Lily Max #2: Slope, Style, Fashion
Jane Bloomfield
Luncheon Sausage Books
Pub. 2016

August 30, 2021

Lily Max: Slope, Style, Fashion is about a 12-year-old girl who loves fashion designing but is a total beginner at skiing.

All Lily Max wants to do is have some fun with fashion and to learn how to ski. But that is not just what the story is about.

When Lily goes up a mountain with her class for a school skiing trip, she doesn’t know how to ski – bad luck for her. She must start on the beginner’s slope while Violet Hughes (her arch-nemesis) goes to the intermediate slope. While Violet Hughes is having fun, Lily Max and some of her classmates are not having such a good time with their skiing teacher.

When she returns to school after her first day of skiing, Lily Max goes past the school office and bumps into Mr Younger. He asks “have you seen this advertisement? It has your name all over it!”

Then he hands Lily Max a flier.

She skim-reads the flier until she finds the words FASHION SHOW, and this is where this book starts to get interesting.

Goats! Do you imagine them in a fashion show? What about rescue dogs? Probably not. Nevertheless, Lily and Violet come up with some crazy ideas to try to make sure they win the competition.

The problem is, in the end only one of them can win and one of them is the winner by a country mile. The other sadly fails, with a sudden stop in their tracks. But I will leave it up to you to see who that is!

This book is really deceiving: you think it is a simple story but there is a twist that Jane Bloomfield has added into it. But I must keep my lips sealed. You will have to read this book to be able to find out what that big twist is. What do you think it is?

I don’t think this is the best book that I have read, it’s just not my style, although I have enjoyed reading it. It had some great fashion ideas that I am keen to try out. Next time I go up in the mountains I would like to have made a jacket like Lily Max’s. One of my favourite things about this story is the amount of friendship and love it includes.

I feel this book is aimed at girls aged 9 to 13. Younger girls would enjoy this book being read to them. Girls that are into fashion or skiing will enjoy this immensely.

I have only read this book by Jane Bloomfield, however there are more in the series. If you were wondering, they are also based on Lily Max having exciting adventures.

These are the books Jane Bloomfield has written so far: Lily Max: Satin, Scissors, Frock and Lily Max: Sun, Surf, Action. These books should be available in your local library or at a bookstore if you want your very own copy of them.

• Takoda is 12 and lives in Nelson.