Katy Birchall is currently an Editorial Assistant at Country Life magazine. 'The It Girl' is her first book in a new series about schoolgirl Anna, her labrador Dog, and her dad. It is being marketed as 'clean teen', and for being ideal for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison. Seeing as my daughter loves the former and I love the latter, I was keen to give it a go!
Anna's parents are divorced, but are still good friends. Her dad is a journalist and has fallen in love with a famous actress, Helena, who he had to interview. Helena also happens to have a daughter Marianne, who is a socialite and an It Girl, so Helena and Anna's dad are keen for the girls to get along. Will the girls manage to become friends? What will Anna's school friends think of her joining the celebrity world?
On the whole, I rather enjoyed it. It was really funny, and it just so happens that, like Anna, my daughter also loves the Marvel characters (she knows them through all the films though, rather than the graphic novels) and Star Wars, and we also have a yellow labrador who is rather mad. I liked Anna's friends Jess, Danny and Connor, but of course none of us likes a show-off meany bad girl, of which there are many in one's life during school days, and of which there are a couple in this book. This was the part of the story which I thought let it down slightly. It was very predictable where the story was going and what was going to happen - so many school stories focus so much on the bully or the nasty girl. The book just seemed to lose its originality and its humour for quite a few pages.
However, I'd definitely read the next in the series (due out 2016), as I'd love to read more about the wonderful, funny Anna and what happens next in her rather mad world!
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor and Park are two teenagers at the same school. Eleanor is the new girl, slightly kooky, weird dresser, bright red curly hair, a little overweight, and Park is half Korean, nearly always in black, loves reading comics and listening to British indie music. Park is the only person who befriends her, to start with because he feels sorry for her, but then he realises they both like comics. He introduces her to his music as he discovers she knows no modern music, owns no records or any means of listening to music.
Eleanor is not forthcoming with much information about herself or her life, and we the reader know more about her than Park. She is one of 5 children whose father has left, but her mum has a new partner. Unfortunately, he is an abusive alcoholic, doesn't let anyone out the house to enjoy themselves, all the kids have to sleep in one tiny room, and Eleanor has already been kicked out the house once before for trying to stick up for her mum when he had a violent episode.
Eleanor and Park slowly start to fall in love, battling school bullies and Eleanor's troubled situation. But the abusive stepdad has not yet found out about it. What will happen when he does...
I didn't really warm to Eleanor at all, I was amazed Park put up with her depressive and weird behaviour, and I had too many questions about her home situation. Why weren't the police called at any point during the violent moments? Why is she so overweight if there is very rarely any food in the house?
Despite all this, I enjoyed the romance - I even shed a tear or two at times, and I hoped that they would make it through all the bad stuff.
If you like John Green, you'll like this.
If You Find Me
by Emily Murdoch
An emotional and hard-hitting story of kidnap and abuse.
Carey was taken away from her father by her mother. She was 6 yrs old at the time. Her mother told her that her father was abusive and that she was taking her away to protect them both. They go to live in a camper van in the forest. Carey is now 14 and has a new sister, 6-yr-old Jenessa. Their mother leaves them on their own for weeks at a time, saying she's going to town to get supplies. The girls learn how to fend for themselves, Carey teaches her sister how to read and write - Jenessa's favourite books are Winnie the Pooh, and they name the forest they live in Hundred Acre Wood.
One day, after their mother has disappeared for weeks and not returned, they have a visitor. Their father. He is accompanied by a social worker. They have received a letter from the mother saying she can't look after them anymore and giving custody to the father. So Carey and Jenessa leave the place they have known as home to live with a man who is practically a stranger, and who Carey believes may hurt them.
But during the stay with her father, his new wife and stepdaughter, Carey comes to realise that perhaps all she was told by her mother may not have been the truth, and all that they have suffered in the woods was not what 2 sisters should have been put through by their own mother.
Moving, tragic, tearful, horrific and yet joyful in parts, it is unbelievable how 2 young girls could have gone through so much. One event traumatised the young Jenessa so much that she became mute. Parts of the story are so upsetting it would be hard to recommend this to anyone under the age of 15. Thankfully, in stories like these, there is always one character that brings hope, and in this one it is Ryan who brings a sparkle into Carey's life.
As I've said in recent reviews, I am all dystopia'd out, so I love reading something a bit different. This was different.
If you like hard-hitting stories, try Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid.
