Nieuwe vrienden voor de Steenstraat: : Hoe alles op z'n kop stond en toch weer goed kwam

Stella Street #3

by Elizabeth Honey, Sabine Mutsaers (Translator), Annet Schaap (Tekeningen)

In this heartwarming tale of growing up, a crew of neighborhood pals—Henni, Danielle, Zev, Frank, and Briquette, who call themselves "the Stella Street Mob"—head off to Cauldron Bay for a vacation in an old beach house. When a new girl, Tara, intrudes on the trip, reveling in boys and trendy fashions, the friendships begin to unravel with new social challenges and pressures. This fun and moving story touches on the struggles of being a teenager and the excitement of new adventures and relationships still left to discover.

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult, Australia, Humor

350 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Elizabeth Honey was a weedy child who always seemed to have a sore throat, so her parents didn't send her to school until she was nearly seven. The Honeys lived on a farm in the bush near Wonthaggi, Victoria. There were four kids and Elizabeth was number three. With her younger sister Mary, Elizabeth puzzled over jigsaws, played with the dogs, climbed trees and one way or another did a lot of pretending, on horses or tractors, in dress-ups or with glove puppets, round old trucks, cubbies, dams and hay sheds.
Following Swinburne art school, adventures overseas and a variety of jobs Elizabeth became an illustrator, then also a writer, for children. Her first book, 'Princess Beatrice and the Rotten Robber' was published in 1988.

She lives in Richmond, Melbourne in a house of books: picture books, poetry, art (Matisse particularly) zines and strange books. Fortunately, her retired graphic designer husband is also a bibliophile. They have two grown-up children and a granddaughter in Amsterdam. All her life Elizabeth has zoomed around on her bike - not a lycra rider, just a charging-round-the-place rider - and that vibrant bike city in the Netherlands has become an inspiration. She's also passionate about streets for people not cars, public parkland and place-making, and an abiding passion is habitat for wildlife, for the survival of our unique Australian animals.

Reviews

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gekregen van een meisje op het bol.com kinderboekenfeest. Voor de kinderen van huisbibliotheek de ruit. 😀🌷😀🦋🌷

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very goooood😂😂😂

[royaevereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Stella Street books were a childhood favourite of mine, though I barely remember this one - Fiddleback was the one I owned and read over and over.

I can see why I loved them so much! The characters are so unique, the story is full of adventure. And so much of it is relatable, even as an adult. Loved it.

[Nina✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my childhood favourite!

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I've been thinking about goodies and baddies. Mr Nic says when he went to the pictures when he was growing up it was cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians, and the goodies and the baddies were obvious. The bad guys wore black and the good guys wore white.

This story is hard to write because it wasn't like Stella Street v The Baddies. My other stories are about people who were good old honest baddies. I mean they weren't a hundred per cent bad but they were about ninety-three per cent bad, so you knew where you stood. But not this time.

Adventures of the heart are complicated because they're all about feelings, and feelings are slippery things. Like the rip or quicksand. Where people say something but they mean something else. They're saying get lost but they mean 'don't get lost', you know?

Real life is not like a book, it's shaggy and untidy (viz: we sent off the band from the fairy penguin #191 70294 and we haven't heard back yet... but I'm optimistic). And real life doesn't all work out like in a story."

- p. 282-283

Like Henni, I have a bit of a hard time really articulating while I do enjoy this book. I guess, what I love most is that we do see how much our protagonist is growing up and going through the early stages of adolescence.
I do wish that everyone from the 'Stella Street tribe' (especially Mr Nic and Donna) were able to rock up for their holidays at Cauldron Bay, but I get why a lot of people were absent from this book. Even the people who did go, stayed the same and were mostly at the sidelines for the most part (except for a few rare almost-tearjerking scenes, oh why Tibor, why you so sensitive and awesome guy, you). No, this book focuses more on the rocky relationship between Henni and the newcomer, Tara (mascara).

I love how it shows a realistic portrayal of the interaction between these preteen girls. Also, because we get so easily attached/immersed with Henni and her perspective, we experiences the emotions Henni does (like her confusion and suspicions over Tara's distant nature and conflicting actions, especially to her) and when you slowly get to know Tara for who she is - a lost and lonely girl who is suffering from a bad home life - we feel that pay off when Henni goes through a change and learns to accept Tara for who she is, and not be so judgmental, just because she was something different from Henni's general complacency of their holidays with the rest of the group (as seen with the previous books).

I felt the prose has more poetic descriptions/nature to it - most likely because Henni at this stage, is going through a big poem phase. It also seems to lean towards the reflective, and character driven plots, as opposed to her previous adventures.

Regardless, I think it has finally taken me years and several rereads to fully appreciate Elizabeth Honey for the portrayal and characterization of Tara. Tara, who hides behind a poker face facade and sophistication/maturity beyond her years the pain of having parents who are constantly fighting, and wanting to be perfectly perfect so that she doesn't disappoint anyone/or have people hurt her. I love the complication frenemy thing she has with Henni, who she used to look down with disdain but would sometimes confide things in her, simply for the reason that 'she listened'. I get why she was so attracted to Stigg, and wanted to believe so badly that he was in love with her and would take care of her, because all she wanted was someone to care for her.

I like to suspect that there is potential for something going on between Henni and Zev, but you know what? I wouldn't care if it never happened because as long as they remained best friends, I am totally fine with that. I wish that Elizabeth Honey writes 395723958739587239+ more sequels to this series because I will never stop being interested in Henni Octon and her adventures with the Stella Street gang.

Just like anything written by Melina Marchetta, John Marsden, Juliet Mariller and Jackie French (who was a big part of my childhood) - Elizabeth Honey is another Australian author I absolutely recommend you guys to check out, especially this series, even if most of her stuff is aimed for a much younger audience.

[Queenie Chung · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like the ballad since we are going to learn about it in English also the story board is quite wonderful

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ballad of Cauldron Bay by Elizabeth Honey (2005)

[Mary Acuña · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book when I was 13. And apparently it's part of a series...

[Alexandra Lagerwey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just want to be best friends with Henni Octon.

[Olivia!!!!!!!## curly wurly]

i love this book