Angels Next Door

Karen McCombie's Angels Next Door is a funny, big-hearted story for 9 year olds about a shy girl whose best friend has just moved to the other side of the world.

What happens

Riley Roberts is nearly twelve and in her first term at secondary school. She's the Quiet One. Tia, her best friend since they were six, lives next door and is the Confident One.

Then Tia's family emigrate to New Zealand. (Riley is NOT impressed by the kidney-shaped swimming pool.)

Her first day without Tia is a shocker. Her gym kit gets mixed up with a five-year-old's, so she faces the whole class squeezed into a Peppa Pig top. Then her very pregnant form teacher goes into labour in an office with a jammed door and a dead phone!

It's properly funny, and a lot of that is down to Dot (owner of the Peppa Pig top). She's Riley's sort-of-stepsister and she leaves glitter on everything. Her pet dog Alastair has a basket, a collar and a lead. He's also a lump of driftwood with googly eyes.

Riley tells it herself, moment by moment. She jokes about wobbling like Awkward Shy Jelly. She also admits she has no idea how to be on her own. Who hasn't wished they could turn invisible at school?

And odd little things keep happening. Silver light blazes from every window of Tia's empty house and is gone the second her dad looks up. Dot's friend Coco announces that angels are coming to live next door.

Riley doesn't believe a word of it. Then a removal van pulls up, and the new neighbours turn out to be called the Angelos.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Riley's mum died when Riley was a baby (not a spoiler, she tells you early on). Her dad can't bear to talk about it, and when things get too much she squeezes her eyes shut and imagines her mum's voice saying it'll be all right.

There are mean girls too, who trip her up at lunch. If your reader has lost someone close, the mum thread may hit hard. If they like real feelings under the jokes, it's a big part of why you root for Riley.

This is the first book in the Angels Next Door series, so there's more of Riley to come.

What to read next

For another Karen McCombie girl who feels invisible, try The Lost Diary of Sami Star. Hannah's family are too busy rowing to notice her and her friends have changed since secondary school started, so she rescues a stranger's diary from a park bin and sets out to find its owner.