Love Frankie

Product Information

Wilson deals with a controversial subject, portraying the teenage agonies of forbidden love in a sensitive manner. 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.

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

Frankie herself started out as kind of a stereotype and the only Asian character was also ahuge stereotype and Frankie herself was stereotyping verging on racist towards her friend (who, by the way, would always be there for her but there never seemed to be any reciprocal emotional support). I am delighted that she is illustrating to young girls that their feelings are valid, normal, and that love comes in so many forms. Admittedly at almost 23 years old I am much older than the intended target audience of Jacqueline Wilson.There was an instance where the mother shames her eldest daughter for going out in a short skirt and crop top, demanding that she change because of how people will react. There were also several points in the book where I felt that the characters (particularly rowena) said things that didn’t come across as something a person of that age would say. 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'. Jacqueline's books include The Story of Tracy Beaker, which has become a hugely successful BBC TV series; Girls in Love, which together with its two sequels was filmed for ITV television; and Double Act, which she adapted for Channel 4 and which won the Royal TV Society's Best Children's Fiction Award. It shows how much anxiety can build up having a mother with a serious illness, and how hard it can be having a dad dating another woman.

Love Frankie | BookTrust Love Frankie | BookTrust

Knowing that previously a lot of her minor plot points have added up to major dramas, I was expecting more to happen. Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings. Her conversations with her slightly scary big sister and her Sylvanian Family obsessed little sister are lovely, and actually reminded me of my nieces.

I certainly didn't, and this really disappointed me because I figured this would be the book's main strong point but instead it just made it seem like coming to terms with one's sexuality is easy. 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.