Girl Geeks: Perfect holidays by Alex Miles

Girl Geeks book 3. Penguin, 2019. ISBN: 9780143795070.
(Age: 9+) Girl Geeks: Perfect holidays is part of the Girl Geeks series which has been . . . "developed in partnership with Girl Geek Academy - an Australian-based global movement . . . " which aims to encourage girls to engage with technology." The story is set around school holidays and the activities and interests of four school girls who are into technology.
It immerses the reader into the tech world as a natural part of the protagonists' lives. The concern of the author is for girls to understand the pitfalls and traps of social media including the falsities of photo feeds and the mental exhaustion associated with a life that pings with posts.
In these politically correct times this book ticks all the boxes. The central girl protagonists represent multicultural friendship. Their friendship is wise and supportive and they communicate through social media with feeds that intersperse the text. The single father of Eve (the central character) is loving and supportive as are all the parents. Manners and good citizenship are demonstrated by instances such as the father and daughter giving up train seats for an elderly man and a pregnant woman.
Eve is an overachieving, competitive perfectionist. She is a girl who makes "To Do" lists, who wants to please others, who over commits and in the end makes herself sick. She is helped towards a life balance by her father and friends. The book represents a journey of friendship, good citizenship and understanding of self in a technological world as experienced by Eve.
At the back of the book, there is a friendly invitation for girls to contact Geek Academy, holiday activities and profiles of the women involved in Geek Academy. Girl Geeks: Perfect holidays is simple and accessible both in content and interest reading level. It would be an easy, light read designed to encourage girls around year 5 level to engage with digital technology.
Wendy Jeffrey