Linda Williams Aber

The Barbie and Friends Book Club series comprises of four different categories; careers, every day adventures, mysteries and imagination/fantasy reads. Each book picks one of those ideas and runs with it crafting a positive feel good read for young girls. The series tackles a wide range of concerns including bullying, body image, jealousy and self-worth and some of these issues are rather confronting for readers - and while realistic, could perhaps be taken negatively in some readers. That said, each book does end with a conclusive positive message encouraging kindness and support.

D is for Different falls under the every day adventures category and addresses learning difficulties. Danni is a terrific pianist but she struggles with spelling. Her struggle is made even worse every time her teacher holds the class spelling bee competition where great speller, Alice, makes fun of her for messing up. Honestly I could relate - except in my case it was a times table challenge - I was always in the bottom three (sometimes I got lucky) and I always hated having to get up and mess up in front of my classmates. I've grown out of caring but man it sucked at the time. I felt very sorry for Danni. Thankfully, I didn't have anyone mocking me for it like Alice does.

Anyway, Barbie is a writer and comes to speak to the class. Danni is mortified that Barbie is there to witness her misspell patience but it gets worse when she's asked to come up with a trick for solving a jigsaw puzzle and everyone laughs (she suggested turn the pieces over to not get distracted by the picture). Barbie follows her when she runs and brings up the issue of learning difficulties and the fact that there are tricks to help. She's referred to the learning specialist and is tested and life starts to improve.

Then the piano recital comes up and Alice's duet partner has to pull out. Mr Gordon suggests Danni to replace her. Danni quickly realises Alice struggles with music and stops defending herself when she realises Alice is lashing out because she feels ashamed of this. That said, Danni is genuinely nice. On recital night, she realises Alice is dreading it, like she dreaded spelling bees and she feels sorry for her. When Alice screws up the piece twice, Danni throws her a lifeline - offering to play both parts and let her pretend to play. Afterwards Alice is apologetic for being mean to Danni having apparently realised how she felt about the spelling bees. It was a nice resolution, but I don't know that I believe it was very realistic. It all happened way too fast - I don't know that anyone backtracks that fast. Still, it was a nice message - everyone is good at different things and being different is not a bad thing - a positive message for everybody - kids or not.

Overall I liked Danni and the plot was decent. 4 stars for the target audience, maybe 4.5. My own rating would be 3. A kids book would have to really wow me to get me to rate higher.



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Barbie is a reporter in this series and usually while in the midst of her assigned jobs, finds a mystery. This one changed it up a little, Barbie and her friend Kira simply visit Kira's aunt for Valentine's Day. It was also a lot shorter than the previous books in the series. Because of that there really wasn't much mystery or sleuthing.

Not the best book in the series. Still, it's a short sweet easy mystery for young readers. Highly recommend the series for young girls. Just not a huge fan of this installment.

Similar style to the Babysitter's Club Mysteries. Or Emily Rodda's Teen Power Inc. My rating 1.5 stars. Target audience 2 stars.… (more)

Barbie is a reporter in this series and in the midst of her assigned jobs, finds a mystery.

In this one, Barbie attends the premiere of the new play, The Masked Stranger - both to write a review for her editor and to support her friend Kira who is part of the production crew - never let it be said Barbie doesn't know how to multi-task. The highlight of the play is the use of a gorgeous jeweled mask that is valued at over a $100 million dollars. Unfortunately someone steals it when the lights go out. But Barbie is on the case.

This one is the best I've read of the series I think. I enjoyed the mystery - it wasn't too obvious - there were a few red herrings which was nice. I liked Barbie's plan to get the thief she writes an article that the mask that was stolen was a fake and the real one would be worn by a special guest (her obviously) at the planned masquerade. When the lights go out, Barbie is prepared and grabs the thief. it wasn't anything new as such but it was a good plan.

It's a short sweet easy mystery for young readers. Highly recommended for young girls. Similar style to the Babysitter's Club Mysteries. Or Emily Rodda's Teen Power Inc. My rating 3.5 stars. Target audience 4.5 stars, rounded to 4.… (more)