Introducing 2026
The year of Annie & Maeve
If 2024 was the year of waiting, and 2025 was the year of everything everywhere all of the gosh darn time, 2026 is the year of Annie and Maeve!
I’m sure other things will come up, but these two gals are my main focus. I’ve noticed in the past couple of weeks that Annie and Maeve are Definitely Not Friends is up for pre-order in a few places which is wildly exciting!
BTW are we loving the new title? I certainly am. I was very attached to ‘I Don’t Want To Be Your Friend’ but this new title feels very right. Especially considering the cover design which I love but don’t have a good quality picture of yet.
If you’re not sure what exactly on earth I’m yapping on about, Annie and Maeve are Definitely Not Friends is my debut Middle Grade fiction novel coming out this autumn with Fremantle Press. The manuscript was shortlisted for the Text Prize in 2024 with the title ‘I Don’t Want To Be Your Friend’. This has been one of those slowly slowly projects that has been on and off and back and forth for years and I can’t believe it is almost here. I’ve held this story in actual book form in my actual hands and I still don’t believe it’s quite real.
Here is a blurb…
The first day of term has got off to a bad start for Maeve. Late to school, stuck sitting next to the most annoying boy in her class, and now she’s been forced to buddy up with the new girl!
Annie and Maeve have almost nothing in common, and they definitely do not want to be friends. But from braving the high swing at camp to battling it out in the talent contest, maybe, just maybe, this fiasco could grow into friendship.
From the joys of friendship to navigating the world while living with a disability, Olivia Muscat’s own-voice debut novel for young readers pokes fun at society’s assumptions and celebrates the unexpected happiness of finding somebody who really gets who you are.
Let me give you some key facts about the book and its two protagonists… for my own amusement obviously…
The book:
It comes out late April
It’s a dual perspective narrative
It took 5 years to finish and isn’t even 300 pages
I’m very proud of what has ended up in those less than 300 pages
At one point in the story everyone heads off to school camp and that section of the book was possibly my favourite to write!
Annie:
Her story is told in third person perspective
She’s an only child
She is in Grade 5
She loves all things nature and science
She thinks a lot of things she doesn’t say
Maeve:
Her story is told through journal entries
She has a brother, a sister, a black cat and a golden lab
She’s in Grade 5
She loves baking and thinking of new combinations of things to put in brownies and cookies
She rarely doesn’t say exactly what she thinks
I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of questions about how much of this book is based on my life. Is Annie or Maeve directly based on me? Etc etc…
The answer is that this book is not based on my life at all. I’m not Annie or Maeve, neither of them are me. My grade 5 year wouldn’t have made a very interesting book. I read a lot of Baby-Sitters Club, watched a lot of Blue Water high and spent my afternoons listening to Hamish & Andy and drawing comics about people I made up in my head.
I have imbued some aspects of me into both Annie and Maeve, but I’ll leave which parts exactly as a mystery for now. A very obvious mystery if you know me…
I’m excited for readers to meet these characters and this little book of my heart. Even though I am so much more nervous for this book than I was for My Name Is Jemima. Like sooooo nervous it scares me. There are so many feelings and emotions in this book and I am responsible for the entire thing. No beautiful pictures to distract people this time…
Anyway, Annie and Maeve are Definitely Not Friends is going to come up a lot this year, so be ready for that! I can’t believe release day is just over 3 months away…
Happy January! I hope we all have exciting things to look forward to in 2026!