The hits and misses of Melody Moss by Helen Dallimore

Melody Moss is a 12-year-old girl who lives in suburban Australia and is about to start her first day of High School. She is so obsessed with musicals that her best friend from Primary School, Abby, decides to ditch her for cooler friends. Melody is alone and friendless, and her eccentricities make it very hard for her to find new friends. Luckily, she meets Victor who is also a social outcast, and he is a talented musician and musical lover. Together they write a musical about octopuses falling in love and win a school competition to co-direct the musical as the annual school play.

Tyler, the lead actor, is heart throbbingly good looking and Melody has a huge embarrassing crush on him. To make it worse he is not interested in Melody. Victor is upset by Melody’s betrayals in her efforts to impress Tyler and refuses to be involved in the play at all. The story is peppered with the funny, silly moments when Melody says and does things without considering the consequences. Such as when she is crying about Tyler and tells her teacher she is allergic to paper.

This is a funny and engaging read. Since it is written as a diary, we understand Melody’s thinking and personality. It reminded me of books like Dork Diaries and the classic, Hating Alison Ashley.  The key themes of friendship, valuing creativity and embracing our differences are critical for younger readers. Helen Dallimore has created a variety of other quirky characters who are central to many humorous situations. For example, Melody’s mother invents dishes such as seaweed sorbet.

Melody and Victor are supported in their trying situations by loving supportive families. Melody also has sympathetic imaginary friends she discusses her problems with.  Importantly the main characters develop to be confident and happy, without losing their essential selves. It is a visually appealing novel too. There are fun touches like drawings, text messages, and suggestions that the reader google things like the camouflaging behaviour of octopuses. “This is totes worth a google they’re incred.” 

Themes: Resilience, Friendships, Creativity.

Jo Marshall