The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks

Starting secondary school can be SERIOUSLY stressful – it’s bad enough for Lottie Brooks that her BFF Molly has just moved to the other side of the world, but to make matters worse she has the wrong pencil case, she hasn’t got a bra yet, and the whole class has started calling her KitKat Chunky. She’s just about ready to die of embarrassment and she’s only just started.

Things start looking up when she makes friends with Jess, who doesn’t care what anybody thinks of her, and Amber and Poppy, the two most popular girls in the year. Even Beautiful Theo has started following her on Instagram! But navigating new friendships and a new school can be tricky – especially for the girl formerly known as Matey Mc Lobster Legs.

This hysterical, utterly relatable diary is reminiscent of Louise Rennison’s brilliant Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging series, and filled with hilarious stick-figure drawings. Katie Kirby has a great sense of the daft and surreal, and whether poor Lottie is having to pretend to be a cucumber in drama or making friends with Pete the Penguin at a doomed family holiday, you can’t help but want to be her friend. A great book for readers just starting secondary school with a positive message about being yourself, the magic of being 'weird', and the importance of being kind to others.