Alice-Miranda at School, by Jacqueline Harvey.
There are 288 pages of fun and dangerous excitement!
The main character is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and she is seven years old. She has long chocolate brown curls and bright red cheeks with spotty freckles on her nose. Alice-Miranda is quite mature for her age, and actually starts school five days before she is supposed to.
The story is set almost entirely at the posh school Alice-Miranda attends, which is two hours from the city. The principal at the school is a bit of an odd person - she doesn’t leave her office and never talks to anybody. Alice-Miranda thinks there is something missing at the school because the gardens have no flowers, and a mysterious stranger seems to be hiding out in the shadows.
Initially, Alice-Miranda makes both friends (Jacinta and Millie) and enemies (the school bully Alethea). Her friends help her to find out the identity of the mysterious stranger, and also help her to put some life back into the school.
During a week camping on her own, Alice-Miranda comes across a friendly stranger with a sad story to tell. The stranger happens to be the husband of the school principal and they are both struggling with the loss of their daughter. Alice-Miranda makes it her goal to bring them back together.
Alice-Miranda is a very strong, positive role model for young girls. I think the theme is about making an effort to get over grief and try and be happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment