A review by beckyyreadss
The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson

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

3.0

I originally read this book when I was around 11 years old. However, during lockdown and doing some spring cleaning I came across my bookset of Jacqueline Wilson books that I have. I decided I would re-read them and then review them. I don’t remember this one, so it was like reading it for the first time and this book is one of Jacqueline’s messed up storylines. 

This book is based on Andy West, her parents are divorced, and her tiny stuffed rabbit named Radish seems to be her only comfort in the world. She must leave the home she loves with the mulberry tree in the front yard and deal with parents who still fight, stepparents who can act cruelly towards her, stepsiblings who don’t her touching their stuff whilst she is sharing two different bedrooms, loneliness and a longing for the past. Her schoolwork drops, her friends drift away, and she’s not quite sure how to fix any of it. Eventually, though, a new normality begins to settle on her life. Even if she doesn’t like it. 

This book shouldn’t be a children’s book. I think there could be a way to do a children’s book about parents being divorced but I feel like it was done the wrong way. I am a child of divorce, and I am in a mixed family, so I know about difficulties with getting used to awkward situations and all about parents fighting on pick up days. Andy’s problems would be solved if she didn’t switch weeks and if she had a room to call her own, yet she was sleeping in bathrooms and on floors – why didn’t any adult pick up on this. The family therapist should have picked this up more and social services should have been called for both Andy’s mum and dad.  

The only decent thing about this book was the two old, lonely people who wanted to spend time with Andy.  
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