Ella Diaries #7: Friends Not Forever product reviews

I have only just discovered the Ella Diaries series of books and have realised it is in fact the same Ella from the Ella and Olivia series that my daughter enjoys. Flicking through this book, I could see that it is a nice step up from the Ella and Olivia books and would appeal to readers who want to read about some of their favourite characters, but are past the beginner books.

My daughter is nearly 8 and while she is a confident reader, she still prefers me to read to her and this book definitely fell into that category. As this is the second book we've read in the series, I'd already explained the concept of a diary to my daughter and so she already had a great understanding of why the book is set out this way. The previous book actually inspired my daughter to start a diary of sorts, and this book helped support that idea and inspire more ideas.

I love that the book is filled with little pictures and diagrams and even great deal of the text written in pink, with little love hearts all over the top of the letters. It really feels like a little girl has written this, and it's even got parts where spelling mistakes are crossed out and re-written. It feels very real and was very inspiring with ideas for Miss 7 to use in her diary.

As with all good kids books, everything works out in the end but it takes a few twists and turns to get there, so it captured my daughter's interest and gave her things to think about as we read. I liked that it raised issues about friendships - something that is a real goldmine for young girls, so it was good to have an opening to discuss these things. I definitely recommend this book for confident readers, particularly girls, who wish to have something more substantial to read, or for reading to less confident readers.