The After School Crime Club

Willow is an outsider, she’s different but she has a best friend and that’s her Nanna. With her Nanna she doesn’t feel alone, but now Nanna is gone she doesn’t know where to turn. So when a group a children want to be her friends, she’ll do anything to gain their friendship.

This was such a lovely story of Willow trying to find her place in the world. Struggling with making friends and navigating school as well as dealing with grief. I loved the lesson that you shouldn’t change who you are or do something that doesn’t feel right just to fit in with others. It was such a quick read and I loved how sweet Willow was and you could really feel for her as we read her inner voices. A lovely middle-grade read.

Willow’s grandma has just died and she’s finding it hard to cope. She has no friends and spends her time after school at her gran’s playing music. When she joins an after school club, she wants to fit in and will do anything to have friends.

It’s a great book that some children will relate to and shows that they are not alone. It’s a positive ending about a girl who knows she can be different.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

Any story that starts with a love letter to classic musicals is going to be ok by me - and the After School Crime Club did this beautifully, talking about Singing in the Rain with such affection and charm.
The story is about Willow, a quirky 11 year old who's always watched classic films with her gran, but her gran is sadly no longer around. Willow and her mum are feeling her loss hugely, but are finding it hard to communicate.

Alongside this, Willow's mum is worried that Willow's not doing too well at school and arranges for her to go to an after school club at the local bookshop. She meets people there who she thinks she might be friends with including Tay, the coolest girl at school. Another girl says that Willow can join their gang if she takes parts in some dares, including stealing items from home or from shops. Without her gran to guide her, Willow feels pressured to take part, but she hates the feeling that she's doing something wrong.

Its a lovely story about being true to yourself, trusting your inner voice, family bonds, and of course, musicals! It would be a welcome addition to any school library or bookshelf.

I loved this beautiful Middle Grade novel from Hayley Webster and Nosy Crow.
Willow's Nanna had just died and she misses her dreadfully. She always been a bit of a loner but that didn't matter as spending time with her Nanna, her best friend, was the best time in the world. They loved watching old musicals and the themes and music of Singing in the Rain is a thread that runs through the novel. Both the film and Nanna's voice help try and keep Willow on track when she's offered friendship with conditions.
Willow has been struggling at school and so her mum enrols her in an after school tutoring class. Here she meets the exciting and tantalising Tay and to be noticed by her Willow will do almost anything. This makes her desperate and highly susceptible. And when she's encouraged to steal small items to prove her loyalty she is tested beyond anything that she's every expected before.
Webster has mastered the characterisation; Willow's mum's depression is beautifully explored and suggested. This creates a backdrop upon which the loss of her best friend is played. Nanna provided someone that Willow could talk to; she was a person who could listen about the fears that she had for her mother and what it meant to live with a mum who was drowning. Willow is a powerful narrative voice. Listening to her inner monologue about what is right is the reason I will be sharing this with Y7/8 as part of an ethics unit. Willow explores what it means to be honest against what it means to be lonely. Great dilemmas are presented and unpacked and would allow younger readers to really understand the process of making ethical decisions.
A highly recommended read for KS3 children and read aloud for KS2.