The New Girl

A new girl has started in class. She doesn't look like the others in her class, she doesn't speak the same language or understand what anyone is saying to her, regardless of whether they shout at her loudly. The new girl's lunch smells funny, her clothes make her look like she's wrapped up like a parcel and she walks home alone. Everyone laughs at the new girl.

But the new girl has a skill. An ability unusual from others in her class; a skill in the art of paper folding, learned as part of her culture. She creates beautiful paper flowers which seem to appear all by themselves around the classroom, bringing light and happiness to the other children in class that find them.

The narrator of this tale tells this story as a member of the class, another girl who gets wrapped up in the bullying towards the new girl. Until, it comes to light one day that the new girl is the one making these delicate pieces of paper art, the flowers that make everyone smile. The new girl helps show our story teller and her classmates how to fold paper flowers just like she does and the names of different flowers in a new language. The new girl wasn't the new girl anymore but her friend, her friend 'Kiku'.

This is such a heart-warming story, both gentle and uplifting; a cleverly crafted tale of inclusion and antibullying. Davies has created another story which celebrates diversity and the importance of respecting others cultures.

The illustrations in this book are truly stunning, cleverly portraying the changing mood and emotions of the characters and environment. My favourite page simply states 'We caught cruelty like a cold that drew the winter down around us all'. The combination of this text with the dark and almost eerie illustrations is so poignant and hard hitting, showing the misery for this young girl and all involved.

This picture book will prove as invaluable as 'School of Sanctuary' in encouraging children to accept one another, however different, and to think about how our own actions can impact others.

Picture book / Ages 5+ / Reviewed by Nikki Stiles, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 7+