Penelope Perfect: Quiz Questions and Complicated Crushes

Penelope Perfect: Quiz Questions and Complicated Crushes by Chrissie Perry (Hardie Grant Egmont) PB RRP $14.99

ISBN 9781760126933

Reviewed by Liz Ledden

In the fifth instalment of the Penelope Perfect series, Quiz Questions and Complicated Crushes, Penelope is perplexed when crush fever takes hold.

Penelope finds the concept of crushes a ‘Great Mystery’. She feels confused when her older brother Harry sits squished on the couch with the neighbour she dubs ‘Annoying Ava’. Her brother’s acting very strange all of a sudden - didn’t he think Ava was annoying, too? When Penelope arrives at school the next day, mean girl Rita Azul flaunts her latest boy band crush, and makes it quite clear that Penelope just doesn’t get it. At least Penelope has her platonic friendship with nature-lover Oscar, until she notices he’s acting a little strangely, too.

Penelope tries to make sense of the crush phenomena in her own, very methodical way. She develops a quiz to determine whether someone definitely has a crush or not (a fun addition at the back of the book). Along the way, she realises some quite strange feelings of her own.

Throughout the story, Penelope grapples not only with crushes, but her strong emotions. She tries to contain her outbursts, though in her quest for perfection, they sometimes boil over. Angst aside, there’s lots of humour throughout, from Oscar’s earnest search for a rare beetle as Penelope tries out her quiz, to discovering that crushes may even extend to old people’s homes. This is a fun read that explores the sometimes confusing feelings of the pre-teen years, with big doses of fun and heart.

Penelope Perfect: Very Private List for Camp Success

Penelope Perfect: Very Private List for Camp Success by Chrissie Perry (Hardie Grant Egmont)

PB RRP $14.95

ISBN 9781760120254

Reviewed by Liz Ledden

This is the second Penelope Perfect novel by the author of the Go Girl series, Chrissie Perry. The narrative is punctuated with pictures and playful font, adding some elements of interest to key scenes. The series’ star is Penelope Kingston, a classic over-thinker who is anxious about all the important things in a primary school child’s life, like navigating friendship groups and dealing with playground conflict.

Penelope demonstrates a high level of self-awareness, and realises that her nervous feelings and angry outbursts need to be kept under control. There’s a lot of self-analysis at the beginning of the book as Penelope grapples with her worries, including writing herself a list of behavioural instructions to ensure her upcoming trip to a school camp goes smoothly.

The initial focus on her neuroses detracts somewhat from the narrative; however, the second half the book takes a more enjoyable turn as the reader is transported to the world of school camp and a cast of schoolkid characters. Penelope faces the ups and downs of mean girls and friendship alliances before it’s time to face her ultimate school camp fear – tackling an intimidating, high swing challenge. The book comes to a satisfying close as loose ends are neatly tied up. Penelope demonstrates inner growth and a realisation that sometimes, expectations of perfection need to be loosened a little to achieve ‘success’.

This is a fun read for the 7 to 10 year old female market, featuring anxieties that many children of this age would relate to. Despite the book’s heavy focus on tackling insecurities, the characters, plot and tension draw the reader in, and ultimately reveal an increasingly relatable and likeable Penelope who you can’t help but cheer for.