Reviews

This one was definitely interesting. It talks about bullying and dealing with bullying and about not speaking up. We meet Mandy, the young girl who is being bullied because her mom is older than other moms and because her mom babies her. I love that every adult properly reacted and adressed it - though this sadly doesn't happen in real life. Mandy also meets a girl that is part of the system, she is currently fostered by her neighbor but she later goes to the juvie because of stealing and goes away. I hated how judgemental Mandy's mother was, even though it turned out to be right. I just didn't like her or the fact that Mandy ends up being friends with her old best friend that became one of her bullies by the end of the book. But other than that, a pretty decent read for any young kid that deals with bullying.

kerry2046's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This was a brilliant book, wow I was a Wilson fan

chloejayne98's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

this book was horrible there was no emtion whats so ever.

slaughtercarrie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

sparrow48's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

crookedrat's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

First and foremost, we must acknowledge that I'm almost 20 years too old to be the target audience for this story, so my review is going to be skewed. I read this book as part of a reading challenge, as many of the longer novels published this year didn't appeal to me and Jacqueline Wilson was a favourite of mine in primary school.

I think, had I read this when I was 10 to 12, I would have liked this story quite a lot and would have resonated with some of the messages and themes, having been victim to bullying at that age myself. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it now, I thought there were a lot of positives about it and Mandy's story did still resonate with me in some ways. It was also rather progressive at points given it was published in the 90s.

I think it touched on a lot of deep subjects but didn't go deep enough into them. I understand the depth is limited by the comprehension of a young target audience, but I think perhaps one or two of the issues included could've been explored deeper and the rest excluded. This is the main reason I rated it three stars, as it seems a bit disjointed and like multiple stories smashed into one partially to the detriment of the main storyline, but I think past me would’ve rated this a 4 stars (if I had rated books at that age).

Content Warnings

More...