Today is Pearl’s ninth birthday, and she is planning a sea-sational day with her best friends. But when Pearl takes a shortcut on the way to merschool and sees a shooting star fall into the ocean, things begin to drift off course…
Suddenly, her mermaid tail begins to shimmer and sparkle. What could it mean? Well, for a start, Pearl discovers she can now talk to animals, which comes in very handy when one of her friends is cornered by a hungry reef dragon!
Rebecca Timmis is an author-illustrator from the sunny Gold Coast. She’s had lots of real-life adventures like almost falling off the Great Wall of China, hiding from grizzly bears in Canada and being chased by giant pigs in outback Queensland. Timmis’ flair for adventure resonates in her writing—and the dashes of magic make all the difference!
The Best Friend Promise was everything I thought it would be and more. There’s a fun touch of vibrancy with pops of pink on every page, and characters of all sorts for young readers to resonate with. The character of Coral—who’s smart, funny and a little bit bossy—reminded me of a few people I know.
This book caters well for newly independent readers aged 6+ by:
- Combining illustrations and bite-sized text
- Bolding and/or a larger font type for specific words
- Fun facts about the sea creatures featured in the book
I also appreciate a good pun, and The Best Friend Promise is filled with them! Some of my favourites were ‘fin-tastic’ and ‘flipper-riffic’!
The Best Friend Promise is a tale that teaches you to stand up for yourself and what you believe in, but to be kind and respectful while doing so—an important lesson for young readers. Pearl’s party was sea-tacular and so was this book! I can’t wait to see what mermazing adventure Timmis comes up with for book #2!
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