book cover

Picture Perfect

by Serena Patel, illustrated by Louise Forshaw

Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 6 to 8

Published by Barrington Stoke, 2022

  • Dyslexia

About this book

Sonal has a photo project to do for school, and she’s chosen the theme of ‘family’. However, getting a nice family photo of everyone proves to be impossible: her brother Jay is always gaming, Mum and Dad never stop checking their phones for work emails and Sonal’s sister Reena keeps lecturing everyone about climate change from behind her laptop. Plus, the family’s new puppy Jalebi takes a lot of looking after. In fact, the only person that seems to listen to Sonal is her Nanna. Sonal wishes her family was as perfect as her friend Dina’s, who always seem to be baking perfect cakes and wearing matching jumpers.

When looking at family photos with Nanna, Sonal has a brilliant idea: a camping trip! If everyone can spend time away from their various activities and devices, they’ll actually be able to spend some proper time as a family – and she might just be able to get the perfect family photo for her project. Faced with a digital detox, will Sonal’s family have fun together, or will the trip end in disaster? And is there really such a thing as the perfect family?

This lovely story about a relatable modern family is a fabulous read, and a reminder for children – especially in the age of social media - that other people’s lives and families are just as imperfect as their own.

This book is produced by Barrington Stoke who specialise in creating books with a dyslexia friendly format.

About the author

Serena is the author of the award-winning series, Anisha, Accidental Detective which is now being developed for television. Serena loves books that make you laugh out loud or that have a twisty mystery to solve, even better if they have both! She believes all children should be able to see themselves in books and in the power of stories to make us believe we can achieve anything we set our minds to. Serena lives in the West Midlands with her family and two mischievous cats.

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