Genre: Realistic FictionGrades 5 & up
We all have comfort zones - places and situations where we feel secure. For some of us this is a room in our house, a class with a certain teacher, or hanging with a best friend. But what happens when we get knocked out of our comfort zone? What happens if we move or change schools? What happens if our best friend isn't our best friend anymore?
Bindy is an Australian seventh grader that has been knocked out of her comfort zone. It all starts one day during lunch when Janey, Bindy's best-friend-forever, decides that they should sit with Hannah, the pretty, popular girl everyone wants to be friends with. It isn't long before Bindy realizes that Janey is drifting away. Janey and Hannah are best friends now, and if losing her best friend isn't bad enough, Janey and Hannah start doing things to make Bindy's life miserable. Add this to the normal problems a girl has (parents, older brothers, boys) and you can understand how Being Bindy can be a tough thing.
I thought this was a pretty good book. Bindy is a fairly normal girl so I think that will help other girls relate to her character. I would recommend this to middle level girls that like "chick lit." One thing to note about this book - there is some brief descriptions of Janey smoking marijuana and coming home drunk. This may scare some teachers and parents away from recommending it to younger kids - I hope this doesn't happen. A book is a safe place for kids to encounter situations where risky behavior is taking place. When reading about sex, drugs or drinking kids can think about how they would handle the situation if they were in it. The key is they are thinking about what they would do before they are in the situation where they a faced with making a decision. I think that is a good thing.
