On the edge of adolescence, Magenta McPhee spends a lot of time thinking about love. The heroine of the fantasy trilogy she’s writing has a new lover, but how can she write about kissing when she hasn’t tried it herself? Her real-life parents are divorced; her mother is about to get remarried and her father seems lonely and depressed. So Magenta and her best friend Polly advertise him on an online dating site, initiating a correspondence that turns out to be even more difficult than writing fantasy. Bateson delivers the humor promised by this engaging premise, especially during a camping-trip comedy-of–mismatched expectations. Once again, the Australian author of Being Bee (2007) offers a sympathetic look at the complications of split family relationships, creating believable adult characters while maintaining her young protagonist’s point of view. Magenta’s first-person narration is occasionally juxtaposed against scenes from her novel-in-progress that reflect her daily life. Present-day concerns with technology and efforts to be green will be familiar to middle-grade readers. A believable, satisfying read. (Fiction. 9-13)
