Product Description
ItÕs 1993. Beth McMaugh is eleven years old and about to start her final year of middle school. Her best friend since kindergarten is Ashlee, but Ashlee is changing. She wears surf brand clothes now, and watches teenage TV and knows all the words to all the songs by Girlfriend and Peter Andre. Beth is terrified of losing her when they get to senior school, but Ashlee assures her that grade six is going to be the best year ever.
On the first day, though, Beth enters her new homeroom to find Ashlee sitting with Kristy, Abbi and NikkiÑthe popular girls. The mean girls. What is Beth going to do? Ashlee canÕt really want to be one of them. They must have trapped her into being part of their group, through some sort of heinous bribery. Beth has to save Ashlee, but how?
Further complicating matters, there is a new kid in classÑa strange, loud, smart kid from Brisbane, called Jools, who listens to Queen and is obsessed with science fiction and all things nerdy. So obsessed that, on her first day at her new school, she starts the Cooee Middle School Nerd Club and she wants Beth to be her first memberÑdespite the fact that Beth has never even seen Star Wars!
Behind all of thisÑbehind everythingÑis a secret from BethÕs past, a secret so terrible it stays with her, every day, whispering in her ear: Wash your hands.
Behind everything is that day at the beach, when Kristy saw her in her worst moment. Is that why Ashlee doesnÕt want to be friends with Beth anymore? Is that why her mother doesnÕt want to be near her? Has Beth ruined everything? And if she has, can a nerdy girl with mismatched socks, a rebellious punk, a popular boy and a science fiction movie trilogy set it all to right?
Real Friends, by Shannon Hale, meets Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, meets The Friendship Matchmaker, by Randa Abdel Fattah, this is a story of growing up, of friendship, of finding your tribe and unlocking your hidden talents ... plus Star Wars.
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friendship, bullying, family, belonging, mental health, miscarriage, grief, anxiety, acceptance, growing up
Beth is an eleven-year-old girl who struggles with feelings of anxiety and OCD, however, she calls them ‘spirals’. Her spirals only worsen as she starts year six. She starts to worry that everybody is growing up except for her, and she’s getting left behind. When she starts year six only to find her best friend, Ashlee, has ditched her to be friends with the popular girls, Beth’s world is fractured. But things may not be as bad as they seem: there’s a new girl at school called Jools, and she just might be what Beth needs. A captivating story about school friendships, navigating mental health, and learning to love your differences.
