Published by Little Tiger, 2022.

Guest review by Ellie, age 10.

The main character in this story is Amy, an ordinary 11-year-old girl who has just moved house and is about to leave primary school but isn’t going where she wants to. All her friends are going to Valley High, a famous and very large secondary school, but Amy doesn’t get a spot there and has a place at Thornberry instead. She doesn’t want to go to Thornberry because no one she knows is going there. And then, on top of that, her Pops gets ill and she has to go and live with her grandparents for two weeks. Across the road from her grandparents lives a young boy called Jay whose parents are divorced. Jay has a stutter but that doesn’t matter to Any as she makes friends with him. She also makes friends with some girls called Summer and Dana who go to Thornberry.

Amy goes through a series of good and bad moods, arguments with her mother and missing her father, who is staying at their new house to try and fix it up. Her younger brothers Sam and Maxi are happy staying at their grandparents’ house. Sam because he believes there is a very rare breed of field mouse in the garden and he wants to get a video clip and Maxi is a baby so is happy wherever. The book ends with the family moving back home and Amy getting a spot at Valley High. Where will Amy choose?

I liked this book because I feel like I can relate to Amy as I have on and off emotions, and I am just about to leave primary school as well. Unlike Amy, I got into the school I wanted but I’m going to have to leave most of my friends behind because they are all going to a different school. I won’t have my best friend there, which does make me sad, but I know, like Amy, I will make new friends where I’m going.

There wasn’t much I didn’t like about this book. The beginning is a little bit challenging because it begins with direct speech and so it was a bit hard to be drawn into the story without knowing the scene and setting but, by the end of the first chapter, I knew it was a book I definitely wanted to finish!

I would recommend this book to any kid my age (10-11), and all kids about to leave primary school but especially to kids who are having trouble finding a spot at secondary school. I think it is helpful to read about imaginary characters who are going through the same problems as us as it helps us realise there are adults who recognise this stress, notice it and want to help.

An amazing book, very realistic and a fantastic read. I enjoyed every bit of it.

Rating: 💙💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 10+

Thank you to Little Tiger for sending me this book to review and to Ellie for writing the review.