Before Jenny started writing books for teenagers, she was an English teacher. Although she loved teaching funny teenagers (and stealing the things they said and putting them in her books) she now gets to write about them full-time. In her spare time, just like Bea in Flirty Dancing, Jenny loves to jive. She is based in Eastbourne.

www.jennymclachlan.com

Bea Hogg is shy but fiery inside. When national dance competition Starwars comes to her school looking for talent, she wants to sign up. It's just a shame her best friend agreed to enter with school super-cow Pearl Harris. Bea will fight back! But when school hottie, Ollie Matthews, who also happens to be Pearl's boyfriend, decides to enter the competition with Bea, she will have more than a fight on her hands.

This warm, nuanced, hilarious story about friendship, fortitude and dancing is impossible not to fall in love with. Jenny's voice is fresh and convincing, and she handles both darker and lighter elements of the story with equal panache.

Hilarious!

Superbly observed ... the sort of series you want your about-to-be teenage daughter to read

a warm and original voice for younger teenagers