Gina Filomina lives with her mum and dad and is often the envy of many in her middle school. Her Italian grandmother sends her beautiful scarves and clothing, which Gina enjoys wearing. She doesn’t intend to show off, but her classmate’s mums complain because their daughters pine for beautiful Italian scarves of their own.

Gina also stands out in class to her teachers who comment on her active imagination and lack of focus in class. She’s focussing fine, but it might just not be on the teacher at the time.

Her imagination is out shadowed however, by a new neighbour. His name is Antonio, and his arrival causes quite a stir in the classroom. Along with a new teacher, Miss Lightstone, Gina’s active imagination is fed and nurtured with ideas and possibilities, and then poured out on the page in class writing exercises.

This opening of her mind and eyes even more to the people and world around her is intriguing to Gina, making her see things she’s never seen before. Along with her quirky, kind, family, her pasta-mad relatives and a mysterious disappearance, Gina’s writing skills and imagination are stretched and moulded into something truly special.

One Time reminds me a little of Jerry Spinelli’s Star Girl, as a new kid joins a classroom, bringing with him questions and quirks for others to wonder over.

The teacher (Miss Lightstone) is a shining light to her pupils – but not sugary perfect, sometimes needing her pupils to give her some quiet time. The way she coaxes her student’s minds wide open is awesome to watch.

The voice of a middle schooler is captured perfectly in this middle grade novel, in the way she reacts with family, classmates and new experiences. When unexplained things happen around her, her imagination quickly takes her to possible scenarios and solutions.

Gina jumps about in the telling of her tale, with a strange boy, cranky cat, beautiful scarves and family stories of a special angel.

More character focussed than plot driven, One Time, (by this multi-award winning author) is refreshingly different.

Author – Sharon Creech

Age – 10+

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(2022, Hardie Grant, Guppy Publishing, Classroom, Middle School, Intermediate, New Neighbour, Quirky, Imagination, School, Friendship, Family, Mystery, Aunt, Uncle, Pasta, Kindness, Community, Italian Grandmother, Story, Story, Angel)