An Irish MMGM: Blue Like Friday and Second Fiddle: Or How to Tell a Sausage from a Blackbird

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m featuring a couple of middle grades by Irish author Siobhan Parkinson. I loved how these books allowed me to spend some time on the Emerald Isle.

What drew me immediately to BLUE LIKE FRIDAY was that the main character’s best friend, Hal, has synesthesia. The title of the book comes from how he sees Friday: “It’s a light, pretty blue with frills.”

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

NOT EVERYONE SEES THE WORLD THROUGH THE SAME LENS.  From the author of Something Invisible comes this funny and poignant novel about the hues of friendship.

Spunky Olivia and eccentric Hal are an unlikely pair. While Hal suffers from a neurological condition called synesthesia that causes him to associate things with colors, Olivia tends to see the world in black and white. Still, these two are friends through thick and thin, through rose-colored days and blue days, even when Hal’s plan to get rid of his mother’s boyfriend backfires by driving his mother away. Olivia’s honest, funny and always-opinionated voice tells this story with colorful perception. 

This book is laced with humor despite dealing with some serious issues like the death of a parent and adjusting to a new stepparent. Hal and Olivia’s attempts to separate Hal’s mom from her fiancé are laugh out loud funny. Like a good British comedy, expectations are reversed, mishaps happen, and hilarity ensues.

But much of the humor also comes from Olivia, whose voice is blunt and to the point: “If you took off his belt and laid it on the ground, it’d reach from here to Limerick. No that’s an exaggeration, and I’m trying to break my exaggeration habit. From my house to Hal’s, then.”


As you can see, Parkinson likes to "break the fourth wall" in her work. While I don't normally like that technique, it works well in her novels, which ooze with voice and personality.

I especially appreciated the glossary at the end for those of us unfamiliar with Irish/Gaelic slang. 

The other book by Siobhan Parkinson that I enjoyed was SECOND FIDDLE: OR HOW TO TELL A SAUSAGE FROM A BLACKBIRD.

From Amazon:

Aspiring writer Mags Clarke has just moved with her mother to a new area after the death of her father. Because her feet are usually firmly planted on the ground, Mags is cautious about befriending Gillian, whom she enchantingly finds playing the violin high up in the trees near her house. But the two get acquainted and embark on Project Manhunt: a plan to find Gillian's absent father, the only one who can send Gillian to an audition for a prestigious music school. Their strategies differ, making the road to true friendship a bumpy one. Second Fiddle is a thoughtfully crafted portrait of family and an unlikely friendship forged around a noble goal.

Every writer must read this book--just for the first chapter "A False Start" where Mags, an aspiring writer, explains how to start a story. "I have heard that it is very important to have an intriguing opening when you are writing a story...and I will tell you what it is in a minute."

Like BLUE LIKE FRIDAY, this book is filled with humor and heart.

Hope you all have a lovely St. Patty’s Day! Have you read any fabulous middle grades lately?


For more Marvelous Middle Grade titles, please see Shannon Messenger's blog. She is the author of KEEPER OF LOST CITIES (MG) series and SKY FALL (YA).