Beach break by Meredith Badger
Go Girl! Besties 1. Hardie Grant Egmont, 2009.
ISBN
9781921502989.
(Age 8-10) Beach break is the first book in the Go
Girl!
Besties and will be welcomed by fans of other Go Girl!
series. Mia is
thrilled because her two best friends are coming to stay at the beach
house
with her during the holidays. She is certain that they will have a
wonderful
time and has lots of beach fun planned. But when Shae and Michiko begin
to act strangely
she begins to worry that they may not stay her best friends.
Meredith Badger has written a book about the
familiar theme
of a beach holiday and what happens when more time than usual is spent
with friends.
Young girls will be sure to identify
with the exploration of friendship and its pressures. They will
sympathise with
Shae who is homesick and Mich who is having trouble telling her friends
her
secrets.
Mia's parents are portrayed in a very sympathetic
light,
caring and understanding but firm about rules for Mia's older sister
who wants
to go to a bonfire on the beach. Mia's character develops as she has to
come to
some hard decisions about whether she should tell her parents about
Rose's
decision to sneak out. With some creative planning by the threesome,
all turns
out well.
Girls will be sure to like this series with its
well organised chapters, likeable
characters and engaging
illustrations by Danielle McDonald.
Pat Pledger