From the author of the prize-winning Threads, this is a gloriously entertaining and snappy read for anyone who has even a thread of interest in any aspect of fashion. Crow, Nonie and Edie are back for a second adventure with things working out well in some ways both with their work and with boys but there is also trouble looming over their high street collection. Helped by their friends, the three girls are kept busy just trying to keep everything they’ve worked for under control.
Breaking News ! The Threads series is to be developed for TV by Lime Pictures, makers of Grange Hill and Hollyoaks. Tony Wood, Lime Creative Director, said: "Threads is made for popular TV. Great characters, with wonderfully colourful and fashionable British backgrounds, that will appeal throughout the world. But, just as importantly, it shows passion and compassion, in the way it's teenagers themselves who support fiercely held convictions too, and of course who win through for each other. I can't wait to get started.'
Crow is in designer heaven; Nonie's caught the eye of a gorgeous boy; Jenny has a new play. But poor Edie's in trouble ...the rumours are that slave children in India have been making their high-street collection. It's up to the girls to save their fashion dream.
Review of ‘Beads, Boys and Bangles’ by Books for Keeps [3 stars]
This is the second book in the series about teenage fashion designer Crow and her friends Nonie, Jenny and Edie. The premise for the series is an interesting and contemporary one – Crow and her brother have fled from war in their native Africa and her aim is to produce clothes which are original and exciting without using Third World child labour. Edie’s website campaigns against such practices, but when she is accused of publicising Crow’s work for Miss Teen designs despite the fact that the company allegedly uses child labour, she and the girls decide they must go to India to see for themselves what really happens in the manufacture of the clothes.
Their travels, shocking discoveries and determination to help eradicate child labour – which readers are also encouraged to do – are interwoven with Nonie’s ‘romance’ with Alexander, a self-obsessed ballet dancer, Jenny’s attempts to establish herself on the stage and a plethora of fascinating detail about fashion and the industry which produces it. There is also a positive feeling that young people can effect very real change for the better.
The book has a heart – its message about exploitation is clear – but it also unashamedly entertains with characters and events from the world of fashion and celebrity. The attention to these kinds of detail is sometimes over-lavish and the Nonie/Alexander relationship is too slight to merit the protracted treatment it is given in the book, but this novel will appeal to fashion-conscious teenage girls who like to think before they buy.
More Praise for Beads, Boys and Bangles:
'...more than a zesty fantasy about teenagers engaged in a kind of junior Gossip Girl/Sex and the City fashion fest. Bennett’s clever depiction..makes you see the gorgeous clothes, and why they’re worth it – as long as they’re ethically sourced.’ - Amanda Craig, The Times
'The series ties in with the themes all girls love, fashion, acting, boys... yet adds so much more to all of that and yet manages to be so warm and honest and cool' - Cathy Cassidy
Author
About Sophia Bennett
Sophia Bennett’s debut novel, Threads, won The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2009. She has since published six further teen novels, including The Look and Love Song. Sophia has been called “the queen of teen dreams” by journalist Amanda Craig, for her exploration of the worlds of fashion, art and music. Her books have sold internationally to over 16 countries. Sophia lives with her family in Wandsworth, south west London
