Angels in Training

Karen McCombie's Angels in Training is a magical friendship story for 9 year olds about a shy girl whose three best friends happen to be angels.

What happens

Riley's secret is a big one. The girls who moved in next door, Sunshine, Kitt and Pearl, are trainee angels. They found Riley when she was at her loneliest, after her best friend moved to New Zealand, and helped her get her sparkle back.

The trouble is, they sometimes freak her out a bit. Sunshine can peek into her thoughts, which Riley says is as bad as reading someone's diary. And she's far too starstruck to ask them any of the huge questions whizzing round her head.

Then red writing appears on the mirrors in the boys' toilets at school. I AM WATCHING YOU. Next it turns up in the teachers' loos. Everyone at school is whispering about poltergeists, and the angels' eyes have gone a worrying dark grey.

Riley's shyness is written so well. She's the photographer for the school news website and happiest hiding behind her camera. Anyone who has ever felt very ordinary next to friends who seem amazing will know exactly how she feels (probably most of us).

It's funny too, mostly thanks to Dot, Riley's five-year-old sort-of-stepsister. Dot wants to know why planets aren't triangles, draws eyebrows on her cheeks in felt pen and has a pet dog made from a lump of driftwood. And Pearl, the youngest angel, is still getting the hang of Earth. What's a party? What's a diary?

Riley lost her mum in an accident when she was a baby, and she thinks about her a lot. Her dad won't talk about it, and one of the angels says quite bluntly that "dead is dead". It's gentle, but it's there.

This is the second Angels Next Door book. It's easy to pick up, because Riley fills you in as she goes, but that does give away what she finds out in book one.

What to read next

So start with the first book, Angels Next Door, which is in the library too. Riley's best friend has just moved to New Zealand, the house next door is standing empty, and then a removal van pulls up. (Angels Like Me carries the story on after this one.)