Secret Friends

Sometimes, being a friend takes courage... "It's crazy, starting at a new school. For days you feel so new and lost it's as if you've wandered into a foreign country where you can't speak the language." Rafaella doesn't find it easy to make friends. Her name sounds strange. Her ears stick out. She feels different from the others. And Lucy is the first to tease, the first to call her 'Earwig'. Then a secret friendship starts, full of warmth and mystery. Elizabeth Laird says: "On the first day at my new secondary school, I met a girl who had a rather long chin. I teased her about it. It wasn't until later, when it was much too late, that I realised how deeply my teasing had hurt her." Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal