Game Over by Serena Patel & illustrated by Louise Forshaw

Game Over! is a fantastic story for children making the move to secondary school and trying to find themselves in the crowd. Jay has just started Year 7 and thinks he goes to the worst school in the world. He doesn’t enjoy PE or team games of any kind, which is tricky when all his friends are obsessed with football. The only thing that might be slightly ok is computing. Jay is fascinated by how it all works and seems to be pretty good at it. When his teacher tells the class about a computer game design competition and the chance to go to the big Computer Science Exhibition, he’s interested.

The trouble is, Jay’s friends think working hard and being interested in computing is for nerds. They all want to try out for the football team and expect Jay will come with them (even though he’s really not very good). Jay has a dilemma – should he be honest and risk losing his friends or go to football and risk losing the one thing that makes him happy? In the end, he realises that true friends support each other, even when they try different things. They don’t need to be exactly the same to be mates.

This diverse cast of characters reflects what Year 7 classrooms are really like – small groups messing around, some children wanting to work hard but feeling self-conscious and teachers trying to help everyone reach their potential. The adults in Jay’s life give wonderful advice and help him realise that being true to himself is the only way to be happy.

Barrington Stoke can always be relied on to create entertaining, meaningful, empathy-filled stories that are accessible and empowering for readers. With dyslexia-friendly font, spacing and page tint, everyone can enjoy these books. The manageable length and carefully chosen vocabulary encourages success and brings children back for more.

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