Hating Alison Ashley (1984)

I did not enjoy this book, but I give it two stars because it wasn't horrible but I didn't like it either. ( )

Hating Alison Ashley
Robin Klein

‘Hating Alison Ashley’ is a fantastic book by Robin Klein. It starts with Erica Yurken, a sixth grader who knows she is predestined to be an actress. She feels superior to the rest of her school and dreams to herself all the time about being on stage with the lights, the glittering dress, the fancy shoes; Erica knows it’s hers for the taking.
Then, one day, Alison Ashley shows up.
Alison Ashley is beautiful, smart, rich, well-mannered, and in every single way, perfect. With a bossy older sister, a hermit brother, and a little sister that acts like a horse and takes up most of the shared bedroom, Erica doesn’t need any more trouble. So she decides she has to get back at Alison for showing her up all the time, and school camp seems the perfect place for doing just that.
A hilarious, Australian story that will capture the attention of readers aged nine to sixteen.-
This brilliantly-written book is entertaining from the first sentence to the last and is perfect to curl up with and read from beginning to end.
Some other books by Robin Klein are…

· All in the blue unclouded weather
· Dresses of red and gold
· Laurie loved me best
· The sky in silver lace

I would rate this book five stars out of five. ( )

Unbelievably, I managed to live the first thirty years of my life without ever reading this book. Since it is a classic of Australian children's literature, I thought I'd better read it before I give it out at the xmas fair. I'm not sorry I did. This was a great story of what it is like to be jealous of someone and embarrassed about your own family. Definitely worth the read.

Yurk is jealous of Alison, who is elegant, poised, well dressed, has healthy lunches and lives in a nice house. Even as she hates Alison, Yurk strives to be like her. Until she finds something about Alison that she is not jealous of. A great book for tweens and teens. ( )