The Diamond Girls - Jacqueline Wilson

The Diamond Girls - Jacqueline Wilson

I bought this book for my niece who came to stay for a weeks holiday and it cost me 99p out of the charity shop but you cvan buy it on Ebay from 99p or on Amazon from £1.25 upwards.

It's been years since I bought a book for a young girl as when I was little the books we read were Enid Blyton - famous five and Alice in wonderland type books, adventure and fairytale books and I was a little surprised that this book tackled real life issues like how it is to live on a run down council estate and hanging around with wayward boys, as well as families with children from different fathers, but my niece loved it.

I thought it was a very brave book to write with an up to date view of how life has changed so much from when I was small. There really are more issues in the world today than when I was young, we used to play out on the street where no-one ever locked their doors. the front doors were always open and us children on the street used to run in and out of our "aunties " houses freely.
Nowadays its locked doors, don't speak to your neighbours ever and distrust everywhere.

This book tells it as it is, single parent families with more than one father who never seems to bother about the kids or is in prison and kids running riot and getting into trouble. The family has four daughters, whom all have different roles to play in the book. The eldest as in most families tries to be strong and help all the others as well as mum who is finding it all hard to cope with life.

This book is quite a drama unfolding around a family being brought up on the poverty line, a mother with post natal depression, a runaway daughter , a tomboy who is always fighting and getting in trouble, a flirty teenager and the one who's trying to hold it all together for mum.
The Diamond Girls is a story most little girls can relate to even if they don't come from this background they are sure to be gripped with the hardships of the family and the dramas each child has to go through.

I know my niece loved this book and some of her friends have read it too and enjoyed it, she now looks out for Jacqueline Wilson books to collect as they have caught her interest and got her reading which is a good thing .

The book is humerous in parts, sad in others and has everthing a good book should have in the story.
I give this book a healthy 10 out of 10, my niece got it and couldn't put it down and was constantly telling me about what was going on in the book. I like a book that can grab a childs interest like that.
It's not a book for small children and I would recommend it for 12 to 14 years olds as it does tackle real life issues that small children proberbly wouldn't understand or be suitable for them to read.

Have fun x