Predictably stereotypical.
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I am a 31 year old heavily tattooed mother, I find this book rather horrifying.
The story draws on outdated stereotypes and despite it's light-hearted prose it propagates prejudice against those that choose not to conform to a standard or uniform appearance.
The demographic that this book is aimed at (pre-teen girls) are very impressionable and unfortunately already faced with continuing pressure regarding looks. By presenting them with a story that essentially equates looking different with mental illness and thus unemployability and poor parenting skills, Jacqueline Wilson is (sadly) reinforcing the idea that judging women on how they look is both normal and acceptable.
I will be writing to my child's school to request that this book be removed from their reading list.
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Brill Book
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About the author of the book
Jacqueline Wilson is one of my favourite authors and she wrote this great book! She has her own personal collection of over 15,000 books and I don't even have about a thirtieth of that (500 books)!
About the awards for the book
This brilliant book was shortlisted for:
The Whitbread Award
The Sheffield Children's Book Award
`The Illustrated Mum' was the winner of the:
Children's Book of the Year, British Book Awards 2000
Guardian Children's Fiction Award, 2000
It was voted for `The Book I Couldn't Put Down' in the Blue Peter book awards
The book was Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal
The story plot of the book
Marigold is the mother of two children Dolphin and Star. Dolphin, the younger one, loves her amazing tattoos, which are all over her body from head to foot and thinks she is the most beautiful mother in the world. Star, the daughter of her husband that she loved the best, does not. Find out what happens when Star leaves to live with her dad and Marigold goes crazy...
My awards for the book
I would rate this brilliant book 10/ 10; I really, really, really, really, really, really enjoyed this book, to prove that I really, really, really, really, really, really, really enjoyed this book, I couldn't put it down until the very end! I would recommend it to anyone who really likes Jacqueline Wilson's books - just like me, especially girls.
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INSPIRATIONAL STORYTELLING
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This book was recommended to me by my older sister and at first I wasn't sure I would like it, being the cynical 25 year old I am. But this book is really absorbing. The way Wilson draws the reader into the mind of a child and deals with complex issues without over sentimentalising is fantastic. Soon I had forgotten all about my preconceptions and began caring greatly about what was happening to the characters instead. Truly an inspirational book and I enjoyed my time in the world created by Wilson immensely.
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An all round disappointing read
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This book takes the monotonous format of every other Jaqueline Wilson novel, a struggling single parent and her disfunctional children battle through an ocean of emotions that are depicted in an unrealistic one dimensional manner. The story could potentially be a stimulating one, it tells of dolphin and star the daughters of an excessively tattooed mother and their struggle to survive as a family. The novel tries too desperately to convey different circumstances but the portrayal is so repetitive it becomes tedious and quite frankly boring. What would be really impressive is if Jaqueline Wilson could write a book which included happy people and not such a predictable storyline- now that would be different, and worth a read. The illustrated mum however is just another attempt to break away from stereotypical ideals but because of this intent it automatically becomes pretentious. In case you hadn't gathered I would not recommend this book unless you enjoy Jaqueline Wilsons other books as then you are in for a good read.
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The Illustrated Mum
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The book I am reviewing is called The Illustrated Mum which was written by Jacqueline Wilson and was published by Corgi Books.
The Illustrated Mum tells the story of a mum called Marigold who is covered in tattoos and has two daughters called Dolphin and Star. The mum, Marigold is always out late partying leaving the girls to look after themselves in the flat alone. In one instant Marigold goes out on one of her nights and bumps into Star's dad, Micky. He comes back to meet his daughter who he never knew existed and gets to know her. However, as he already has a girlfriend there was no way he was ever going to move back in and get back with Marigold who was still in love with him. The story follows the relationship between members of the family through both good and bad times.
I think that this book is a brilliant read for girls over the age of 10. I really enjoyed reading it, as it was very exciting, not too long so that I stayed interested and it was also fun reading about a parent who was weird and something different from normal everyday parents.
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