Description
Twelve days. Five kids. Many special effects. One giant mystery. Hayley Whelan has spent her whole life dreaming of making a horror movie - and not just the type of movie that kids make on their dodgy second-hand iPhones. When her grandma passes away, she inherits the money for a proper, grown-up camera.
But before Hayley even calls 'Action!', strange things start happening... Someone is sabotaging Hayley's movie - but who? Why? And can Hayley finish her movie in time for the premiere? From Australia's brightest new middle-grade talent comes this love song to movies, friendship and the summer holidays.
Review
This is a nice change from a lot of books in the middle grade reader category recently, in that it is just a good story for middle-grade students, and is not aiming at tackling any big issues. Don’t get me wrong, there are issues to tackle in this story, but they never feel heavy.
Our star Hayley, who is 11, is inspired by the passion shared with her grandmother to make their own movie. Hayley decides to now undertake this dream on her own as a tribute after her Grandma passed away.
The trouble is Hayley has set a date for the wake and invited all of Grandma’s friends and enemies (and the pushy outspoken old woman had a few of those), but she now only has 12 days to get her movie completed. With the help of her friends and family, she knows that she can do it!
But too many things go mysteriously wrong. Is her dream being sabotaged, and if so, by who?
At times the story does go on a bit too much, but the ending makes continuing well worth it!
With many wonderful characters and friendship related questions, this is a great novel for upper primary students.
Reviewed by Rob
