Candyfloss

Összefoglaló

The Children’s Laureate has done it again. Jacqueline Wilson’s latest story is a winning combination of realistic characters, entertaining drama and moving encounters. Candlyfloss effortlessly draws its young readers into its pages from the beginning, immediately making connections with a readership that idolises the author’s every literary effort.

Floss lives with her mum and her mum’s new husband--the super ambitious Steve--and her half-brother Tiger. When Steve drops the bombshell that he has been asked to go and work in Sydney, and that they’re all moving to Australia for six months, Floss cannot believe it. She’s excited about the prospect of a trip of a lifetime but what about her dad? He may only be the less well-off and unsuccessful owner of a down-at-heel greasy spoon café, but she is all he has got in the world to look forward to. He lives for her weekly visits and the chance to feed her chip butties without her mum finding out.

Floss soon finds herself in an impossible situation. If she chooses to stay behind, everything will be different. She may be able to stay close to her not-all-that-she-seems best friend Rhiannon and get to live with the best dad in the world full-time, but is it the right decision to make in the long run?

As an ambassador demonstrating the robust health of the nation’s storytelling talent, one needs look no further than Jacqueline Wilson. Her popularity is well earned, and seemingly repeated and confirmed with each new volume in her library. Her novels have a ring of the familiar; characters that seem like they live just next door, speaking dialogue that is so true-to-life it makes you wonder how old the lady behind the words really is. Wilson’s bestselling novels, totalling over twenty million and counting, are undoubtedly the modern classics of the future.

(Age 9 and over)--John McLay