Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking
Scholastic Australia, 2020. ISBN: 9781743834930.
(Age: 8-11) Recommended. Ella nervously waits with her family at
Eden College, her new boarding school. All of the Year 7's have
arrived a day early to settle in. Fortunately Ella's best friend Zoe
is also attending the school.
The girls and families are welcomed by the warm and friendly
Headmistress, Mrs Sinclair. Once the families leave Ms Montgomery,
the House Mistress and Vice Headmistress, who seems very different
to the Principal, takes the students on a tour of the school.
Regrettably Ella draws negative attention to herself after
commenting on the portraits of past Head Mistresses and offending
Saskia, another Year 7 girl who turns out to be that mean girl who
makes life difficult for Ella. Ella is also a scholarship student
and Saskia makes a point of drawing attention to this as often as
possible.
Ella and Zoe share a dormitory with Grace, a bubbly girl who talks
not stop and has trouble listening, and Violet who is quiet and
secretive. The first few weeks in the school term are action packed
for the four new students. They join extracurricular clubs, have a
disaster in the Science Lab, are involved in the search for missing
items plus deal with home sickness. Ella joins the school paper, the
Eden Press, and writes an article about the missing items after
interviewing the victims of the thefts. Eventually the surprise
thief is uncovered and the girls find out a secret about Violet.
Throughout the book are emails from Ella to her sister Olivia which
fill the reader with more information about daily life at the school
as well as keeping the connection between the two sisters. Ella
at Eden: New Girl is the first in the Ella at Eden
series and will be a popular hit with middle primary readers. It is
an enjoyable read that will keep fans of Ella and Olivia entertained
and looking for the next book in the series. Themes: Girls,
Friendship, New School, New Challenges, Boarding School, Reporter,
Missing Items.
Kathryn Beilby