Representation: Black Sudanese Australian, immigrant Australians
Trigger warnings: racism, bullying

4/10, I was hoping that after I read a great historical book called Words on Fire I would enjoy this interesting book as well but man this was underwhelming, I had so many issues with this and this is one of the few books that just went by at warp speed which I have a problem with, where do I begin. It begins with the main character Layla as mentioned in the title who is now going to a new school called Mary Maxmillion Grammar School which sounds very prestigious and it is since she got a scholarship there but her first day didn't turn out great. A boy whose name I forgot, and yes he was that forgettable bullied Layla and she responded to that by headbutting him landing her in suspension which I didn't like, I mean it's great that she stood up for herself but it didn't have to go so far. Sometimes I got to see Layla texting her friends and the writing style of this book is just "sighs" hard to get through, irritating at best and straight out cringeworthy at worst mainly because of the slang, emojis and limited vocabulary. Anyways Layla comes back to school and decides to sign up for a robotics competition and thinks of a pneumatic robot made out of gummy worms but it didn't go as expected as Layla forgot to do the paperwork, was forced to join the other robotics team and help them and after all that they only got 2nd place, what a shame. Also, I felt that this book has way too many things packed in like friendships, racism, crushes and coming out so they felt like afterthoughts added in rather than fully explored topics, this should've been a much better book but it wasn't which is sad. ( )

Publishers' plot summary:
" With her long skirt and headscarf Layla certainly stands out at her new high school. Everyone thinks they know her, just from a glance. But do they? And does Layla really know herself?

Layla's mind goes a million miles a minute, so does her mouth - unfortunately her better judgement can take a while to catch up! Although she believes she was justified for doing what she did, a suspension certainly isn't the way she would have wished to begin her time at her fancy new high school. Despite the setback, Layla's determined to show everyone that she does deserve her scholarship and sets her sights on winning a big invention competition. But where to begin?
Looking outside and in, Layla will need to come to terms with who she is and who she wants to be if she has any chance of succeeding."

Interesting in that I found the lead character obnoxious and unappealing! Not sure kids would relate to this - I will collect feedback - I had a problem with the seemingly British street-cred language - i.e. someone is fit or lit. I wonder what the students will make of this. ( )