Kayla Miller, author and illustrator of the best-selling Click series of graphic novels, has teamed up with Jeffrey Canino and Kristina Luu in a new spin-off series of reads starring stylish best friends Beth and Chanda. Expect teenage dreams, emotional highs, chastening lows, and the heavy burden of responsibility.
Sixth graders Beth and Chanda are always thinking up get-rich-quick schemes and now they need one more than ever. Beth is desperate to treat her hard-working mum to a spa day and Chanda needs money to help her adopt a new pet. When they land a week of house-sitting and dog-walking for the glitzy Ms Langford, it looks as if their dreams of fortune and fame have come true. But bad decisions and worse luck threaten to leave the girls out of pocket and they need to hustle to save their reputation and fix the situation. Fast actions and sensible decisions are needed but with friendships fracturing and the girls not vibing, ending up in the doghouse seems the far more likely outcome…
Fun, fresh, relatable and totally realistic! Miller, Canino and Luu serve up a brilliant graphic novel that explores plenty of things that are important to tweens. In a story full of friendship, entrepreneurial spirit, animals and family relationships, two girls learn lessons about growing-up, responsibility and doing the right thing.
Against a backdrop of two very different family dynamics - Beth is part of a family struggling financially and simply wants to give her mum the treat that she deserves, Chanda is frustrated of living in the shadow of a successful and high-achieving older sibling, who, despite being away at college, is always a hot topic of conversation in the family home - the two girls are determined to prove that they can earn some cash and are responsible adolescents. As is often the case in life, good intentions are rapidly succeeded by mistakes and poor judgements and what follows is a desperate need to set things right, all things that Beth and Chanda soon discover when their house-sitting duties become an epic fail.
It isn’t easy making the right choice, especially when your decision will impact your own goals, and using this text to support such a discussion with children would be great for a PSHE lesson. As personal goals clash with the need to do the right thing, difficult decisions need to be made and morals and values are challenged. When you make a massive mistake, how do you go about fixing it? Cover your tracks as best you can and hope no one ever calls you out on it; make things right as best you can; be honest but in doing so place the burden of fixing the situation onto someone else. With Beth’s older sister Lisa imparting plenty of wisdom around personal responsibility, this is a theme that is cleverly explored and readers are challenged to consider whether they are team Beth or team Chanda.
We all want Beth and Chanda to work things out, and eventually they do. The importance of communication, talking about feelings and conflict resolution underpin the reconciliation and there is a lovely reminder that even the best friendships - those that are often taken for granted - need nourishing and looking after. In the end everything turns out just fine, because as the title says, ‘besties work it out’. With huge thanks to Walker for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review. Recommended for 9+.
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