Rating: I like it BUT some families may not
Reading level: Middle School
*Important note: I am reviewing the 2016 edition by Roaring Brook Press. I’ve seen reviews of another edition with an older looking cover that has quotes I don’t see in my version. Please see expanded note at the end of this review for more information.
Such a fun read!!! Friday is a clever, brave girl who makes the best of life even when she isn’t always dealt the easiest cards. She is driven by logic and is very self aware—especially that she lacks social skills. She attends a fancy private school with rich kids and is content to wear her ugly brown cardigan collection. The kids bully her, but she is resilient and one by one wins them over as she solve mysteries when they are in a pickle.
The writing is engaging, surprising, and honest.
Possible Concerns:
- Poor Relationship with Parents. Friday, the family afterthought, is generally ignored from the day she was born (and apparently she has adapted to like it that way). Friday goes to boarding school and her highly academic, socially challenged parents are very peripheral to the story, but it doesn’t model the relationship that I want with my kids. Friday gets affirmation from her beloved (but somewhat incapable) Uncle Ned, who loves her just the way she is.
- Romance. Some young love/boy crazy behavior. Friday has a crush on Ian Wainwright, and initially describes him (with tongue in cheek) as a Greek god and then logically concludes he couldn’t be a Greek god because they haven’t visited earth for years. It is unfortunate that Ian hates her guts and sabotages her life. Friday tries to shake off pesky emotions. To be fair, I like how Friday still calls Ian out on a big lie even though she is occasionally observant of his good looks. I actually think she is a model of how to avoid obsessing over a boy who is good-looking. Her approach is in sharp contrast to a group of highly emotional, ridiculous girl characters who let themselves get carried away, lovestruck by a hypothetical yeti monster in the local swamp. Friday logically explains to a confused teacher that there is a teen fantasy genre that has girls falling for warewolves and other weird creatures (a Twilight reference), and that is why these girls are behaving so unreasonably.
- Edgy references. These are often to Pop Culture, reality TV (usually making fun of it), and other sarcastic things. Things like professional wrestling on tv, or how “being a detective people are always glad to see you…when their mother-in-law had just been murdered and they were desperate to prove that, despite holding the blood-stained murder weapon, they were entirely innocent.” For the mature audience with a sarcastic sense of humor, this could be just funny.
- New-age advice. Friday’s friend, Melanie, occasionally says, “you should trust in fate to lead you..” and yet another: “good looking people are so believable when they lie”. To be fair, Melanie is a total ditz, so she’s not really a convincing sort of wisdom overall. Nevertheless, I wish these weren’t there in the book, but there you have it.
For me, I can overlook those shortcomings and would let my kid get this from the library, IF they are old enough, and also IF our relationship is generally healthy and engaging and I don’t ignore my kid the way Friday’s parents do.
*EXPANDED Note: I’ve seen parents review this book with quotes that I don’t see in my edition. These quotes include: Friday watches “reality TV shows about housewives needing plastic surgery so they could still be attractive to their teenage gardeners.” I don’t remember this quote and a search on the digital copy doesn’t reveal anything. So I’d recommend the updated version if you’re going to let your kid read it; it seems like the author realized she didn’t need that stuff for it to be engaging.
You can check out my reviews of other Friday Barnes Mysteries:
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