What a sweet little read this book was.

In How To Spell Catastrophe by Fiona Wood we meet Nell McPherson who is a catastrophe expert, and keeps a journal of catastrophe preparedness. But nothing has prepared her for the impending catastrophe of her mum's plans to merge families with boyfriend, Ted and his annoying daughter, Amelia.

To top it off friendship woes mean grade six is turning into an emotional obstacle course as Nell moves away from her old spelling bee friends and into some rule-bending with new girl, Plum.

Nell needs to find a way to face the biggest catastrophe of them all, climate change, which has been too big for her to get her head around despite her grandmother Map being a longtime eco warrior. Nell campaigns for all of grade six to attend the School Strike 4 Climate and suddenly old friends and new are united for the cause. Along the way plans to foil the family merge may even give way to an understanding that it might not be such a disaster after all.

Lots to love and nothing to loathe in this middle grade goodie!

Nell and her mum have been a family unit as long as she can remember. Her father died when she was a baby and her only grandparent lives half way across the world, although they Skype weekly.
So when her mum announces that they are moving in with her boyfriend and his daughter Nell freaks out. Like many teenagers she has been so involved in her own life she missed the fact that her mum has more going on, and Nell does.not.want.this.to.happen.
Combined with a cool new girl in school she wants to befriend, Nell finds herself struggling with coming of age feelings and emotions.
This was a sweet and easy read with great characters. Perfect for the age group!
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for proving me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a great upper primary read. It covers one of my favourite topics, and that is how friendships, especially female friendships can change in those years at the end of primary school heading into high school. It's a time when we start to figure out who we. Interests change, and friendships can drop off and new friendships are made...this is what happens to Nell. She is experiencing massive changes, her Mum is looking at moving in with her boyfriend and his daughter, doubling the size of her perfect little family of two. She stops doing the one thing that's always been a constant Spelling Bee, and makes a new friend, a friend who pushes Nell to act less responsibly... everything has shifted. I found myself getting frustrated, maybe even angry with Nell, and some of her decisions. That's when I have to applaud the author at creating a flawed and realistic character, it's absolutely the point that Nell makes mistakes, and then deals with the consequences, but as an adult reader I can't help but think 'why did you do that Nell?"
Highly recommended for school libraries and for reading circles/class novels.