The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary

by Martii Maclean

A gutsy girl, a cool beach town, awesome friends and oodles of adventures.
Once upon a beach, there was a girl called Isabelle Necessary, who had an unusual name and a rather extra-ordinary and adventurous life. Join Isabelle and her friends Tammy, Nin and David, along with Draino the cat and Champ the wonder dog as they go on awesome adventures - bike racing, rescuing cats, escaping the lighthouse trap, teaching smart dogs new tricks, turning frogs into movie-stars, visiting a haunted house, giving a surprising surprise party, building a tree-house, going snorkelling, try not to full off horse riding, being a shop-keeper for a day and even solving the mystery of Floyd the singing parrot. Saggy Beach is cool places to have adventures. Isabelle love’s staying at her Great Aunt Emma’s bungalow at the Saggy Beach Retirement Village, where, at night, the waves sound like a mermaid lullaby and the light from the light-house throws sparkles across the rippling water. Isabelle’s Great-Aunt Emma and the quirky oldies, Uncle Knock-knock, Mr Bigg, Saggy Bill, Madam Monique and Half-way Percy, help Isabelle and her friends have amazing adventures, and there’s only one proper rule … be home before the street lights come on. Come to Saggy Beach for fun and adventure.

Genres: Childrens

246 pages, Paperback

Published August 23, 2018

About the author

Martii Maclean lives in a tin shack by the sea, catching sea-gulls which she uses to make delicious pies, and writing weird stories for young people to enjoy. She likes to go for long bicycle rides with her cat, who always wears aviator googles to stop her whiskers blowing up into her eyes as they speed down to the beach to search for mermaid eggs.
Or how about this?
Martii Maclean is a teacher and teller of weird tales. She has shared the wonderful world that kids travel to via books for more than 25 years. Now, after developing her craft through studies in children’s writing at The Australian College of Journalism and The Queensland Writers' Centre, she is creating weirdly adventurous stories for children and young adults who want to read something a little different.

Reviews

[Berit☀️✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun sweet book full of nostalgia and adventure!🐱🐶🐸

Cats, and dogs, and frogs, oh my! This is the story or rather 15 stories of Isabell Necessary and her adventures... Isabell is a delightful and inquisitive child who lives with her parents in a big house overlooking Mermaid Cove... Isabel‘s parents are up too many important things so it is necessary for them to leave Isabell behind with her great aunt Emma... Great aunt Emma lives in a retirement community and Isabell spends her days exploring Saggy Beach 🏖

Each chapter in this book is a different adventure and they involve such things as haunted houses, dog training, cat rescuing, store running, and so much more! Isabel has all kinds of fun in this retirement community most of the time accompanied by her friend Tammy.... this is a book I would’ve absolutely loved as a young girl... my vivid imagination would have loved picturing myself in these adventures with Isabel and friends.... as a mother I was a bit disturbed that her parents were MIA, but it did make for some good stories and this actually seems to happen quite a bit in books?!?

A fun book that you will adore as a child and treasure as an adult, filled with stories that will leave a big smile on your face🙂

[Dash fan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5☆ A Must Read, for fun loving readers who love a lil adventure,

The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary is a warm feel good read, with beautiful illustrations.
Time just whizzed by as I got caught up in Isabelle's adventures, mishaps and mayhem that had me giggling out loud.

This gorgeous book is Educational ie learning about nature and pollution, baking, learning life lessons, learning kindness and good deeds, family and friendship.

Isabelle goes to stay with her Aunt Emma at the retirement home when her parents are travelling for work.
Isabelle often feels invisible around her own parents. But adores spending time with Aunt Emma and her best friend Tammy.

Isabelle is such a beautiful Character. She is Caring, kind, hardworking, determined, fun loving, has a big heart, she's always helpful and very sweet natured.
She is definitely a character children will relate to and look up to.
I can't forget to mention Draino, the cheeky, mischievous kitty that Isabelle rescued.

This book is full of fun loving, quirky at times eccentric characters all centered around the charming Saggy Beach.
This is an enchanting, Feel Good Read that All ages will adore. Whether it be solo reading or bedtime reading or group reading in school lessons.
So if you enjoy fun, mishaps, humour and fabulous characters then you will love.....The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary by Martii Maclean!

I do hope there will be more adventures from Isabelle, I can't wait to find out what's next!

Thank you to Rachel Random Resources for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

My Review is also on my Blog Website :-

https://dashfan81.blogspot.com/2018/1...

[Yesha- Books Teacup and Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read all my review on Blog - Books Teacup and Reviews

Isabelle Necessary was collection of stories and consecutive adventures of Isabelle with her best friend Tammy.

Isabelle was a girl from Saggy Beach town mostly spending her time with her Aunt Emma who was living in retirement village. She was clever, smart, artistic and mature girl who understood her parents’ work and their constant absence. I loved the way she took care of her aunt and all elders living in retirement quarters. She helped them in all the work she could was a great friend. Her aunt was supportive and fun loving person who gave all the freedom to Isabelle with almost no rules.

Introductory chapter gave clear view of Isabelle’s life in Saggy Beach town, her family, friends and retirement village community. Each chapters included adventures of different activities like, participating in event and competition, snorkeling, managing store, horse riding, enjoying rainy season with friends, saving animals and town, helping elders and people in community. It had all sort of good activities that kids can would love to discover with scientific and environmental learning.

Isabelle’s mishap with light house was something new with semaphore signals which can teach kids about secret codes and can have fun decoding them. It was my favorite story in the book.

Best thing about the story was, there is online resources for teachers and fun activities for kids available on author’s website here that you can download here.

All illustrations were lifelike and I loved all the drawing in the book. It was quick read with some cool adults funny mischievous cat that kids would love to read and bring back the childhood memory for adults.

Why 4-
Book and the events was all too goody to digest like- Isabelle never got any scolding from Aunt Emma, a tiff with her friend was solved so easily and the biggest was her cool demeanor towards her parents’ absence. It was hard to believe girl of her age can take parent’s absence and fight with friend easily or can get away without any scolding from adults. I would like it more if there was little realistic approach.

Overall, book was charming, easy to read and kids would love to explore streets of Saggy Beach town and discover adventures of Isabelle Necessary.

*** Note: I received e-copy of this book from the author as part of blog tour, in exchange for an honest review. ***

[Jessica Bronder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isabelle Necessary lives with her parents in a big house in Mermaid Cove. But they are important and are always away on adventures finding things for museums. When they are gone, Isabella stays with her Great Aunt at the Saggy Beach Retirement Village. Isabelle has some great friends and many adventures in this book.

This is a wonderful chapter book for kids. Isabella seems to be Invisible Isabella to her parents especially when they are planning on leaving for their own adventure. But she loves her Great Aunt, the retirement community, and how the only real rule she has is to be home before the street lights come on.

I love the little adventures Isabelle has and how wonderful her friends are. I find it sad how her parents seem to be so wrapped up in their lives that they are not really a part of her life. But Isabella doesn’t let this slow her down. I really like the illustrations that accompany the stories. I can’t wait to read more of her adventures.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

[Frank Prem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed my reading of Isabelle Necessary very much. The answer to her name is - of course she is!

She is a wonderful independent kid doing all the adventurous things we remember ourselves doing - riding bikes, building marvelous castles in beach sand, rescuing cats, while also taking care of the old folk to whom she is a friend and an inspiration.

Bravo, that girl.

She will always be necessary.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

full of adventurous spirit and tomboy girl fun!

a collection of sweet stories to keep your little one caught up with any chapter book requirements in a fun clean setting

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Karen Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something really quite charming about The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary. Isabelle's short, fun adventures lend themselves perfectly to a story in class or just before bedtime and are also ideal for young readers gaining in confidence and ready to move on to chapter books. Isabelle herself is a bright, resourceful girl with a happy disposition and a love of adventures. She is staying in the Saggy Beach Retirement Village with her great-aunt Emma while her parents are away. It's a lovely sounding place where most of the friendly residents seem to have nicknames - Uncle Knock-Knock, Saggy Bill and Halfway Percy all play a part in Isabelle's escapades at some point. Her exploits are the stuff childhood memories are made of - sand sculpture competitions, long bike rides with friends, pony riding and racing paper boats. It's the sort of book that will appeal to lovers of Enid Blyton's stories, although it is set in Australia rather than England (something it took me a few chapters to realise!).
Her best friends are Tammy and Nin and the three girls have the kind of carefree existence where even if the sun isn't shining there is still fun to be had; they work together to figure things out without ever quarrelling and seem to exist mostly on a diet of muffins. Sharon Clark's illustrations throughout the book are delightful too, particularly those featuring Draino the cat. The girls' appearance is barely mentioned in the book but the pictures reflect their diversity which I thought was wonderful as all children deserve to see people who look like them in their stories. It's also refreshing to see the illustrator's name given due prominence on the front of the book too.
The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary may be set in Australia but it has that quintessentially small community feel of childhood stories giving it a timeless quality where for the most part technology is absent; there's just one short chapter where Isabelle uses a video camera. I'm sure it will appeal to younger middle-grade readers in particular and to adults who are nostalgic for the simpler pleasures of their childhoods. The gentle humour and fun stories will leave readers with a warm smile on their faces and a desire to return to Saggy Beach for more adventures with Isabelle Necessary and her friends. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit!

[Elaine - Splashes Into Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heroine of this story is Isabelle who lives with her parents in the Loops, on top of a hill overlooking Mermaid Cove but they're often away on mysterious adventures so Isabelle spends most of her time with her Great Aunt in Saggy Beach Retirement Village. This book has fifteen of her adventures, most with her friend, Tammy and there are illustrations of some of these throughout the book. The activities are ones that children, especially girls, will easily be able to relate to and may involve some things they have previously done themselves - or may want to try after reading about them. Forget sitting with gadgets or watching screens, this is living life out and about, come rain or shine! Exploring the environment, creating things and interacting with people are all part of the stories.

Many of the adventures will bring back memories to older readers and could prove inspirational to children. With competitions, rescues, parties, fun in all weathers, nature study, exploring, investigating, tricks to play and so much more this is a lovely, inspirational book that children will love and could easily be used in schools by teachers. too. Each chapter is a complete adventure, making it easy for teachers to select any suitable one of them as a stimulus for associated activities. There's even a teacher's resource guide available online filled with fun activities linked to Isabelle's adventures.

I requested and was given a copy of this book. This is my honest review of the book after choosing to read it.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is left behind while her parents goes exploring and so she makes her own fun. She looks and finds people's lost item but it does not always go well. See what she gets up to

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

First up thanks to Rachel/the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book! All my opinions are my own, and not influenced by a free book.

Meet Isabelle, or as she is being called by people, Isabelle Necessary. She is a sweet girl with a big heart and an even bigger passion for adventure and doing all the fun things you can imagine you may do when you are a child. Tree houses, riding a pony (though this was a one time thing), sand castle (or should I say sand mermaid) building, eating delicious muffins, riding a bike on a course made by all the kids in the neighbourhood, and more! Her adventures are quite magical, and remind me a bit of Enid Blyton stories, or other writers from the past. There are no cellphones or computers to be found, if the kids want something they have to go home and ask, if they get stuck they have to do creative ways to get out. I loved it!

The book has several chapters each featuring a new adventure by our girl. In the beginning I thought each would be a separate story, given how it was written, but there is continuity. For instance she meets a girl named Nin, and we see her back later on. And then there are other characters and stories that connect.

I felt sorry for Isabelle, her parents are always away on to their next adventure. Sure, she has fun with her aunt, and living at her place, but I still wanted to shake the parents for just barely being there for their child. It is at these moments I always wonder why people take kids if they know they probably won’t be around a lot. 😐

Isabelle has a big heart and she is always helping people. Small things, but also with bigger things. Plus, she shows great responsibility. Like that time when she was taking care of the shop? Even if she made a mess, she cleaned it up. She even stopped herself from getting an ice cream because she made a mishap with some ice creams of customers.

The book is also illustrated, and while I did like the illustrations, they did add something, at times the proportions were a bit off. Characters looked weird next to each other, the tree house which was said to have a wonderful view was only a bit higher than 2 metres in the illustrations, and there are a few other things. Kids may not notice, but I do, and I do want to mention it in my review.

I flew through this book, and had fun reading it. Isabelle has a wonderful life, with friends and family surrounding her, and endless adventures.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The intro to this is short, cute and interesting. It captures the curiosity of young readers and draws them into the book.

The book is set into named chapters, each of detailing a new adventure for Isabelle. Perfect for “one more bedtime story” and readers ready for larger books.

There are some illustrations throughout the book that give the young reader a glimpse of Isabelle and her adventures.

Isabelle lives in Mermaid Cove. She spends a lot of time at her Great-Aunt’s in a retirement village because her parents are often away seeking items for museums. She only has one rule. Be home before the street lights come on. Isabelle notes in her first chapter, that she never feels invisible at her Great- Aunt’s home.

Isabelle has a best friend, Tammy, whose family has been around since before Saggy Beach was called Saggy Beach. Her Great-Aunt is best friends with Isabelle’s Great-Aunt.

The first story details how Isabelle got ‘necessary’ after her name. It’s something kids will find amusing and they can relate to it.

There is a map at the beginning of this book, so readers can visualise Isabelle’s adventures.

This is an entertaining book full of relatable escapades many young readers have or could experience.

Full of small life lessons, friendship, kindness and fun The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary is a wonderful book for young readers.

[Deborah J Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 fun, short, adventure stories to read-alone or together, which will capture the imagination of middle grade readers.

There are lots of illustrations throughout the book which will amuse young readers while they enjoy Isabelle's mini-adventures. My favourite drawing is the one of the cat cake... or perhaps the one of Draino the cat skidding to a stop when he sees a bird.

The best bit is, all the stories are educational, and there is a teachers' resource pack with suggested activities for each story, downloadable from the author's website.

My thanks to the author for a free digital copy of this book to review.