My hand, which is following a stray pencil rolling across the floor, stops dead right in front of two ratty green sneakers.
My gaze follows the shoes up over long legs to a towering figure.
I stand abruptly.
Tall, black eyes, messy hair, a permanent scowl on a permanently angry face. Our school's delinquent, a waster, the kind of boy who always sits at the back of class.
The kind of boy even popular people like Sophia are afraid of.
Teddy Taualai.
Alice Dyson knows exactly how she'll be spending her final year of high school: with her head down, concentrating on her textbooks and homework. She's focused on the future, and nothing is going to get in her way.
Until a bizarre encounter with the school's most notorious troublemaker derails all her plans, turning Alice into the unwilling centre of attention and her life into one enormous complication.
And even worse? Now Teddy Taualai won't leave her alone.
A romantic story about rumours, friendship, and discovering who you really are.
Shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award
Shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2019
Praise for Making Friends with Alice Dyson
'Alice and Teddy's journey of self-discovery is charming and sweet - a heart-warming story of friendship and first love.' - Melissa Keil
'A fresh, funny novel about first love, friendship and change in the final year of high school. Alice knows exactly who she is and where she wants to go - but sometimes love is what happens when you're busy making other plans. I loved it.' - Vikki Wakefield
'
Making Friends with Alice Dyson is a tender, assured novel about the complexities of first love, friendship and staying true to yourself. It will have you falling in love from the first line to the very last.’ - Allayne Webster
'
Making Friends with Alice Dyson is a sweet contemporary romance about growing up, growing apart, and getting to know someone before it's too late. A tender and true debut about the power of friendship and the trust it takes to really let someone see the real you. What an outstandingly lovely tale with solid heart; intimate and enchanting.' - Danielle Binks
'This gentle and tender contemporary romance from Poppy Nwosu finds friendship, compassion and understanding under the weight of other people’s expectations ... Nwosu bypasses toxic and high-stakes romantic tropes for a refreshingly nuanced and realistic dynamic, while still giving readers the slow-burn romance they crave: a gloriously heady mix of tentative self-consciousness, bittersweet longing and simmering tension.' - Judges' comments, Readings Young Adult Book Prize
'This is the sweetest story of cautious offers of friendship, little acts of kindness, and vulnerable people opening up to those who love them. It has so much heart! Here for this kind of quality #LoveOzYA contemporary!' - CG Drews
Paperfury
'The rollercoaster ride of Year 12 has never been captured so well as in this excruciating journey of a nerd who finds herself unable to maintain her usual invisibility and is forced to confront the truth about herself and her relationships, and adjust her secret dream for after the end of the year. It’s a heck of a ride and I believe many young adult readers will be only too happy to hop on board and experience the peaks and troughs of Alice Dyson’s final year of school.’ - Julie Wright, secondary English teacher and member of the
SAETA Council
'A delightfully fresh, funny and insightful novel full of endearing characters and settings that are palpably SA local with the mingled beach-and-industry vibe of the Port Adelaide trainline. - Katharine England,
Advertiser
'A story that's quietly thoughtful, joyful and sweetly romantic - in the same wheelhouse as Jaclyn Moriarty's Ashbury/Brookfield books, minus the epistolary style.' - Angie Schiavone,
Age
'I really enjoyed this journey we go on with Alice.' - Rhianna Patrick, ABC Radio (national) OzYay Book Club
'Alice’s voice is charmingly open, honest, and kind, and her loyalty to her friends combined with her deep insecurity render her character fascinatingly layered … An entertaining teen romance.' -
Kirkus Review
'Two important points I think the author is able to get through in this story are that sometimes realizing you love someone isn't clear at first. For the most part, it's messy and confusing but in the end it can be worth it. And lastly, that people can change a lot during high school, or even during just one year, but if you value someone's friendship don't let their changes push you away. I would recommend this to teenagers.' - Kayla Raphael,
ReadPlus
'A great story for high school students, from the ages of 12 to 15. The story of friendship and first relationships makes it a very relatable story for a younger high school audience ...
Making Friends with Alice Dyson is an easy to read, sweet and enjoyable novel ... I would highly recommend this novel.' - Ellen, age 15,
YARR-A
'I loved this one! I’m always a massive fan of #LoveOzYA contemporaries, but THIS ONE was particularly outstanding! I just related to the characters so much and loved the reluctant friendship, and it was just perfect. I LOVED the banter between Alice and Teddy, and ahh, they were just ADORABLE! This is the kind of book you need in your life.' - Sarah Hatch,
Written Word Worlds
Poppy Nwosu grew up in central North Queensland, enjoying a thoroughly wild childhood surrounded by rainforest and cane fields. After studying music at university, she moved overseas to Ireland, where she spent two years working and visiting stunning Europe.
Though she adored the travelling, Poppy missed the wide-open Australian skies and came back home to settle in Adelaide near the sea, where she lives with her husband.
Making Friends with Alice Dyson is her first novel.
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