In my spare time, I do read quite a lot, ranging from teenage fiction to more adult titles, so I thought it might be a good idea to write reviews on some of my favourite, and least favourite titles. If you have any book suggestions to read, comment either below the post or in the guestbook, and I will do my best to write about them.
Note: This review may contain spoilers
Prue and Grace are sisters who are educated at home by their exceptionally strict father. They live with him and their mother, and have no freedom to do anything they want. They are stuck at home with no money, and they're not allowed to go out, to watch tv, to listen to pop music or to even wear the clothes they like. Their dad owns a bookshop, and he believes in the girls learning everything from books. The family have little money, as the mum in the book does not go out to work and the bookshop is hardly selling anything. They can't and don't pay their bills so have letters coming through the door with threats of their house being repossessed.
Prue, the older daughter and the person telling the story, is given precious money by her mum and dad to go to tutoring when a school governor informs her dad he could be prosecuted for taking his daughters out of school (they used to go when they were much younger).
Prue goes to tutoring once but hates it, so goes round town and spends the money, funding her art passion by buying paints and some underwear because it makes her feel good.
When her dad finds out, he has a violent rage and ends up passing out due to a stroke. He is rushed to hospital and when Prue, Grace and their mother find out he may not recover for a long time, they end up having to go to the local school which is very rough. They are wary of attending but they have no other choice.
Whilst Grace seems to fit in well and meets two new friends, Prue finds it a terrible struggle and is subject to a lot of teasing and bullying. She attempts to ignore it but it does grate on her and she despises the school. When the most popular girl, Rita's, boyfriend, Toby, develops a crush on Prue, it makes her dislike Prue even more and hell bent on making her have a terrible time at school.
Prue finds the teachers get frustrated with either her ignorance or her intelligence (she is a novice in computing and maths, but shines in English, however her teacher is unappreciative), apart from her art teacher, Mr Raxberry, known as Rax by all the students.
Mr Raxberry's classes are enjoyed thoroughly by Prue and she makes extra effort in her work. He realises her potential and tells her that she is the student that is making his teaching worthwhile. She feels that school is only worth attending so that she can attend his art classes. Prue quickly develops a crush on Rax, and she stays behind classes and talks to him. Rax tells prue about his family, and she is a bit put out when she realises he has a wife and children, however she perks up when he asks her to babysit for him.
Prue is used to visiting her dad in hospital on weekday nights, however she persuades her mum to let her babysit for one night a week. Grace realises that Prue likes Rax, and she teases her a bit, annoying Prue.
When it is time to babysit, prue dresses up and looks after Rax's children whilst him and his wife are out. She gets on with Rax's wife, Marianne, however Prue longs for the 20 minutes they get together alone, when he drives her home. .
Prue gets upset at one point, when she tells Rax about how she feels and he informs her that they are pupil and teacher. She storms out the car but then she sees Rax whispering silently to himself about how he loves her.
On the next car journey they are together, after a brief argument about their feelings, Prue ends up kissing rax, and he kisses her back, and they drive off together where they end up kissing and telling each other of their love for one another.
Will Prue and rax be found out? Will they live together happily ever after, or will the headteacher or Rax's wife find out? Does Prue and Grace's dad make a full recovery? Will their debts be paid off?
Overall this is a very well-written book, in my opinion, I wish Jacqueline Wilson would write a sequel. It is more suited to older teenagers and has a strong plot line. Although I liked the storyline, I found Prue a little irritating and she seemed a bit false and arrogant, as well as very naive. I'd like to see a sequel written from perhaps Grace's point of view, I think that would be interesting.
I am aware this book has been pretty controversial, especially with parents who think it could influence teens who develop feelings for teachers who may think they can act on them without any consequences after reading this book. However, I do think that if you stick to giving this book to the specified age group (14+) , then this really shouldn't be a problem.
This book is available for 5.99 from bookshops, or you can order it on Amazon.
Rating- 9/10
A review I wrote with slightly more spoilers and a full plot summery is available at dooyoo.co.uk under the username Blueyjools
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