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Randa Abdel-Fattah's firrst novel for younger readers! Lara Zany is Potts Court Primary School's of?cial Friendship Matchmaker. She is certain her Friendship Rules work. She can take the Loneliest Loser (LL) and help them make a best friend. Until Emily Wong shows up and breaks all the Rules. Now Emily has challenged Lara to a competition and Lara's Rules are about to be tested.
Randa says...
The Friendship Matchmaker is about a girl called Lara Zany who is in Grade Five. Lara has appointed herself Potts Court Primary School’s official ‘Friendship Matchmaker’, making it her business to help the student body ‘make and keep’ friends by following her guidelines and protocols (acceptable conversation topics in the bus line; how to avoid getting picked last in sport; rules for the bus etc). Then a new girl, Emily Wong, arrives at the school, and challenges Lara’s rules and system.
I have vivid memories of primary school and can recall with excruciating detail the agonies and joys of making and keeping friends, feeling I belonged. I wrote
The Friendship Matchmaker to tap into the emotional rollercoaster of pre-adolescence that I remember so well.
About The Author
Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian-born writer of Palestinian and Egyptian parentage. She was born in Australia, to Palestinian and Egyptian parents. She has written two novels for young adults, Does My Head Look Big In This? and Ten Things I Hate About Me. Her first book, Does My Head Look Big In This?, is the story of a of Amal, a 16-year-old Muslim girl who decides to wear the hijab (headscarf) full time. The book deals with the issues of growing up as a headscarf-wearing Muslim-Australian in post-9/11 Australia. It also covers the usual teenage issues of smoking, alcohol, a desire to fit in, and boys. It aims to show that wearing a hijab can be empowering rather than oppressing, and helps to foster religious understanding. Abdel-Fattah is a lawyer, and lives in Sydney with her husband and baby daughter. She is extremely active in the inter-faith community, giving talks at high schools and has been involved in Palestinian human rights campaigns.
In The Press
Natalie Crawford, Bookseller and Publisher, March to May 2011.
The Friendship Matchmaker follows the story of Lara Zany, Friendship Matchmaker. Lara spends all of her time helping other children at her school make and keep friends and is writing a manual all about it, but when a new girl comes to school, everything starts to unravel. As Lara embarks on a competition to find a best friend for the most ‘difficult’ client ever, she comes to see the true value and importance of friendship. Randa Abdel-Fattah narrates Lara’s journey with compassion, warmth and a great deal of humour and the reader is immediately transported into the world of her characters.
The Friendship Matchmaker addresses the serious issue of bullying in such a way that it would provide a great resource for schools and parents in approaching this issue with their children. This is the first junior novel from an author who has previously been viewed as young adult, and hopefully it will inspire its readers to seek out her other novels as they grow into them. This would be a great addition to any public or school library and will be an easy book for retailers to promote. Great writing, topical content and a big dose of humour will make this book one of the successes of 2011.
