What do you think?
Rate this book
How To Be True
Edie was born to a family of troublemakers. When her activist parents leave Paris to protest around the globe, her grandmother decides it’s time she became a proper young lady and so sends her to the School of the Good Sisters.
But to Edie’s surprise, the nuns at the school teach genuinely useful things, like how to build a perfect library, cater for midnight feasts and make poison darts, and mischievous Edie feels right at home. When a school trip to Paris is planned, she worries about returning to the strict order of her grandmother’s chateau – but things are not as she left them. Soon Edie and her rebellious friends are caught up in a mystery involving a precious painting, secrets from her grandmother’s past and a very persistent burglar…
But to Edie’s surprise, the nuns at the school teach genuinely useful things, like how to build a perfect library, cater for midnight feasts and make poison darts, and mischievous Edie feels right at home. When a school trip to Paris is planned, she worries about returning to the strict order of her grandmother’s chateau – but things are not as she left them. Soon Edie and her rebellious friends are caught up in a mystery involving a precious painting, secrets from her grandmother’s past and a very persistent burglar…
352 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2022
4 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 7, 2022
“We need you to come on a QUEST with us!”The nuns of the School of the Good Sisters teach their students all of the important things in life, like helicopter maintenance and “how to build the most perfect library ever”. The school has secret passageways, towers and emergency biscuits so you’d need to come up with a pretty compelling reason for me to want to leave. Cue a field trip to Paris…
Edie’s Grand-mère has offered the school use of the family’s château while they’re in Paris, which sounds like an incredibly generous offer. Edie isn’t so sure, though, because she and her Grand-mère don’t exactly see eye to eye. However, being in close proximity to a mystery you’re trying to solve can be mighty helpful.
“We’re going to figure out why somebody keeps trying to steal one of the paintings downstairs and we’re going to stop him because we’re very good at that sort of thing.”I was disappointed when I figured out this book wasn’t going to be answering the questions I had at the end of How to Be Brave , particularly those about the people the villain worked for. My disappointment lasted all of three seconds, at which point I realised that this book was Edie’s story. Edie, the mischievous spitfire with a revolutionary spirit! My favourite character from the first book!
“I love you a little bit,” said Edie. “Not as much as macarons, for I cannot love anything more than macarons, but definitely more than doughnuts filled with jam.”Everything I loved about the first book was here too: copious amounts of footnotes of the interesting, helpful variety (who knew that was a thing?!), biscuits and other yummy treats as far as the eye can see and fun, quirky nuns. With self defence skills, no less.
There were also three dogs, a duck, some poison darts, a very important painting and a library I could live in for the rest of my life. With one of a kind swearing (“CHOCOLATE CAKE FILLED WITH JAM!”, “KALE CUPCAKES!”) and a cheese-themed riot, there was plenty to smile about, although there were some serious moments too.
Edie and her friends, Calla and Hanna, proved that they still have their priorities straight: “we must go and investigate and SOLVE things and possibly also get some hot chocolate from the kitchen to fortify our souls.”
No, the website mentioned in the book doesn’t exist (yet). It would have been fun to visit though. One day a publisher is going to figure out that some readers visit every website and send emails to every email address mentioned in a book hoping that just once it’ll result in the discovery of a fun Easter egg.
Favourite quote:
“THERE IS A DUCK FOLLOWING US AND I THINK IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE SITUATION TO COME TO A HEAD.”This series is absolutely delightful and I need it to continue for a very, very long time. Hopefully my next visit to the School of the Good Sisters will be suitably bookish. So far we’ve accompanied Calla and Edie on adventures so it simply has to be “more book than person” Hanna’s turn next.
“Will all our school trips be like this?”Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pushkin Children’s Books, an imprint of Pushkin Press, for the opportunity to read this book.
“Yes,” said Hanna happily. “Isn’t it great?”
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
July 12, 2022
I felt like I might be the kind of adult reader this book is aimed at - I loved reading boarding school stories as a child and I also adore books that feature nuns. Unfortunately, the narrative voice didn't work for me. It was just too much - too quirky, too twee, too deliberately self-referential. I liked the idea of Good Sister June writing the story (shades of Oswald in The Story of the Treasure Seekers!) but I felt that the other characters' voices needed to be more strongly differentiated from hers so there was a bit more realism to balance the frills. I also got unreasonably irritated with the obsession with cakes, biscuits, macaroons, doughnuts etc. - I like a good food description in a book, but it was just relentless. To be fair, I wasn't a huge fan of Murder Most Unladylike, either, which is probably this book's closest modern readalike, so maybe this will appeal more to other readers, especially in the target age group. DNF @51%.
I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
September 17, 2022
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.
Much like Johnson's How to Be Brave, this writing has a very British feel to it, which I think will be appealing to some readers, but could be confusing for others. I also like the inclusion of the footnotes, but if you are reading this digitally it can be cumbersome to go back and forth reading them.
Although this story is told by Good Sister June, it is a story about Edie (friends with Calla from How to Be Brave) and it is a story about how she stays true to herself, despite a number of obstacles along the way (parents head off traveling for a long period of time, grandmother wants to remove her from the boarding school she loves). When Edie returns to Paris with all of her schoolmates she decides she is going to thwart the plans of the thief trying to steal a painting from her grandmother (a painting of her grandmother with her first love, Agathe)
Much like Johnson's How to Be Brave, this writing has a very British feel to it, which I think will be appealing to some readers, but could be confusing for others. I also like the inclusion of the footnotes, but if you are reading this digitally it can be cumbersome to go back and forth reading them.
Although this story is told by Good Sister June, it is a story about Edie (friends with Calla from How to Be Brave) and it is a story about how she stays true to herself, despite a number of obstacles along the way (parents head off traveling for a long period of time, grandmother wants to remove her from the boarding school she loves). When Edie returns to Paris with all of her schoolmates she decides she is going to thwart the plans of the thief trying to steal a painting from her grandmother (a painting of her grandmother with her first love, Agathe)
September 10, 2022
Edie’s parents were activists who set out to travel the world so they left her with her grandmother Odette. Odette lived in a chateau in Paris with many rooms, but one room remained locked at all times. Only Odette was allowed in there, it is where she kept precious artwork.
One day someone broke into the chateau to steal a specific painting but Edie was able to scare him off. Odette took it as she was misbehaving. She then sent her off to England to boarding school.
The story is told by Good Sister June. The headmistress of the School of Good Sisters. A school run by nuns.
Edie thrived in school, learning so much and making lifelong friends. I loved the friendship that Edie had with Hanna and Calla. They were true friends with big personalities.
I also love that it felt like anything can be solved with biscuits.
Years later Odette invites the school to come to Paris and stay at the chateau. She tells Edie that she will not be returning to school. All while this is happening, the robber attempts and succeeds in stealing the painting again.
Edie comes up with a grand plan that takes a lot of coordination all over Paris that involves everyone from school including the Good Sisters to help get back the painting.
The story of Edie’s grandmother was told with such heart that it will tug on your heartstrings.
There are many footnotes throughout each chapter. The author explains that it is for information that she remembers later on. While I thought some were informative and clever, other times I thought it took away from the story.
Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
One day someone broke into the chateau to steal a specific painting but Edie was able to scare him off. Odette took it as she was misbehaving. She then sent her off to England to boarding school.
The story is told by Good Sister June. The headmistress of the School of Good Sisters. A school run by nuns.
Edie thrived in school, learning so much and making lifelong friends. I loved the friendship that Edie had with Hanna and Calla. They were true friends with big personalities.
I also love that it felt like anything can be solved with biscuits.
Years later Odette invites the school to come to Paris and stay at the chateau. She tells Edie that she will not be returning to school. All while this is happening, the robber attempts and succeeds in stealing the painting again.
Edie comes up with a grand plan that takes a lot of coordination all over Paris that involves everyone from school including the Good Sisters to help get back the painting.
The story of Edie’s grandmother was told with such heart that it will tug on your heartstrings.
There are many footnotes throughout each chapter. The author explains that it is for information that she remembers later on. While I thought some were informative and clever, other times I thought it took away from the story.
Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
July 31, 2022
Well, it’s a rare thing when I read a book for reviewing purposes and feel like I need to go back to check out the prequel for my own entertainment. This is one instance. So many books have taken the flippant route to present the most exuberant, outré, self-assured and confident child, over whom we are supposed to fawn and enjoy all they get up to, but none do it quite like this. In a book that wants to both honour and pastiche the good old English girls’ school drama, we start in France, with Edie’s parents meeting, and producing the most cosmopolitan, worldly-wise (and legally trained) genius child. When they gallivant off to do something worthy, like donate all their time and money somewhere, great-aunt takes control of Edie, and when Edie is found to be a bit too much, she is packed off to a big country house school, for finishing. Which is of course where everything really starts.
What that everything eventually proves to be is a mystery concerning a painting long lost to the world, but which great-aunt has stashed away in her private gallery, a gallery space that Edie is bound to dislike because it’s not, like, sharing enough. The way that Edie instils the French Revolutionary ethos – and lessons in barricade-building – into her classmates is just part of the wacky, nonchalant approach of the nuns at the school. But it’s a nonchalance that could come across as horrendous, when actually it’s really quite well done.
Also letting this book shine (although with some buffing still needed) is the style of presentation. It’s all done from the point of view of the headmistress of the school, writing up the shenanigans of her girls with consummate pride, copious snacks on hand, and at times some surprisingly lax grammar (“...a new life began for Edie even though she was not ready nor willing nor able to receive it”). Oh, and there are hundreds of footnotes, although they do tend to break the narrative up a little too much, especially when merely being a way of dumping a dreadful pun on the page.
But, beyond even all that, the book proves to have a much more mature heart than some may have assumed. The footnotes noticeably drop away, and the serious side comes out – again, perfectly measured. It’s the blend of bonkers and bravura that can definitely make this stick in the mind, and again wonder how the original visit to this school played out, with its semi-kidnap plot of some kind or other. While that book has to wait for another day, this one is the one to get a hearty recommendation, and a four and a half star rating. I would say ‘read it before it becomes a film,’ but honestly there are so many damned biscuits and cakes and snacks none of the cast would get to the end of the shoot before developing diabetes. Even without that urgency involved, I suggest you snap this up fast.
What that everything eventually proves to be is a mystery concerning a painting long lost to the world, but which great-aunt has stashed away in her private gallery, a gallery space that Edie is bound to dislike because it’s not, like, sharing enough. The way that Edie instils the French Revolutionary ethos – and lessons in barricade-building – into her classmates is just part of the wacky, nonchalant approach of the nuns at the school. But it’s a nonchalance that could come across as horrendous, when actually it’s really quite well done.
Also letting this book shine (although with some buffing still needed) is the style of presentation. It’s all done from the point of view of the headmistress of the school, writing up the shenanigans of her girls with consummate pride, copious snacks on hand, and at times some surprisingly lax grammar (“...a new life began for Edie even though she was not ready nor willing nor able to receive it”). Oh, and there are hundreds of footnotes, although they do tend to break the narrative up a little too much, especially when merely being a way of dumping a dreadful pun on the page.
But, beyond even all that, the book proves to have a much more mature heart than some may have assumed. The footnotes noticeably drop away, and the serious side comes out – again, perfectly measured. It’s the blend of bonkers and bravura that can definitely make this stick in the mind, and again wonder how the original visit to this school played out, with its semi-kidnap plot of some kind or other. While that book has to wait for another day, this one is the one to get a hearty recommendation, and a four and a half star rating. I would say ‘read it before it becomes a film,’ but honestly there are so many damned biscuits and cakes and snacks none of the cast would get to the end of the shoot before developing diabetes. Even without that urgency involved, I suggest you snap this up fast.
July 7, 2022
trigger warning
A bunch of schoolgirls is let loose on Paris, one châuteau, one grumpy grandma and one mysterious art thief.
In How To Be Brave we met Calla and her two best friends in the world, one of whom is the protagonist of this novel which leads me to hoping a third book will be about Hannah, because if this were a meme and I had to tag myself, I were Hannah, the bookworm. But I digress.
Edie is born to a family who makes the good kind of trouble. She is on her first demonstration as she is but three years old, and in her boarding school dorm hang posters of people like Ché Guevara and Rosa Luxemburg. When given the opportunity to teach a class, she teaches how to make barricades because you never know when that will come in handy.
In short, Edie is the person you want to have on your side because she will take action, just hope it's not against you.
Which is exactly what the guy who wants to steal a painting from Edie's grandmother is going to find out.
This is a mix of St. Trinian's and Emil und die Detektive in which a young boy enlists a Berlin child-gang to help him get back money that was stolen, but add in weird nuns who insinst on delicious food.
Fair warning, you will get sugary cravings.
Special mentions go out to the watch duck. If you want to know more about the watch duck, you'll have to read this book. Bonus points for teaching children that footnotes are fun.
This was fun, I would recommend it, I would read on, you know the drill.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
A bunch of schoolgirls is let loose on Paris, one châuteau, one grumpy grandma and one mysterious art thief.
In How To Be Brave we met Calla and her two best friends in the world, one of whom is the protagonist of this novel which leads me to hoping a third book will be about Hannah, because if this were a meme and I had to tag myself, I were Hannah, the bookworm. But I digress.
Edie is born to a family who makes the good kind of trouble. She is on her first demonstration as she is but three years old, and in her boarding school dorm hang posters of people like Ché Guevara and Rosa Luxemburg. When given the opportunity to teach a class, she teaches how to make barricades because you never know when that will come in handy.
In short, Edie is the person you want to have on your side because she will take action, just hope it's not against you.
Which is exactly what the guy who wants to steal a painting from Edie's grandmother is going to find out.
This is a mix of St. Trinian's and Emil und die Detektive in which a young boy enlists a Berlin child-gang to help him get back money that was stolen, but add in weird nuns who insinst on delicious food.
Fair warning, you will get sugary cravings.
Special mentions go out to the watch duck. If you want to know more about the watch duck, you'll have to read this book. Bonus points for teaching children that footnotes are fun.
This was fun, I would recommend it, I would read on, you know the drill.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
September 20, 2022
Edie has grown up at her mother’s plant store in Paris, when her parents decide to take an extended trip to participate in protests around the world. Edie ends up living with her paternal grandmother in a fancy chateau. But they don’t really get along. Mostly Edie is lonely in this giant castle and her grandmother is locked in a room that seems to be filled with art, which she won’t let Edie in. Edie though, steals the key and makes a duplicate. And then, she foils a robbery of that very art! Grandmere is over the drama and ships Edie off to a boarding school in England, run by the coolest nuns ever (the headmistress is the book’s narrator.) There she can take classes in light helicopter maintenance and spycraft. She even teaches a class one day on barricades! (After all, she is French).
Then her school plans a trip to Paris! And her grandmother volunteers that everyone can stay at the chateau! And Edie sees the same robber again!
Along with her two best friends, she wants to figure out what on earth the robber wants and why, what her grandmother is not telling her about the art in that room, and of course she also wants to foil the robbery. And introduce her classmates to the excellent Parisian patisserie, while she’s at it.
This is a super fun and creative middle grade book about a group of girls and nuns who are adventurous, creative, and supportive. It’s like an updated Madeline (and the girls are slightly older.) If Miss Clavell encouraged saying “poo-poo” to the tiger in the zoo. And the tiger was an art thief.
Then her school plans a trip to Paris! And her grandmother volunteers that everyone can stay at the chateau! And Edie sees the same robber again!
Along with her two best friends, she wants to figure out what on earth the robber wants and why, what her grandmother is not telling her about the art in that room, and of course she also wants to foil the robbery. And introduce her classmates to the excellent Parisian patisserie, while she’s at it.
This is a super fun and creative middle grade book about a group of girls and nuns who are adventurous, creative, and supportive. It’s like an updated Madeline (and the girls are slightly older.) If Miss Clavell encouraged saying “poo-poo” to the tiger in the zoo. And the tiger was an art thief.
July 20, 2022
If I say the words nuns with self-defence special ops expertise, a very intelligent duck, a truly one of a kind boarding school that would give Mallory Towers a run for its money, stolen art, and a library that most booklovers would happily spend an eternity in, I may be getting close to describing what this book is about.
How can you not love a book that has the quote “there is a duck following us and I think it is now time for the situation to come to a head” and enough footnotes that you couldn’t possibly be left with any more questions in regards to the story, the characters or the phrases used. It definitely helped that there were snacks galore mentioned throughout!
As a child, the Mallory Towers and St Clare’s books were my favourite, as well as the world of St Trinians, stories of children at boarding school, with all kinds of crazy adventures. This book was so nostalgic, and reminded me of flipping through the very first Mallory Towers books. This series and author may be the new Enid Blyton of this generation.
A fun, easy to read adventure tale that I would recommend to all readers, both children and adults alike. I will definitely be checking out the first book in this series and will be following this series in the future!
How can you not love a book that has the quote “there is a duck following us and I think it is now time for the situation to come to a head” and enough footnotes that you couldn’t possibly be left with any more questions in regards to the story, the characters or the phrases used. It definitely helped that there were snacks galore mentioned throughout!
As a child, the Mallory Towers and St Clare’s books were my favourite, as well as the world of St Trinians, stories of children at boarding school, with all kinds of crazy adventures. This book was so nostalgic, and reminded me of flipping through the very first Mallory Towers books. This series and author may be the new Enid Blyton of this generation.
A fun, easy to read adventure tale that I would recommend to all readers, both children and adults alike. I will definitely be checking out the first book in this series and will be following this series in the future!
September 12, 2022
How to be true
I really enjoyed How to be Brave and so requested a review copy of How to be True from the publisher and I was not disappointed! One of the things I enjoy most about this series is the tone of the narrator which is rather whimsical and made me laugh out loud on quite a few occasions! I also love the narrators pre occupation with cakes and biscuits because, you know, we all love a sweet treat! Aside from all this the story roars along, in this book we focus on Edie one of the characters from the first book and take a deeper look at her life. Edie lived with her Grand Mere in Paris before she went to boarding school and sees herself returning whilst on a school trip. With the help of her friends she manages to get entangled in another mystery and as before lots of mayhem and adventure ensues! A cross between Malory Towers and St Trinians the Girls at The School for the Good sisters are not like any school girls you are likely to meet and are all the better for it! Love this series it is definitely one of my favourite middle grade series around at the moment and it doesn’t get as much attention as it should! Give it a go you wont regret it!
I really enjoyed How to be Brave and so requested a review copy of How to be True from the publisher and I was not disappointed! One of the things I enjoy most about this series is the tone of the narrator which is rather whimsical and made me laugh out loud on quite a few occasions! I also love the narrators pre occupation with cakes and biscuits because, you know, we all love a sweet treat! Aside from all this the story roars along, in this book we focus on Edie one of the characters from the first book and take a deeper look at her life. Edie lived with her Grand Mere in Paris before she went to boarding school and sees herself returning whilst on a school trip. With the help of her friends she manages to get entangled in another mystery and as before lots of mayhem and adventure ensues! A cross between Malory Towers and St Trinians the Girls at The School for the Good sisters are not like any school girls you are likely to meet and are all the better for it! Love this series it is definitely one of my favourite middle grade series around at the moment and it doesn’t get as much attention as it should! Give it a go you wont regret it!
July 30, 2022
How to Be True is the kind of book that brings joy to its readers simply by existing.
📚📚📚
Having read Daisy May Johnson's previous book, How to Be Brave, I was looking forward to the second instalment, and it did not disappoint! Featuring rebellion, cake, art, friendship, Paris, and many other wonderful things, this book is truly a delight.
📚📚📚
One of the elements that makes this so great is Good Sister June's opinionated and clever narration of Edie's journey. As Edie and her friends navigate through the streets of France, they take part in an incredible adventure to stop an art thief and make important decisions about sandwiches and other assorted snacks.
📚📚📚
Books like How to Be True remind readers like me why we love stories. They remind other writers of the power a good story can have. For that, I say thank you, Daisy May Johnson. This is a book I will remember and return to, and as always, I'll be first in line for the next one!
📚📚📚
Having read Daisy May Johnson's previous book, How to Be Brave, I was looking forward to the second instalment, and it did not disappoint! Featuring rebellion, cake, art, friendship, Paris, and many other wonderful things, this book is truly a delight.
📚📚📚
One of the elements that makes this so great is Good Sister June's opinionated and clever narration of Edie's journey. As Edie and her friends navigate through the streets of France, they take part in an incredible adventure to stop an art thief and make important decisions about sandwiches and other assorted snacks.
📚📚📚
Books like How to Be True remind readers like me why we love stories. They remind other writers of the power a good story can have. For that, I say thank you, Daisy May Johnson. This is a book I will remember and return to, and as always, I'll be first in line for the next one!
August 14, 2022
I received an electronic ARC from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group through NetGalley.
A sequel to How to Be Brave. In this book, the focus is on Edie, one of Calla's friends. I hope this means a third book will come out to tell Hanna's story.
In this book, readers see Edie become the mastermind behind antics that are humorous and will be met with gasps of fright. She develops plots and plans to prevent her grandmother's painting from being stolen even though their relationship is frayed. We get to travel around Paris with the girls and the nuns from their school as they outwit the art thief. In the end, they not only recover the painting, but reunite Edie with her parents and her grandmother with her first love.
Johnson's dry humor style will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Her characters continue to reveal more about themselves throughout the book. The plot twists come quickly and keep readers focused to predict what may happen next.
A sequel to How to Be Brave. In this book, the focus is on Edie, one of Calla's friends. I hope this means a third book will come out to tell Hanna's story.
In this book, readers see Edie become the mastermind behind antics that are humorous and will be met with gasps of fright. She develops plots and plans to prevent her grandmother's painting from being stolen even though their relationship is frayed. We get to travel around Paris with the girls and the nuns from their school as they outwit the art thief. In the end, they not only recover the painting, but reunite Edie with her parents and her grandmother with her first love.
Johnson's dry humor style will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Her characters continue to reveal more about themselves throughout the book. The plot twists come quickly and keep readers focused to predict what may happen next.
November 12, 2022
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus
Very, very British and sort of like Judith's Eagle's The Pear Affair. This felt like it was set in an earlier time (14 year old set out to work when her parents move to France) and had a sort of odd tongue in cheek feel to it. I've seen it compared to Robin Stevens' Murder Most Unladylike series, but it was not like anything I can say I've read previously. The foot notes got to be a bit much, especially since the book was narrated by a Good Sister. This would be extremely hard to place with a reader in my library. Is there a resurgence of the Lemony Snicket style of writing that I haven't been told about? It's definitely gone out of favor in my library, yet I keep seeing books with that sort of tone being published, and I'm a bit confused.
Very, very British and sort of like Judith's Eagle's The Pear Affair. This felt like it was set in an earlier time (14 year old set out to work when her parents move to France) and had a sort of odd tongue in cheek feel to it. I've seen it compared to Robin Stevens' Murder Most Unladylike series, but it was not like anything I can say I've read previously. The foot notes got to be a bit much, especially since the book was narrated by a Good Sister. This would be extremely hard to place with a reader in my library. Is there a resurgence of the Lemony Snicket style of writing that I haven't been told about? It's definitely gone out of favor in my library, yet I keep seeing books with that sort of tone being published, and I'm a bit confused.
February 7, 2024
Told by a nun, the Good Sister June, but it is really the story of a girl named Edie.
Edie's parents are activists who live in Paris. While they usually involve Edie in their activities, this time they decide it is too dangerous, so they send her off to live with her very strict grandmother who also seems to be hiding a secret. This arrangement does not go very well, so her grandmother sends her off to a boarding school run by nuns, although these aren't your ordinary nuns.
Lots of cake, footnotes, and a mystery.
I found the writing style to be quite tedious and the solution to the mystery fairly obvious.
Edie's parents are activists who live in Paris. While they usually involve Edie in their activities, this time they decide it is too dangerous, so they send her off to live with her very strict grandmother who also seems to be hiding a secret. This arrangement does not go very well, so her grandmother sends her off to a boarding school run by nuns, although these aren't your ordinary nuns.
Lots of cake, footnotes, and a mystery.
I found the writing style to be quite tedious and the solution to the mystery fairly obvious.
December 1, 2022
I really liked aspects of this book. such as its structure with the very short chapters. However, the use of endnotes did my head in as it kept throwing me out of story. I stopped reading them but the fact that they were peppered throughout the text continued to distract me. Ultimately, the authorial aside did no favours to the story which was already a stretch for me. The wink to the Chalet girl stories and that trope/genre should have made this a fun read but it was only an OK book for me. I did finish it, so there is that.
February 22, 2024
I really am in love with this series. The way in which it is written is just magical. I love that this time it gave us the back story for Edie, with the mystery focusing on her. Another great tale full of humour and adventure. Can’t wait for book three.
June 19, 2022
Quirky. A very enjoyable read - a more believable plot than the first book but still surreal. Fast paced so more plot focused than character focused
October 6, 2022
DNF - too strange!
October 14, 2022
If I'd gone in knowing this book was a companion, I think I would have understood some of the devices (so. many. food references) a little bit more. But nevertheless, still a fun romp through Paris!
Read
December 31, 20232023- You know those middle great novels that are written more with adults in mind? This fits the bill. The setting was fun, but I'm not sure how much interest it would hold for the target audience.
September 13, 2022
"It was punny, interesting, and incredible!!!!!!!" That's what my eight year old told me to write, this was a great book to enjoy with her, we really loved HTBBrave too and can't wait for Hannah's story 🤞hope that one is coming along soon..
August 29, 2025
Hoe kan een verhaal over een dapper rebels meisje dat zo graag haar eigen zin wil krijgen zorgen voor zo lief en hartverwarmend zijn? Door over Edie te gaan natuurlijk.
Met een laagje Fransheid erover (of hoe fransheid er uitziet volgens Britten), met een groot hart, met veel gevoel voor rechtvaardigheid en een strijdlust om onrecht tegen te gaan, met beschrijvingen van lekkers waar je van gaat dromen, met de meest afschuwelijke vloeken (boiled Brussels sprouts!). Dat er intussen ook meegegeven wordt dat in WOII ook intellectuelen vervolgd werden, dat je durven uitspreken tegen de sterk gepromote traditionele waarden dapper, levensgevaarlijk en cruciaal was… dat zijn waarden en lessen die dit kinderboek bomvol hilarische voetnoten echt áf maken.
Met een laagje Fransheid erover (of hoe fransheid er uitziet volgens Britten), met een groot hart, met veel gevoel voor rechtvaardigheid en een strijdlust om onrecht tegen te gaan, met beschrijvingen van lekkers waar je van gaat dromen, met de meest afschuwelijke vloeken (boiled Brussels sprouts!). Dat er intussen ook meegegeven wordt dat in WOII ook intellectuelen vervolgd werden, dat je durven uitspreken tegen de sterk gepromote traditionele waarden dapper, levensgevaarlijk en cruciaal was… dat zijn waarden en lessen die dit kinderboek bomvol hilarische voetnoten echt áf maken.
August 13, 2022
I read How to be Brave a couple months ago, after a year of everyone insisting I would love it, and they were all spot on. This is the companion book following one of Calla’s best friends at their school run by non-religious nuns, Edie. The school is going on a trip to her native Paris, and this is the first time in forever that she has been home and had to deal with her rather difficult relationship with her grandmother, who is her guardian given the fact her parents are away on a lengthy trip. Then Edie becomes embroiled in protecting a painting in her grandmother’s extensive collection from theft, and she and her friends unearth the heartbreaking historical story behind it. Simply put, I knew after How to Be Brave that Edie was one of my new favourite characters of all time, and this book absolutely confirmed it for me. She is bold and brave, loyal and fiercely loving, and I just couldn’t love her anymore. The friendship trio is another fave of all time, so supportive and like a sisterhood, and I found Edie’s grandmère a rather fascinating woman. The narration is quirky and hugely amusing, and the ending legitimately made me weep, so I can’t wait to hear more details about the next book, which will presumably be book-loving Hanna’s time to shine.
August 23, 2022
Was worried this wouldn't live up to my expectations as I loved the first book so much and Edie as a character in particular, but it's every bit as amazing - more amazing! With a brilliant backstory, fantastic sleuthing and outwitting of adults and a heart-wrenching ending this book provided it all - laughs, tears and a craving for biscuits!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews