Jo Weston's Netball Besties: The mystery of Missing Billie by Jess Black. Illus. by Sam Loman

Jo Weston of Melbourne Vixens and Australian Diamonds fame has written a book with characters that are real and relatable.  Young readers will engage with, recognise themselves in certain characters and want to know more about their adventures. The Mystery of Missing Billie is book one and opens with best friends Jo and Billie living on a nut farm in the Talma Valley.  In the first couple of short chapters, we discover they live on a nut growing farm that they share with Moo-Dini, an escape-artist cow. 

We first meet Jo and Billie as they discover that a gate has been left open and the cows are out on the road. With no time to spare Jo and her farm dog and best friend, Billie round up the cows before heading inside to grab her school bag and catch the bus. On the bus a new girl who has moved into the farm next door to Jo gets on and the girls chat all the way to school making them best friends.  Both girls love netball which cements their friendship. The book follows the girls through ghost hunting, netball, school, a lost mountain biker, open gates and Billie going missing,

This book is a brilliant new series for those readers who want to move on from the Billie B. Brown style books as it still has short chapters but more writing and less images. I was completely engaged with the characters and can’t wait to share this with my Netball obsessed niece.

I really hope that this series has multiple books in it as I can see if being an absolute favourite. Jo, Billie and Ava need to have lots more adventures together.  I would highly recommend this series for primary schools and readers who love Netball, adventures with friends and fun. They fit perfectly in the independent reader category and would suit the read aloud or read along style as well.

Themes: Friendship, Farm life, Animals, Mystery, Netball.

Mhairi Alcorn