- Illustrated Chapter Books
- Ages 8–12
- Comedy
Cringe Club: SOS
Book 3 in Cringe ClubView the full series
Book three of the group-chat comedy: Kennedy has survived her first year at Hellington High but pines for her old besties Liv and Devon, and now The Mother has sprung a whole-summer 'family bonding' camping trip on her.
- Best for8–12
- FormatIllustrated
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The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Comedic
- Conversational
- Epistolary
Tone
- Funny
- Irreverent
- Warm
- Silly
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Kennedy King has made it through her first year at Hellington High. She's picked up three new friends along the way, but she still misses her original besties, Liv and Devon, more than anything. So the summer holidays should be a chance to breathe, until The Mother springs a surprise: a whole-summer 'family bonding' camping trip. Cue tents, questionable outdoor toilets, wobbly wifi and the particular agony of being trapped with your blended family while your best friends are miles away. Told, as ever, entirely through group-chat messages, lists, emojis and Wotto's doodles, SOS turns feeling left out, holding on to long-distance friendships and surviving a blended-family summer into another burst of laugh-out-loud, deeply relatable tween comedy. A perfect next instalment for anyone who's followed Kennedy from her first mortifying day, and for fans of Lottie Brooks and Dork Diaries.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
Book three for 8-12s reading independently, format-friendly for reluctant readers. Its blended-family and left-out threads land most for the 9-12 end; works as a standalone but rewards readers who've followed Kennedy from book one.
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- Best fit · 8–12
- Read aloud · 8–11
- Independent · 8–12
Prose load
Light
Visual support
High
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Reading together
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Funny school stories
- Reluctant readers
- Friendship stories
Avoid if
- Wants gentle bedtime
Particularly good for children who are…
- New step parent or blended family
- Making friends
- Low self esteem
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
Kennedy's summer is hijacked by a whole-holiday family camping trip just when she's missing her real besties most. The group chat is her lifeline, and the disasters of blended-family camping make for pure, cringe-fuelled comedy.
- Friendship and belonging
- Being understood finally
Why parents love it
The chat-and-doodle format keeps pages flying by, while the story gently explores feeling left out, long-distance friendship and settling into a blended family, all wrapped in the series' reliable comic voice.
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
In the series
Cringe Club.
3 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
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Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
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