Queenie

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It was truly beautiful and heartwarming seeing her important friendships with Angus, Nurse Gabriel and Queenie, which I think were particularly special for her in her time of need, being separated from her only real parent figure while being stuck in hospital for months and months. She has had quite a few jobs, including one at Butlins, as a showgirl, and as a secretary for Mr Perkins. I still have no clue what exactly the characters mean by 'women's troubles', but it gets me a damn good giggle whenever I bring it up to my teachers. If you are new to Jacqueline Wilson and you do not like the book it has no resemblance of what her actual books are like. This wasn't even really addressed either, though I guess it was meant to imply that she only really had one true friend of that bunch in the end which was Angus, with everyone else having been more or less a fair-weathered friend.

My youngest is always begging me to read more of her recommendations, and while I try to comply - and often read at least one a month - she's never satisfied. Nan and Elsie both fall ill with tuberculosis, and Elsie finds herself whisked away to the children's ward of the hospital. She often uses this to her advantage with her mother, fudging things to get out of trouble, reasonably enough, as her mother gets angry at her more than is deemed necessary. For me, however, the pages just whizzed by and I didn't find a single bit boring - of course I wouldn't, it's Jacqueline Wilson I'm talking about!As always, Jacqueline has a knack for incorporating some dark, heartfelt themes into kid's literature.

Her ability can make even the smallest things (like the kittens design on a satin covered chocolate box) seem real.Her Mum comes to look after her but when Elsie gets ill, she is taken away from everything she ever knew.

I think the lack of closure was the most annoying thing about this book, something I find with a lot of books that have the last chapter be an epilogue quickly wrapping everything up after a major climax, and it does annoy me to be honest. When Elsie's time to go home arrives, she sadly has to go to a Children's Home, which terrifies her but it isn't as bad as she thought it would be. Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. But then Elsie develops TB too, and before long she is in hospital herself, strapped up with a leg splint.Elsie goes to visit her, overjoyed, and soon they come home, but to a new flat, as Elsie's mother let the last one go. But she invents astonishing ways of entertaining the other children on the ward, and for the first time finds herself surrounded by true friends - including Queenie, the hospital's majestic white cat.

All of the 'action' lies in her using her imagination; making up conversations with Queenie, the ward's cat, or weaving tales for the fellow patients to distract from the bleak hospital atmosphere and monotony of each day. Her visits stop when she and Mr Perkins (who is now her new boyfriend) move the business of Perkins' Pens to Canada. it was a quick and fun, easy read, very enjoyable for 8-12 year olds and it was easy to get gripped with the whole story and relate to how she was feeling.Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. I was honestly worried for Elsie, seeing how her nan was seriously ill and at her age I was wondering just how likely it was that s She has also won numerous awards including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award for The Illustrated Mum; the Smarties Prize, the Sheffield Children's Book Award and the Children's Book Award for Double Act; The Young Telegraph/Fully Booked Award in 1995 for The Bed and Breakfast Star; and the 2002 Blue Peter People's Choice Award for The Story of Tracy Beaker. Her Nan collapses at work and it is found that she has pulmonary tuberculosis and so Nan is sent off to a sanatorium to recover.