Alice-Miranda on Holiday by Jacqueline Harvey

Random House Australia, 2010. ISBN 9781864719840.
Recommended for girls 7-10. Alice-Miranda is an amiable character on a mission to change lives and make the world a better place to live. She is friends with everyone and finds nothing daunting about life at all. This seven and a half year old with the wisdom and knowledge of an adult has been away at boarding school, where no-one escapes her infectious personality. In this novel she is home for the holidays and apart from catching up with old friends on her parent's estate she makes new friends and solves a few mysteries. She is joined by a school friend who has been transformed by the indomitable Alice-Miranda. The style of this story is reminiscent of older books, such as Pollyanna written in 1913 by Eleanor H. Porter, and shares a few similarities with that story.
Vicki Nunn