Love Frankie

Product Information

As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children's Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children's Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. I've been reading Jacqueline Wilson books since I was much younger (ahem), and her 1992 title 'The Suitcase Kid' was one of the first I remember reading. I definitely identified with the main character in that, as I was going through similar circumstances at the time. With this new book, although I'm a bit older than Frankie, I can empathise with her situation and actually, it's written so well that I'm now at an age where I can see the perspective from the adults' point of view. Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings.

Love Frankie - Penguin Books UK Love Frankie - Penguin Books UK

I may be 27, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop reading Jacqueline Wilson’s books. To me, they are so much more than “children’s literature”. She doesn’t shy away from very real and very difficult topics, yet maintains humour and lightness at the same time. Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain's bestselling and most beloved children's authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold. This article about a children's novel of the 2020s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. But Frankie starts to wonder whether these feelings she has for Sally are stronger than her other friendships. Might she really be in love? Frankie doesn't want Sally to just be her friend. She wants her to be her girlfriend. But does Sally feel the same?

Jacqueline Wilson Press Reviews

Being a prior super-fan of Jacqueline, the reading experience was incredibly nostalgic. The characters are described with care and detail. The ordinary is made beautiful. The excitement and hardship of being a teenager are described through a sensitive and passionate young Frankie. Frankie was a highly relatable character for me although some of the stereotypical (ie hating girly things/ good at sport/ should I cut my hair short?) descriptions were uninspiring; however I think these things do connect to a shared experience of girls who are coming out and unearthing their identity, thus the phrase "baby dyke". 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. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million! If I read this book when I was a young teen, I think I’d be rooting for Sally and Frankie as a couple. As an adult (much like Frankie’s mum/older sister) I felt very wary of Sally and thought she was two-dimensional and narcissistic. The supporting characters, however, were fantastic - I loved Sammy and Coral and Ivneet and thought they were so endearing and well-developed.

Love Frankie - Jacqueline Wilson - Google Books Love Frankie - Jacqueline Wilson - Google Books

LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Funnily also, the father of the girl which the main character falls in love with is a Forensic Anthropologist which is what I studied for my masters degree. Weirdly, it made me feel slightly as though the book was written for me. Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain’s bestselling and most beloved children’s authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold. As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children’s Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children’s Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings.

Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award. I know I’m not exactly the target age range for Jacqueline Wilson, but (confession) I’ve read quite a few of her books over the years - my daughter used to love them - and the synopsis sounded too good to resist. The bully to lovers storyline is a trope that we all recognise and sometimes it can work however in this case there wasn't enough depth or work put in to their emotional development.

Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson | Goodreads Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson | Goodreads

I have mixed feelings about this (my second ever Jacqueline Wilson, the other being Lily Alone, which I loved. In the first half, there was a lot I could relate to, and in some ways Wilson nails what it felt like being thirteen/fourteen (I think I might have loved the book if I'd read it at that age, given the subject matter), but it does feel very much written in her usual middle grade style and that feels jarring during the second half of the book when more 'teen' stuff starts happening. I didn't enjoy the second half so much. I think it’s so important that books like Love Frankie exist, especially from authors such as Jacqueline Wilson. It’s such an approachable look at growing up, discovering new feelings and diversity. I felt that it really normalised feelings towards the same sex in a way that was approachable and I could imagine quite realistic. I felt that I could relate to the feelings Frankie was facing; first love is first love regardless of gender, and that Jacqueline, as usual, really captured what it’s like to be a teenager and have all these different feelings and emotions and challenges.

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I absolutely adored Frankie, her family, her friends. I was less taken with Sally, but I was able to understand her appeal. I liked that both Frankie and her sister Zara were in a similar situations with their infatuations on rather self-involved people who treat others pretty poorly. Zara's points about Sally are all absolutely correct, but they also apply to the boy she likes. Frankie's disdain for this boy is fair, but she doesn't want to see that Sally presents the same issues. Popular, pretty Sally Macclesfield has been thirteen-year-old Frankie’s nemesis for a while, but when they finally start becoming friends, Frankie realises her feelings for Sally go beyond friendship. And Sally, it seems, feels the same way, or does she? While Frankie is wrestling with the confusion of Sally’s hot and cold behaviour, she’s also dealing with her mother’s illness and her two sisters - Zara, the eldest, and Sylvanian-Family-obsessed Rowena, the little one. Then there’s best friend Sam, the boy next door who might want to be something more.

Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson - LoveReading4Kids Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson - LoveReading4Kids

Frankie and Sally as a couple are cute, although the two do not seem a convincing nor withstanding match and the book closes without resolve of their significant issues. I personally was hopeful that Frankie might realise she was actually in love with Ivneet, Ellie-and-Dan style (sequel idea???). But alas, love, particularly young love, is often shallow. The relationship between Sammy and Frankie is handled with great care. The supporting characters all have their moments too. Frankie's mother, siblings, and Bear are all loveable and are painted so vividly that you feel as if you're in their home with them. I'm trying to understand why it felt like a 3 star read; one reason might be the language used by the young characters, which felt inconsistent to me. The words and sayings that the 13 year olds used didn't always suit their age or the time in which it is set (now). Jacqueline Wilson has a very specific dialogue style that cropped up at times then went away. I found it more jarring in this book set in the current day than the newer historical fiction books or even the contemporary novels written in the 90s. I can't help feeling that Sally wasn't quite worthy of Frankie's devotion, but I appreciated that she wasn't a villain, and had some redeeming qualities. I felt the ending was appropriate. There is not a great deal of resolution, but the girls are not quite fourteen yet, so the ending point felt quite fitting to me. Maybe things will work out, maybe they won't. At thirteen, it makes sense that that would be somewhat up in the air. I did love that the drama wasn't really about Frankie's sexuality, just the general stuff that comes along with first, unexpected love, especially when the object of your affections isn't the kindest person. Frankie learns to value herself and stand up to being treated poorly, that was brilliant to see.This book was everything I could have wanted as a child and I feel incredibly happy that young children now will be able to read this book and potentially see themselves in the characters and know that being gay is completely fine and does not change who you are. A subplot is Frankie’s concern for her mum who, prior to the start of the novel, has been diagnosed with MS. I think Wilson does a wonderful job of illustrating the reality of living with an invisible illness, dealing with fears about employment, and worries about worsening symptoms. As the novel is from Frankie’s perspective, it is worth noting that Wilson does not imply Frankie’s opinions are her mum’s lived experience! However, I really liked how the mum, Jen, is portrayed as someone with a chronic illness who has good days, meh days, bad days. This felt like realistic representation to me and I think it will resonate with readers. When Sally turns out to be not-so-mean after all, they strike up a friendship and are suddenly spending all of their time together. But soon Frankie starts to wonder about the feelings she has for Sally. She doesn't want Sally to just be her friend. She wants her to be her girlfriend. But does Sally feel the same? I adored this book and think that JW may now be my new not-so-guilty pleasure. I may have to reread some of my old favourites at some point once I have read the books which I currently own that are on my TBR list.