Author: Rebecca Emin

Publisher: Grimoire Books (23rd January 2012)

Pages: 166

ISBN: 978-1908375063

From Amazon
Sam Hendry is not looking forward to starting at her new school. Things go from bad to worse as the day of truth arrives and all of her fears come true… and then some. When Sam meets a different group of people who immediately accept her as a friend, she begins to feel more positive. With her new friends and interests, will Sam finally feel able to face the bully who taunts her, and to summon up the courage to perform on stage?

Review
There are two things which will almost guarantee I will read a book – a book which tackles a subject like bullying, I will always try and highlight these books when I come across them. The other thing (if you’re wondering) is anything to do with theatre (professional, school or otherwise) and unusually New Beginnings has both!

Sam is just about to transfer to secondary school which can be a stressful period of time at the best of times but it’s made worse as her parents have opted to send her to a different school from her friends forcing her to start afresh. And on top of that she starts being bullied … arrgghhh!!!

I have to admit my first impressions of the teachers at the new school left a little to be desired, they seemed friendly enough but they didn’t seem to have a clue about what was going on right under there noses! Now I know it’s not possible to know how everyone in a classroom is feeling but even the teachers in my old school were better than that! I was particularly disappointed with Mrs Jennings (the PE teacher – maybe that explains my dislike of her hehe) as she failed to listen to both sides of what was going on after one incident.

Moving away from the bullying aspect there is another side to this story – Sam loves to sing and she’s pretty, what am I saying, she is fantastic at it, everyone who hears her sing is captivated by it and it leads the story into some interesting places. It allows her to meet new characters and makes Sam feel like she’s found a place in the world where she belongs. It fills her with more and more self confidence and it allows her to discover it’s the bully with the problem and not her.

I loved how although the book doesn’t preach out a message about bullying, instead it shows the kinds of effects it can have on other people, plus there are references to the UK bullying charity, Bullying UK and it gives a tip on how to deal with it. Of course the most important thing it raises is that if you are being bullied you should tell someone!

I only had one niggle it is something that happens right at the very end so I can’t really say what it is, I understand why it’s in there but without encouragement I’m not absolutely sure it would happen. It’s only a tiny thing and nothing to really worry about and for the age group I completely understand why. (that’s why it’s only a niggle ).

New Beginning is a very fast paced story and its 166 page whip by and are gone before you know it, there’s plenty of things going on that no-one will get bored. Aimed at younger readers, it could be an eye opening read for the bully, the bullied and those that observe.

Thanks to Rebecca for sending me a copy to review