Product Description

Dolphin adores her mother: she's got wonderful clothes, bright hair and vivid tattoos all over her body. Dolphin's sister, Star is beginning to wonder if staying with a mum whose temper can be as flashy as her body-art is the best thing for the girls.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223767 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 223 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Josie Lawrence reads Jacqueline Wilson's The Illustrated Mum in this unabridged four-cassette audio book.

Jacqueline Wilson has the ability to tackle difficult subjects with spirit and affection but without a trace of sentimentality and without patronising the reader or her characters. This always makes her books rewarding and emotionally satisfying.

In The Illustrated Mum, Wilson introduces us to Dolphin, a young girl living in the wake of her tattooed mother Marigold's manic depression. With her older sister, Star, on the brink of adulthood and facing the traumas of adolescence and her mum sinking further and further into her illness, Dol has no-one to turn to. The constant bullying at school causes her to withdraw into her own world and she begins to cope by fantasising that she is a witch.

Far from being depressing or overwhelming, The Illustrated Mum features another of Wilson's classic heroines. Dol deals with the extraordinary circumstances of her life with a mixture of humour and quiet intelligence that blossoms as the situation reaches its inevitable climax. The story is suitable for ages nine and above and the running time is six hours and 25 minutes. --Susan Harrison

Amazon.co.uk Review
Anything written by Jacqueline Wilson is a pleasure to read. Her unique talent for dealing with difficult subjects without a trace of sentimentality, without patronising either the reader or her characters, with spirit and with affection, always makes the arrival of a new book bearing her name a rewarding and emotionally satisfying experience.

In The Illustrated Mum, Wilson introduces us to Dolphin, a young girl living in the wake of her tattooed mother Marigold's manic depression. With her older sister, Star, on the brink of adulthood and facing the traumas of adolescence, and her mum sinking further and further into her illness, Dol has no-one to turn to when the constant bullying at school causes her to withdraw into her own world, and she begins to cope with the reality of her life by fantasising that she is a witch.

Far from being a depressing and overwhelming read, Wilson introduces her readers to another of her classic resourceful heroines who deals with the extraordinary circumstances of her life with a mixture of humour and quiet intelligence which blossoms as the situation reaches its inevitable climax.

The Illustrated Mum is Jacqueline Wilson at her very best, introducing a difficult subject to young readers with a compassion that initiates an understanding of a very serious problem without condescension or scare tactics. (Ages 9 and over) --Susan Harrison

Review
" A marvelous, poignant tale. . . . Jacqueline's best yet." -- "Daily Telegraph" (UK)
" Disturbingly perceptive and provocative." -- "The Guardian" (UK)
" A powerfully portrayed, sometimes shocking but ultimately uplifting story, this is a book not to be missed." -- "The Bookseller" (UK)
Winner of the Children's Book of the Year Award in England

"From the Hardcover edition."

Customer Reviews

The Illustrated Mum
This was the first Jacqueline Wilson book I ever read and now I'm hooked! She manages to show the differing emotions of the two girls and their mum through sadness, loyalty, fear, despair, fun and happiness. She makes it clear just how hard it is for kids to deal with parental instability, how painful it is to have a mum who is so different and yet she also shows how resilient the girls ultimately are and just how much they love their mum. Even though the mum is quite selfish and causes the girls a lot of heartache, Jacqueline Wilson somehow creates a sympathetic character who only really wants the best for her girls but at times is heartbreakingly unable to achieve that. It is a book full of reality which means that it is happy and sad in turns. A lot like life really!

One of the best books I've ever read
It's one of the best books I've ever read (and I've read allot) it was the first book I ever cryed about, because I felt so sorry for dolphin and star. It's an exagerated version of some real life issues. It makes you feel happy as well as sad because it shows you how good your life really is. But I warn you it is a heart-wrenchng story.

Brill Book
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.