All over the country children go to stay with step-parents, stepbrothers and stepsisters at the weekends. It's just like an endless chain. A step-chain. Little Miss Perfect is the fourth link in this step-chain.
I'm Becca. Mum and I have been by ourselves for a while, but now Mum has a boyfriend. I'm pleased she's happy with Patrick. There's just one problem: she wants me to meet his daughter, Lissie. I wouldn't mind except that Mum makes out that Lissie is perfect in every way. How can I compete with that?
“I should have known this was going to be a bad day from the moment I got out of bed and squinted at myself in the mirror. There, shining like a beacon in the very middle of my chin, was the biggest spot I think I’ve ever seen on anyone. It made the other few spots on my face look like the tiniest of freckles…”
Becca is a typical thirteen year old – she worries about her looks and acting cool perhaps more than she should, and this is made worse when she is introduced to the idea of her mum’s boyfriend’s daughter Lissie (from the previous book, She’s No Angel). Lissie seems perfect: she is popular, clever, helpful around the house, grade 7 on the ‘cello, and to top it all she has got perfect skin and glossy straight hair. Becca thinks of everything she can to avoid meeting this perfect step-sister as she is convinced that Lissie will make her feel ugly and stupid. She auditions for the school production of Oliver! to ensure that she has no free time in which to meet Lissie, but she gets much more than she bargained for and learns several valuable lessons…
Anne Bryant’s punchy yet sympathetic writing provides an insightful exploration of a thirteen-year-old girl’s varied mixture of thoughts and feelings when faced with having to compete with a ‘new’, seemingly perfect sibling.
