Books
ANNABEL, AGAIN
Best friends aren't supposed to go away.
And if they do, they're most definitely not meant to come back.
When your best and only main friend since you were five moves away for ever and ever, leaving your life and your netball team in a state of crisis, there's only one thing to do: eat pistachio nuts. Lots of them. And rearrange your bookshelves. Many times. But what happens when you follow your mother's patented and thoroughly unhinged super-fast shortcut to forgetting and then the unthinkable happens - your best friend comes back again, walking casually into class like she never left? What happens when she goes and sits next to your old nemesis and invites her to join the netball team, dooming it to certain and horrible failure? Somehow, Olivia has to find a way to be friends with this new Annabel, preferably one that doesn't involve demented parental advice or books such as Journey to Your Inner You-ness.
Annabel, Again is a story about pistachios and psychotic chickens; about not-quite-maniacs and the secret life of turtles. In the end, it’s a story about losing friendship, about fighting to hold on to what you had, and finally getting it back again, in a surprising new shape.
What readers are saying:
'... a help-me-i-think-i-need-surgery-to-separate-me-from-this-book kind of read' (Tiana, age 11)
'This book is awesome. Only one thing - I wish it was longer!!!' (Sophie, age 10)
'Meg McKinlay has perfectly
captured the nature of teenage friendships in all of their glory ... A
funny, sometimes poignant look at friendship, getting older and the
importance of communication.'
- Natalie Crawford, Bookseller and Publisher
'With believable
characters, lively dialogue and authentically expressed emotions, this
engrossing novel explores the shifting grounds of friendship and
complexities of growing up.'
- Judges' Report, 2007 WA Premier's Book Awards
'Netball and nastiness, friendship and fights, this book explores
preteen female relationships with refreshing insight ... Young girls
will immediately identify with the characters and scenes from
Annabel, Again.'
- The
Reading Stack
'Meg has a pitch-perfect ear for the preoccupations of pre-teen girls,
writing a tightly balanced narrative about friendship and
self-understanding.'
- Dr Julia
Lawrinson, author
Ages 9-13-ish
144pp
ISBN 978-192115010-4
June, 2007
Walker Books Australia
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'Great Aussie Reads', National Literacy and Numeracy Week, 2007
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Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge, 2007
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WAYRBA Nomination, 2008
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Shortlisted, 2007 WA Premier's Book Awards