Topp Notch: The Diary of Ellie Topp Book 2

by Jenny Bell

Ellie Topp returns for the second time in this fantastic, fun diary series. Life is moving fast - Ellie turns thirteen this year. So what will happen when her Mum returns to work? And when she is asked out by a boy for the first time? Will Ellie manage to juggle all the demands on her or will things finally become too much to handle? Jenny Bell returns with another laugh-out-loud story to delight all Ellie Topp fans out there as well as any new readers. With Ellie's entertaining antics and insightful outlook on life, this book is perfect for readers of any age.

50 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 21, 2015

Reviews

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met Ellie by accident. The author wrote a short book about her and it was mistakenly placed in the "Memoirs" section. I started reading it and was hooked before I realized that it was a fictional diary. Ordinarily I would have deleted it in disgust, but there's something very appealing about Ellie. Later the author expanded the book and I became even more invested in the story of Ellie and her family. This book continues the tale and it is indeed "top notch."

Ellie is a typically atypical 13-year-old girl. She's bright, but not academic. She loves her parents and siblings and is frequently enraged by them. She doesn't really want a boy friend, but wishes everyone THOUGHT she had one.

You have to understand a bit about the English education system for it to make sense. Ellie attends a "comprehensive" high school and is studying for the exams that will determine what certificates she gets (and what jobs are open to her.) Her younger sister (the "brain box") has passed an exam to allow her to attend a "grammar school" for kids who plan to attend university. The division seems odd to Americans, but each type of school has advantages and disadvantages, as the two sisters soon learn.

As with most girls, a great deal of energy is spent on her relationship with her strong-minded, intense mother. It's not really a love/hate relationship. More of a love/admiration/exasperation relationship. The plot twist is that Mrs. Topp - for thirteen years the most helicopter of helicopter parents - has decided to become a career woman. Her quiet, good-natured husband quits his job and becomes a stay-at-home dad. He quickly learns that there's more to running a house than he thought. The two girls are fairly easy to handle, but his two rambunctious young sons have him thoroughly buffaloed.

As Ellie nears the pivotal age of fourteen, she begins to see her parents more as individuals and to have some insights into what drives them. She also struggles to become more comfortable in her own skin and to map out her future. It's a fascinating journey.

In addition to being a funny, sometimes heart-warming look at a family through the eyes of an intelligent teen, this book says a lot about parenting and marriage and money and appearances. Like all families, the Topps win some and lose some, but the love and commitment are there and that gets them over the rough spots. I love this series and I hope it continues.

[Janet Doolaege · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun read. In this second book we get our next glimpse into the doings of the Topp family, as seen through the eyes of Ellie, who is now thirteen, going on fourteen. She has fallen in love, but not yet with a boy. For the moment, the object of her devotion is Mabel, a puppy, whose training she has taken on. However, she has also acquired a broader view of human relationships, and not merely because some of her class-mates do have boyfriends. Her friend Emily’s parents are splitting up, an event sadly banal in the lives of children today, and Ellie has begun to see her own parents not so much as plain Mum and Dad but more as individuals with specific needs and problems. A big shift in the balance of the family occurs when her mother decides to go back to work and her father finds that being a house-husband is not so easy, particularly when he has to cope with two small sons. Luckily for Ellie, her mother is sensitive and articulate and willing to have proper conversations with her daughter. She can even be persuaded to change certain rules! Meanwhile, enterprising Ellie continues to cook delicious-sounding meals for her little brothers and to tutor them, and she even makes videos with the help of her clever sister, Sophie. Her horizons are widening, but she is still basically the same sensible, kind and optimistic girl whom we would have loved to have as our best friend at that age.