Dear Student

Elly Swartz's Dear Student is a warm school story for 11 year olds about a shy girl who ends up secretly writing her school's advice column.

What happens

Autumn's first day at Hillview Middle School gets off to a very strange start. On the walk in, she and her little sister, Pickle, find a baby iguana in the road, just as a boy on a blue bike runs over its tail.

They wrap it in Pickle's superhero cape and sprint to the vet's, which happens to be run by their mum. (The iguana, now called Superman, is going to be fine.)

Life hasn't been easy lately. Autumn's dad has gone off to join the Peace Corps in Ecuador. Money's tight, so they've moved into the little flat above the vet's. And her best friend Prisha has moved all the way to California.

So Autumn walks into her new school alone, late and sweaty, rubbing her grandma's hamsa charm for luck.

Then she meets two people. Logan is loud and bold, full of big ideas, and has a pet python called Snow White. Cooper turns out to be the boy on the blue bike. And those two can't stand each other.

So when Mr Baker chooses Autumn to answer the letters for Dear Student in the school paper, in secret, what's she meant to do when her two new friends land on opposite sides of a problem?

It's told by Autumn, and it's literally like hearing her worry out loud. It takes her three goes to find one classroom. She eats a cricket at Logan's house because she doesn't want to look scared! Anyone who's ever started somewhere new and pretended to be fine will recognise every bit of it.

The bits about her dad are really gentle. She's cross with him for going and misses him like mad at the same time. She keeps his postcards tucked inside her notebook. If you've got a reader who's had a parent living far away, this could really hit home, in a good way.

The vet's is full of animals too, from a stuffed chicken hanging in the waiting room to a very fat, very orange guinea pig called Spud.

What to read next

If they love Autumn, try The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks next. Lottie's best friend has just moved to Australia, and she's facing a new school with only a diary and two hamsters to talk to.