Synopsis: In her second adventure, Calma describes her life, mainly her relationship with her parents, her new boyfriend and her part-time work at the local supermarket. Her attempts to write, encouraged by her teacher, are interspersed through the story which Calma relates with honesty and irrepressible humour.

Review: Calma is a teenager and does all the teen things, falling in love, messing up friendship with her best girl friend, misunderstanding her separated parents. But she is also an intelligent person who loves writng and manages to compose some effective poetry at various stages in the story which reflects on the situation at the time. She has a sense of humour which starts by grating on the reader, but then settles into a gentle self-deprecating tone which becomes funnier as we get to know Calma better. Calma is not afraid to stand up for her friends and to test her parents, though she has to admit to her mistakes and this makes her much more lovable in the reader's eyes than she appears at first.

I warmed to this book as I read it. It is a fun book for teenage girls, and, sadly, the poetry will probably not be read by all who might have enjoyed it.  The book is a further adventure to "The whole business with Kiffo and the pitbull". There are allusions to this incident in the story, but the book stands alone and is a fun, well-written read.

2008-01-17