Game Changer!

The Susie K Files #2

by Shamini Flint, Sally Heinrich (Illustrator)

Susie K likes science instead of netball and has the class goldfish for a best friend. But Susie's mum finds it hard to believe that she's happy that way. She's constantly trying to push Susie (with the best of intentions, of course!) to be something she's not. And the last thing Susie wants is to disappoint her mum...

Susie's mum is excited to hear that Susie is competing in Sports Day at school ... except Susie hasn't found a sport she's any good at. But even though Susie would much rather stay home and investigate deforestation, she uses all her problem-solving skills to become a game changer!

In this fresh new series find out how Susie's unconventional problem-solving skills + Mum's optimistically high expectations = hilarious results.

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2018

About the author

Shamini Flint lives in Singapore with her husband and two children. She began her career in law in Malaysia and also worked at an international law firm in Singapore. She travelled extensively around Asia for her work, before resigning to be a stay-at-home mum, writer, part-time lecturer and environmental activist, all in an effort to make up for her 'evil' past as a corporate lawyer!

Shamini writes children's books with cultural and environmental themes including Jungle Blues and Turtle takes a Trip as well as the 'Sasha' series of children's books. She also writes crime fiction featuring the rotund Singaporean policeman, Inspector Singh. Singh travels around Asia stumbling over corpses and sampling the food ...

Reviews

[Prabhjot Kaur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Susie K is nine years old and she loves science. At her school, sports day is approaching and every student has to take part in a sporting event. Her mother wants her to be a participant and can't wait Susie K to shine like a star on the day but Susie K isn't good at sports. She is in Purple house at the school and tries all the sports from netball to running to long jump to javelin throw but doesn't get the grasp of any of the games.

She wants to tell her mother that she isn't good at any sports but doesn't have the heart for it as she loves her mother and doesn't want to disappoint her. Her mother was a refugee from Sri Lanka and she didn't have the best childhood so Susie K tells her that the sport she has chosen is a secret. In choosing a sport, she does a lot of research and actually ends up helping the other kids better their performance. In the end, she chooses chess and ends up winning it and making Purple house the winner as well.

I loved the first book in the series and I was really looking forward to reading this. It is not a bad read by any means but having read Shamini Flint's Diary of a Soccer Star series, I couldn't enjoy this as much as I had wanted to because the parallels were too great. All the humor and even the storyline read like it was copied from the author's other series. Had I not read the other series, I may have enjoyed this more. Having said that, I will be continuing with the series.

2 stars