Moving up – Simon Packham's new novel on senior school transitions

Shifting friendships and moving up to senior school are compelling themes for children, played out sensitively in Simon Packham’s latest novel

Simon Packham is known for novels that address issues of our times. Worrybot explored anxiety and school avoidance (EBSA), while earlier novels have covered themes such as cyberbullying. While these are topical issues discussed by educators and parents alike (and with good reason), Zak Monroe is (Not) my Friend takes, as its starting point, the two biggest concerns for a middle-grade readership.

“When I go into schools, I sometimes ask the children ‘what are you most worried about’,” says Packham. “It’s always, always friendship issues and moving up to secondary school.” He knows a fair few teachers – his wife was a primary school Head for 25 years – and they confirm that every Year 6 child’s preoccupations are the same. One Year 6 teacher he knows even asked her class to write down their fears. These were very illuminating, says Packham. Virtually all of them were to do with finding friends and fitting in. Peer pressure was a big worry – as was being good at things – failing at gaming and dancing were cited.

These may seem like minor worries, but most adults can empathise, perhaps even recall their own shifting playground friendships and first days at senior school. Transitions have always been a big deal for children. Packham wonders if these days the move up feels more seismic. “Familiar friendship issues, and with a bit of social media now mixed in – even with Year 6s.” Of course, many senior schools are now larger, so navigation is a bigger worry, and new boys and girls feel like smaller fish in the pond.

For Sam, the protagonist of Zak Monroe is (Not) my Friend, school days have been uncomplicated because he’s had the same friendship group for years. He met Cal, Fin and Jay back in nursery, and they have stuck together ever since. But certainties vanish

during their preparation to move up to St Thomas’s. The class are told they will need to write down a ‘friends list’ of three people, so they will stay together within tutor groups. Our gang of four discuss putting each other’s names down but then, standing in the queue for lunch, Sam overhears Cal raising the possibility of excluding him.

It starts as a casual comment. As Sam puts it: “Cal never thinks much about anything. That’s what’s so great about him.” But then the conversation turns, as he’s criticised for being no good at football and the FIFA game, singing too much and even planning to join the St Thomas’s choir. He’s mocked for visiting his Nanny Pat after every school day and there’s a suggestion he needs to “man up”.

Like many friendship groups, there’s a power dynamic. Sam is not leader of the gang – never the loudest or most confident. “He is a bit of a follower, but never nasty,” says Simon Packham, who enjoys putting what he calls “average” characters at the heart of his novels.

“When I go into schools, I sometimes ask the children ‘what are you most worried about?’ – it’s always, always friendship issues and moving up to secondary school”

While Sam might be “average”, the Zak of the book’s title stands out. Dubbed Satchel Boy because he carries his grandfather’s old-fashioned leather bag, he’s into wildlife large and small and is officially the weirdest kid in Year 6. Sam starts out wanting to avoid this strange boy, just like his peers, but his sudden ‘defriending’ brings them closer together and he finds common ground. He also gets to know Zak’s offbeat friend (another school outsider) Bella Rigsby, who spends much of her time weightlifting so she can fulfil her ambition of pulling a two-ton truck.

Simon Packham found inspiration for Bella from real life – a story in his local newspaper about an eleven-year-old, in training to pull her father’s Transit van. Zak, on the other hand, was partly sparked by memories of his own school days. “Most of my books contain a bit of my own psychodrama!” he says.

These quirky foils to “average” Sam are a great reminder that eccentrics are often the most interesting and likeable people, even though – as Packham points out – they are also the most likely to be picked on. ” I suppose what I like about Zak Monroe is that while he is a bit different and gets a bit upset, he’s strong enough to keep on being who he is, whereas Sam isn’t – which probably reflects what I’d have been like.”

There’s a positive message woven through the plot about staying true to yourself. The more Sam tries to change himself to fit in with his old friends, the worse things get. It’s only when he stands up for who he is and defends his newfound friends that life improves. He has found people to trust for the next stage in school life and – in a satisfying twist – Fin breaks away from Cal and Jay. This means that Sam’s tutor group at St Thomas’s contains trusted friends old and new.

The return of Jay was important to Simon Packham, as was the idea that friendships will evolve and shift as we grow. While the worries generated by this important transition can’t be sidestepped, he hopes that his readers take comfort from the fact that moving up to a bigger school means they will find common ground that sparks new friendships. “It’s also about not being afraid to find someone who’s not a part of the general herd.”