All those poor people in the world who don’t have a name as lovely as mine! My name is Astrid. I chose it myself because Mum and Dad didn’t know that I should have been called Astrid when I was born. I have lots of great names – I’m Astrid Eva Mary Kovacs. It sounds so grand. It suits me very well, as I’m a pretty grand person, even though I’m not that big. In fact, I’m the shortest person in my class. But that’s not what being grand is all about! It’s what’s on the inside that counts. I realised that a long time ago.
It’s good that Astrid is so self-assured, because it’s not always easy to be Astrid. For starters, she’s the youngest of four siblings, and most things in life seem pretty unfair. She has to go to after-school club, even though she hates it and her siblings get to do loads of things she’s not allowed to do. And the worst thing of all is that no one ever listens to what she has to say. But Astrid certainly knows how to get what she wants …