I have only been waiting for Jacqueline Wilson to openly write a lesbian protagonist for what, about 20 years? And despite the rating I wasn't disappointed. I looked forward to reading this book at any opportunity. The characters' responses to Frankie coming out as gay were nuanced and seemed mostly realistic. The romance here and the love interest weren't straightforward, and I did appreciate this too. The depiction of turmoil and confusion felt accurate for a coming-of-age story. Saunderson, Ginny (7 April 2020). "Jacqueline Wilson: Alfriston author releasing new book next week". Sussex Express . Retrieved 20 April 2020. 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.

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

Jacqueline Wilson has been one of my favourite authors for the longest time and I have loved every book I have read by her. Her characters are usually going through some challenging times, and though there is never a magical "and they all lived happily ever after" tone to them, they always cheer me up. Maybe because as an author she doesn't make false promises, but she does make it clear that situations can improve. This is very typical Jacqueline Wilson - characters dealing with family issues. She always writes realistically and doesn’t hide the hard stuff because her readers are young people.

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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. 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. I loved Frankie's friendship with Sammy, her younger sister, her dog called Bear.🐻 I thought the plot dealing with her mother's MS was really well done too. Love Frankie is a weird book for me to review, because it's essentially Jacqueline Wilson writing a novel that foregrounds a relationship between two teenage girls, and I think it would have meant a great deal to me when I was the age of its protagonists. While LGBT+ narratives have proliferated in young adult fiction (a welcome change from when I was a teenager and the only LGBT+ character I encountered was Andy in Sweet Valley Senior Year!), I still think it's important that someone of Wilson's stature is writing this kind of narrative. And she handles it well, sustaining her light touch while dealing with serious issues such as homophobic taunts and the persistent narrative that same-sex attraction in adolescence is 'just a phase'. While I found the attitude of the central character to her sexuality a little unrealistically optimistic, Wilson has a tendency to write naive, unworldly protagonists, and so this is in keeping with her usual style, even if, for me, it plays troublingly into the myth that LGBT+ teenagers no longer face any major issues (for evidence on the persistence of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia today, see https://www.britishlgbtawards.com/lgb...) And Wilson's instinctive understanding of the emotional intensity of teenage female friendships, and how, here, that bleeds confusingly into romantic attraction, is spot on. 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 | BookTrust Love Frankie | BookTrust

Jacqueline Wilson writes about young teenage girls with real understanding, sensitivity and affection, and she’s at her best in the story of Frankie, who finds herself head over heels in love with, of all people, the girl she thought was her worst enemy. As with most thirteen-going-on-fourteen year olds, Frankie is a mess of emotions, resenting her dad for leaving her mum, but needing him too; happy with her childhood friend Sam, but alarmed when he seems to want to change their relationship into something else; and above all confused by her new feelings for Sally. Sally is even more mixed up and her desperate need for love and attention puts Frankie at risk of real hurt. Wilson creates a loving family the support her heroine though and, like so many of her characters, Frankie develops the strength to be honest about who she is and therefore emerges unscathed. Her story is everything you expect from this writer – real, moving and enormously satisfying. 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?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. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments

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

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". This article about a children's novel of the 2020s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Powys Maurice, Emma (4 April 2020). "Best-selling children's author Jacqueline Wilson publicly comes out as gay". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020 . Retrieved 20 April 2020. Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - Despite this, about a quarter of the way through the book I was engrossed in the will they/won't they relationship of Sally & Frankie and I think many facets of young love and living with someone with a disability alongside a divorce were treated delicately and respectfully. I also really enjoyed the realistic portrayal of relationships, no "will you go out with me?", the characters fall in and out of them and that is so true of teen life!

LoveReading4Kids Says

There were several instances of fat-shaming and talk of diet culture which is always disappointing but especially so in children's/YA lit. A character would have a chocolate bar and then immediately mention the diet they *had* to go on to rectify that choice. This adds to the already shitty culture we have around diets as a society and is completely unnecessary. Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings. Love Frankie is a children's novel by English novelist Jacqueline Wilson. The book was published on 17 September 2020, after two delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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.