Toppsta - Childrens Books – Reviews

Harriet Manners is a self-confessed geek who has a random fact for everything. She is much better at remembering that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, that the Chinese invited loo paper in 600 AD and that duck-billed platypuses don't have stomachs, than she is at making friends at school. Luckily, she has her best friend Nat, who loves fashion and is desperate to become a model. But on a school trip to the Clothes Show live it isn’t Nat who is spotted by a model agency but fifteen-year-old Harriet. 

The series follows Harriet as she embarks on a reluctant modelling career veering from one disaster to another both on the catwalk and off. The fashion world turns out to be no easier than school and she has to deal with real life dramas too – from a new baby step-brother or sister, to trying to keep up with her old friends. Harriet learns to stand up to the mean girls and never lose touch with her roots as a geek.

The Geek Girl series is loosely based on author Holly Smale’s own experiences. Aged fifteen, she was spotted by a top London fashion agency and spent two years feeling like a misfit in the modelling world, falling off catwalks and going bright red. After graduating from an MA in Shakespeare, she switched full-time to writing and her first book Geek Girl was published in 2013, winning the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, Teen Category in 2014. Six books later, the clumsy but charming Harriet Manners has countless tween and teen fans who love her refreshing story about life in the fashion fast lane. 

The main theme of the books is her forging friendships and facing up to bullying, although of course there is some romance too. Despite Harriet being a teenager herself with all the problems that come with it, these books are not just for teens. Readers aged 10 and over will enjoy these funny and empowering books, set in the glamorous and crazy world of fashion. Start with book one to get the full story of Harriet’s journey to be accepted both at school and on the catwalk.

All the Geek Girl books in order:

Book 1: Geek Girl (2013)
Book 2: Model Misfit (2013)
Book 3: Picture Perfect (2014)
Book 4: All That Glitters (2015)
Book 5: Head Over Heels (2016)
Book 6: Forever Geek (2017)
 
All the Geek Girl Specials in order:
Geek Drama (2015)
All Wrapped Up (2015)
Sunny Side Up (2016)