Too Nice, by Sally Nicholls, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

                  This is a clever, accessible, little chapter book story about feelings and relationships. 

                  Teenager Abby has a problem, and it isn’t the kind of problem that gets much sympathy at first, especially from herself. 

It’s been just her and Dad for as long as Abby can remember, but now Jen has moved in, in step-mother role, and Jen is just too nice! Too full of compliments that Abby doesn’t believe, too much there all the time, giving Abby no space. Abby reacts to this by becoming rude, a liar, a ‘brat’ of a kind she doesn’t enjoy being. It needs a slight crisis to bring things to a head, and an imaginative surprise gift to Jen from Abby breaks through to real love. 

                  Beautifully handled, this is a story that evokes empathy for all three characters, Abby, Dad and Jen. Each of them is struggling, loving, trying to get it right … and finally succeeding.  Who knew that ‘adults are human being too’?! A revelation for some children, perhaps!