Ella at Eden: Perfect Score by Laura Sieveking

Title: Ella at Eden: Perfect Score

Author: Laura Sieveking

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st June 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 192

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: Ella is training hard for the upcoming Interschool Gymnastics Championships. She’s even trying to face her fear of doing a backward walkover on the balance beam. But once the competition begins, Ella discovers that someone has been tampering with the equipment. Is it an innocent mistake or something more sinister? And will Ella and her team take home the Championship trophy?

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Ella is part of the Eden Gymnastics team at Level 6, and her group is training for the Interschool Gymnastics Championships, and whilst training, Ella’s trying to combat her fear of the balance beam and her backward walkover – it’s the one apparatus she’s never been able to get the hang of. Slowly, she’s gaining confidence with help from Coach Marie, Mia, Jasmine, and Charlotte – but the start of the competition against the Southern Beaches schools, Ella finds out that the equipment has been tampered with – is it Alexa, the smallest competitor on the opposing team, or is it someone else? And back at Eden, Ella’s friend Grace is dealing with something she can’t talk to her friends about, so can Ella and her friends help Grace, or will Saskia’s meddling ruin their friendship forever?

The latest Ella at Eden book has Ella nearing the end of her first year at Eden – it’s spring now, and the girls are heading towards the end of year seven – it will be interesting to see if the series goes beyond year seven, because the format has followed the school year ever since the start of the series in 2020 – it has averaged three books a year so far, and I feel like it has had a nice storyline. It is a series that can be read in any order, but I think it is more fun reading the books in order, as Ella often refers back to things in previous books. In this way, all the books are connected through settings, events, and characters.

What I have liked about each book is that they have all had unique storylines that could happen at a boarding school, and they have brought the boarding school story into the twenty-first century, but much like past boarding school stories I think it does romanticise the idea of the school a bit, but that has always been the fun thing about these stories – to imagine who we would be in a boarding school and where we would fit in and what we would do. I love the range of activities the school offers, and that Ella takes part in because it shows how her character grows and changes across the series and how she has developed in all the Ella books – Ella and Olivia, Ella Diaries, and Meet Ella. It is fun to see how she has developed as she has grown up, and I keep wondering if there is another stage for Ella – perhaps a young adult series! That would be fun.

I have loved the Ella at Eden series since it first came out, and I have been reading each book as it has come out – either when it was sent to me for review, or when I have bought it after it has come out. Each book is its own story and adventure, but part of a bigger one, and a story about change, transition, and accepting that not everything will always work out the way we want it, and Ella is a great character to show this – she tries everything she can, and she succeeds at some things, but not with others – I think that is what makes this series work. And it also celebrates friendship and difference – our different talents, the different things we have in our lives, and what makes each person unique. It is the kind of series I would have devoured growing up alongside The Babysitter’s Club and Teen Power Inc because of the diversity of characters and their interests and abilities or disabilities, because it allows the characters to shine in their own ways, and I love that sort of thing.

I love that this time, we get to see sports celebrated – each novel has focused on a different activity at the school from writing, journalism, art, camping, acting and drama, and horse riding, amongst many other things. Ella is always part of the activity, whether it is one she has chosen, is trying out, or whether it is a whole school activity. I like that she is so involved because it lets her be well-rounded, but she still has time to spend with her friends, and she has different friends in each activity – that is what I like as well. That the series shows that it is good to have different friends in different activities and that you can be involved in each group without too much conflict. Another great Ella at Eden novel, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.