Barrington Stoke ISBN 9781781125946 £5.99
This is a lovely book for emerging readers. This particular publisher’s books are ‘tested for children and young people, for children and young people’, and I think this is evident in the way that the story unfolds and the vocabulary used. There are illustrations for each chapter, helping to bring the story to life, and the text is well spaced and a slightly larger font size than more challenging reads. This makes it a great book to develop the confidence of children as they explore chapter books and move on to more independent reading. The story is also one that will be familiar to many children, as it follows Abi and her struggles as she settles into a new school after moving home for the first time. Even though this might not be something every reader has gone through, the emotions that she feels as she tries to make new friends and meet new people are ones that all children will recognise. This would be a good book to share as part of an extended circle time, particularly at the beginning of a school year, as it looks at themes of bullying and friendship which are prevalent throughout. The author has been described as providing books which are ‘funny, funky, feisty and fantastic reads’ and with this particular tale it is easy to see why!
Laura Davies, Project Development Coordinator for Fair Foundations, Chwarae Teg
