Tag: R.A. Spratt

Friday Barnes: No Rules by R.A. Spratt

Friday barnes 4Title: Friday Barnes: No Rules

Author: R.A. Spratt

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Penguin Random House/Puffin

Published: 7th May 2019

Format: Paperback

Pages:  256

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: What if every clue points in the wrong direction?

Friday Barnes has been deported to Switzerland! With their in-school detective gone, Highcrest Academy has descended into chaos. Someone’s fired all the teachers!

The Headmaster claims it wasn’t him, and suspicion soon turns to Ian Wainscott, but Friday won’t stand by and let her favourite nemesis take the blame. Apart from being innocent (probably), he’s seriously good-looking. There’s also the problem of the new vice principal and his questionable teaching methods. It’s hard to take someone seriously when they wear tie-dyed t-shirts. Can Friday save Ian’s scholarship? Can she find the prankster before they bring down the school? Can she run the cross country? She’s certainly going to try . . . to do the first two, anyway.

~*~

The fourth Friday Barnes book begins with Friday being deported – she was born in Switzerland and her parents forgot to apply for Australian citizenship for her – so her name is Swiss too. It doesn’t take long before she gets home though and is faced with a school in chaos. All the Highcrest teachers have been fired, and VP Pete has introduced new teaching methods that are at odds with the other teachers. But is he hiding something, and what does he have planned for Highcrest? Only Friday Barnes can find out!

Friday and Melly are back at their investigative tricks – trying to find out who would want the teachers fired and why they would frame Ian Wainscott – whom Melanie insists is Friday’s boyfriend.

I love Friday’s attempts to get out of cross country too – and the mystery thickens when the trail causes trouble – can Friday reveal the real culprit and convince the Headmaster he’s wrong about Ian?

With her usual humour and bluntness, Friday interrogates students and investigates side cases for other students, and negotiates payment and her ability to stay at Highcrest with the forever suffering Headmaster, who relies on Friday to investigate what is happening yet at the same time, wishes she’d keep her head down – and on that, they are constantly agreeing. Friday’s one constant parental figure is Uncle Bernie, who is always ready to help Friday in her shenanigans.

 

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I’m loving this series – it’s great to see a female character be who she is – awkward, shy and into school and all kinds of subjects from history to science, and is always ready with facts as needed. Characters like Friday expand what we expect from our literary heroes and show that every experience and every type of characters can work effectively and tell a good story. It also shows kids that there are people like them – that the world isn’t divided into popular and unpopular kids. There are so many different types of kids and personalities.

This series brings boarding schools, mystery and so many things together for readers to life and ensures that the journey is never ending – it is a series that definitely needs to be read in order. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

 

Friday Barnes: Big Trouble by R.A. Spratt

friday barnes 3Title: Friday Barnes: Big Trouble
Author: R.A. Spratt
Genre: Crime
Publisher: Penguin Random House/Puffin
Published: 7th May 2019/3rd August 2015
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Price: $15.99
Synopsis: Friday Barnes has a new case, and this time it’s personal!
When Friday’s father turns up out of the blue, he brings his daughter some distressing news – Friday’s mother has been kidnapped! But who would want to kidnap a theoretical physicist? The Headmaster needs Friday’s help too, when Highcrest Academy is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a beautiful new student – Princess Ingrid of Norway. She’s rich, she’s royal and she’s got her eye on Ian Wainscott. Despite heightened security at the school, things start to go missing. It appears Highcrest Academy has been infiltrated by a master thief, The Pimpernel.
Can Friday crack the case of her missing mother, reign in a royal brat and unmask the elusive Pimpernel? If it means she gets to ditch PE, then of course she can!

~*~

Friday’s father has appeared at Highcrest, and has taken over science class – that is, until he tells Friday her mother is missing. So Friday heads home with her father, her uncle, and Melanie to investigate and find out where her mother is. Upon her return, Friday is swept up into the mystery of the Pimpernel, and a Norwegian Princess who is attending the school for six weeks and has moved into the room next door to Friday and Melanie. When the Pimpernel steals from staff and students, the Headmaster enlists Friday, and she uncovers more than just who the Pimpernel is!

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The third book in the Friday Barnes series picks up where book two ended and leaves us with another thrilling mystery to dive into at the end. What I love about this series is each book flows into the next one, so there is always something to look forward to. In this novel, Friday’s most loathed subject – PE plays a large part, with a race towards the end that helps Friday solve many od the cases that have been plaguing the school over the past few weeks. The humour is still there – it is a school unlike any other where simply being a certain student can earn you a trip to the Headmaster’s office before you’ve even tried to start the day.
And dealing with a princess is another matter – but what is the princess hiding, and is her attraction to Ian just a way to make people ignore what is really going on? Friday takes this all in her stride – even at twelve years old – and solves cases, deals with her family and friends and manages to study as much as possible, though at times, it seems a wonder that any schoolwork actually gets done at Highcrest, which is all part of the fun. It’s a school where you never know what will happen, and that is all part of the charm with Friday Barnes.