book cover

The Weird Friends Fan Club

by Catherine Wilkins

Interest age: 12 to 15
Reading age: 10+

Published by Nosy Crow, 2019

  • Coming-of-age
  • Diaries and journals
  • Funny

About this book

Grace micro-manages her life and friends to make sure her online identity is super-attractive, super-cool, and projects just the right level of self-confidence and self-determination (#blessed).

Erin has a monobrow, an issue with self-esteem and a younger sister who is wise beyond her years. Oh, and she is often the butt of unkind "jokes" by Grace and her #girlsquad.

It seems the girls have nothing in common until an English teacher suggests they use their shared adoration of Charlotte Bronté as a springboard to explore a number of writing challenges and enter a competition to win a dream prize (#disaster #whatanightmare). 

Written as diary entries, emails and texts, Grace and Erin’s story is unpredictable, revealing and very funny. It is an engaging and perceptive exploration of the influences that make us who we are, how we interact with the rest of the world, how we choose our friends and what drives our ambition.

There are no trite, happy endings but a series of experiences (both pleasant and unpleasant), misunderstandings and conflicts. Neither girl is significantly altered but both have a wider and more accepting perspective on life and friendship by the end. 

About the author

Catherine Wilkins, author of My Best Friend and Other Enemies, is a writer and comedian. She grew up in Hertfordshire and now lives in London. She writes jokes and stories which she performs around the country to strangers in the dark, trying to make them laugh. Catherine has always wanted to write funny stories for children and is finding the whole process more exciting than that time she bungee jumped. Which is pretty exciting. If you think about it.

More books like this

Share this page Twitter Facebook LinkedIn