the school.  Mr. Wright- teacher.

Mr. Z Ms. Saltzman Ms. Balford Mr. Wright Mr. Henley

 Tess believed the four fours were a private message to her.  There are many different ways to write the four fours problem and they can all come out as different answers.  √4=14  4x4-√4+4=18  4!=4x3x2x1= 19

 Tess couldn’t go to school for four days  She could not attend the math competition  She couldn’t talk to or see her friends  She had to have her grandpa watch her while parents were gone.

Damien Tess Richard

 This book has a point because there is a lot of problems these days with graffiti being places where they shouldn’t.  There are a lot of gangs that leave tags places that are valuable to other people. Like in this book the church is special to many people.  In some other books they have really no point. But in this book it teaches people a lesson about things you shouldn’t do.

WWendy Lichtman now lives in Berkeley, California SShe writes personal essays for the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, & Good House Keeping, among other national publications SShe has also written four previous young adult novels, including: Do The Math: Secrets, Lies, & Algebra. SShe holds a degree in mathematics and had tutored public school students in algebra for several years. WWhen she decided to write about a teenage girl who realizes that some questions have more than one right answer, algebra, with its unknowns and variables, seemed a perfect metaphor.

 I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a mystery.  This book teaches people right from wrong.  It also teaches us about friendship and many different ways numbers can be used to solve different problems.  This is a great book, so go to your local library and check it out today.