Review: Making Friends With Alice Dyson by Poppy Nwosu

Alice Dyson has a big year ahead. She is in her final year of high school and the plan is to study, hard. But after an unexpected and slightly strange encounter with Teddy Taualai, the school's biggest troublemaker, which is caught on video and goes viral, Alice finds herself the unwilling centre of attention and with a number of unwanted complications.

This was a pleasing story about the realities of high school, extreme shyness, first relationships and a young woman trying to find a sense of self. I loved that the story was set in the western suburbs of Adelaide, and the depictions of the Adelaide coastline and rail network. Although this is marketed as YA and features characters in their final year of high school, I found that Alice and her friends came across as quite young in places and her narrative voice seemed quite young for her age in the early stages of the book. (Then again, Alice was very shy and this no doubt influenced her outlook on life.) The highly readable and relatable writing style will no doubt make this book a perfect fit for many teens. 

Overall, this is a pleasantly told and relatable coming of age story with a sound message about not judging others by their appearance.

Recommended. 

This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2019

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