Reviewed by E. B. Heath
My enthusiasm for The Embarrassing Confessions of Gracie Sparks written by Fiona Harris grew with every page. It is not easy to write for middle grade children, while also making an older demographic shed the odd tear. An authentic voice resonated from every page as Gracie experienced her transition from primary school to high school, and all the while Harris was weaving sound real-life guidance into the plot without a trace of adult preachiness. Perhaps the power of this story is that it could also apply to adults. We are all susceptible to the urge to fit in, to be accepted, perhaps discounting the damage to our authentic selves.
Gracie Sparks is twelve. Her Nana gave her a supercool diary for her twelfth birthday. Gracie is impressed with this gift and writes on the first page a list of things she vows to do that year. The first thing she writes is No 1. keep writing this diary and not quit. And she does. She keeps a detailed record of her life for most days, often several entries detailing the time of day. All of this novel is written as a series of diary entries describing all her experiences and how she felt about her life. Including some of her poetry and the songs she composed.
Gracie’s world consists of family, neighbours and school friends. The family is quite a tribe consisting of a father an older sister, aunties, uncles and cousins. Sadly minus a mother, who died when Gracie was nine years old. An assortment of different family types appear via her friends: only child, academic parents, working class, getting-a-divorce parents, rich and poor.
Gracie’s life is about to change drastically as she leaves primary school where she has been one of the cool kids, mainly because she is just her fun-loving self but also being super accomplished on an electric guitar really helped. Unlike all her friends Gracie is being sent to a private school, along with her sister because it was the school her mother attended. When they were young Gracie and her older sister, Imogen, were best friends but that all changed when Imogen turned thirteen and their mother died. So not only can’t Gracie depend on a guiding hand, her sister ignores her completely.
A large proportion of the novel is Gracie’s attempt to make friends with the cool group. This starts well but a rather unpleasant bump in the road destabilizes her friendship group. This is often funny, then sad. But gradually Gracie is learning what is important. And that is to be with people who accept you for your real self and not go along with people who are really boring.
I had some favourite characters. Viola, Gracie’s best friend, was one. Viola loves Jane Austen and that is reflected in her vocabulary, which in turn influences Gracie mode of speech. Quite amusing. Gracie and Imogen’s father is a wonderful role model for fathers struggling with teenage daughters. Although, I felt he might have been a bit tougher. Amiel was a firm favourite, such an emotionally strong boy. He was a boarder as his parents lived in the country. Amiel was not interested in sport unlike the other boys, so alone much of the time, nevertheless he didn’t compromise his interests just to fit in. There are also quite a gaggle of interesting aunts offering Gracie advice.
In the ‘Acknowledgements’ Fiona Harris admits that Gracie inherited the contents of her own childhood diaries, along with some fictional events. And she encourages young readers to realise they are not alone in feeling awkward. Just be you, you’re great!
Highly Recommended.
The Embarrassing Confessions of Gracie Sparks
by Fiona Harris
(2026)
Simon & Schuster
Paperback
ISBN: 9781923135642
$16.99; 302pp