A review by thereadingmum
The History of Mischief by Rebecca Higgie

4.0

As a warning to other like-minded parents, this is not fully middle-grade. The second last chapter includes topics like sexual acts, teenage pregnancy, homophobia and two uses of the word that is most often corrected to duck. This swearing felt very unnecessary to me and I thought I should warn other parents. If I had known, I wouldn't have let my 10-year-old read this until she was 12 at least. Having said that, my daughter was not deeply affected by this and she loved the book. I only just read this (she's 13 now) and she kept telling me "it's really good" and was pleased I was reading it. So perhaps I'm just overly protective/sensitive, but I would still have preferred knowing.

That said, I really enjoyed this one as an adult. Jessie's voice is convincingly nine-year-old without being annoying for the most part. I loved how Higgie wove a believable fiction from historical facts and each anecdote from "The History" was engaging and characters distinct and likeable. 

I got to know the author on social media before reading this book and I am very happy that I love it as much as I like her as a person. Looking forward to her next work.