Friday Barnes 8: Never Fear by R.A. Spratt
Published by Penguin Random House
Date: 2 January 2018
R.R.P. $15.99
This is my first encounter with Friday Barnes and if this book is anything to to go by, Friday is always disappearing, investigating and getting into all sorts of scrapes that challenge the patience of her teachers and the headmasters, both old and new.
In Never Fear, Friday’s heard a rumour and she is determined to get to the bottom of it and uncover the truth. The new headmaster doesn’t make it easy and neither does Friday’s high IQ, and her constant time out in detention. With one of the chapters titled “When is an Implosion not an Implosion?” you know that the book is going to be a little fiery, chaotic, and a whole lot more mysterious.
I found Friday Barnes to be quite a relatable character for pre-teens, R.A.Spratt has captured the curiosity of 11 year old girls well. I like that Spratt has portrayed Friday as a strong, capable and smart young woman, who shows other young girls that they can be all of these things too. There is no damsel in distress, or girls reliant on boys, but the book is all about young women making choices that are smart (most of the time) and well thought out (sometimes), and boys that are messy and pretending not to like girls (sounds familiar right). Some of Friday’s choices cause some hiccups along the way, but she manages to work around them and solve the mysteries at hand.
Brace yourselves Friday Fans because this is the last book in the series. The good news is that a few story lines are wrapped up, one in particular that I am sure all of you have been waiting for. In other good news, R.A.Spratt is already writing something new called The Peski Kids , which is something to look forward to.
Overall, this book is a fun read for both boy and girl tween readers and will be a satisfying end to the series for Friday Barnes fans.
Thank you Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book
Some awesome facts about R.A. Spratt:
* Did you know that R.A. Spratt has terrible spelling and isn’t so good at grammar either.
* She doesn’t have a favourite colour.
* I was amazed to learn that she also writes for lots of different tv shows many of which you would all be familiar, including sketch comedy and political satire.
If you want to know more about the Friday Barnes series and how it began check out this video on YouTube
Little Big Reads 