Title: Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: Pan Macmillan, A$14.99RRP
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780330453783
For ages: 9-12
Type: Junior Fiction
About: Tweens rejoice! Meg Cabot is back with the fourth in her series of sassy reads for girls about to depart kiddydom and enter biggirlhood.
I really enjoy Cabot’s writing style – spoken by the voice of her ten-year-old protagonist, Allie Finkle – a girl intent on making, and breaking, all the rules. Although the voice is fresh and youthful, the author doesn’t compromise a sophisticated and well-written vocabulary that older readers will also enjoy.
Cabot also doesn’t hold back on the naughtiness, making for a fiction read that’s a little edgier than some of the spangled pink fluff targeted at young girls.
In Stage Fright, Allie and her friends vie for the role of Princess Penelope in the school’s new play – Princess Penelope and the Realm of Recycling. But when Allie is reluctantly cast as the evil stepmother, her upset and jealousy over missing out on the lead role manifests in a serious case of stage fright.
Can Allie overcome her fears and put on the performance of her life? Or will a turn of events really put her acting skills to the test?
With wonderfully clever moralistic subtleties that will lift and inspire young readers (even as they don’t know it), Cabot once again breaks all the boring book rules and offers kids another chapter in her fun and fabulous genre.
This book is available online:
Booktopia - A$13.45
QBD - A$14.99
SeekBooks - A$13.49
This review first appeared on Australian Women Online.