The second best friend by Sally Rippin (Bille B Brown series)

Often one of the hardest things to find is a very junior novel with a satisfying story. When children are ready to move away from ‘readers’ they want engaging stories but of course the text needs to be simple enough to support a beginning reader. The new series Billy B Brown seems to answer this need.

In The second best friend Billie faces a dilemma which I think most young children will easily identify with – loyalty to a real friend.

Billie has some lovely sparkly pens. Jack gave these pens to Billie. Rebecca would like these pens. Rebecca has a lovely purple pony. Rebecca is willing to swap. What should Billie do?

As a further aid to the reader all the important emotional words (not too many to become annoying) are bold.

“Billie looks at Jack. She can see that Jack looks upset but she doesn’t know what to say. She mainly feels excited that Rebecca want to be her friend.”
There are six books in the series and I am sure they will quickly become ‘hot potatoes’ with my youngest readers. The web site is worth a visit too.