The Suitcase Kid

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

MEET TEN-YEAR-OLD ANDY. THE SUITCASE KID.

"When my parents split up they didn't know what to do with me. My family always lived at Mulberry Cottage. Mum, Dad, me - and Radish, my lovable toy rabbit. But now, Mum lives with Bill the Baboon and his three kids. Dad lives with Carrie and her twins. And where do I live? I live out of a suitcase."

Andy has always lived at Mulberry Cottage with her mum and dad.

But when they split up, Andy has to say goodbye to her childhood home. Now she spends one week at her mum's and one week at her dad's.

With a brand-new stepfamily to deal with and two new houses, will Andy ever feel at home?

Written by the multi-award-winning author, Jacqueline Wilson, The Suitcase Kid explores the emotions around divorce with humour, and ultimately optimism. The perfect book to start conversations about difficult topics like divorce with young readers.

Gripping, funny and sensitively written - Independent on Sunday

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

When my parents split up they didn't krow what to do with me. My mom wanted me to go and live with her. My dad wanted me to go and live with him. I didn't want to go and live at my mom's new place or my dad's new place. I wanted to stay living in our old place, Mulberry Cottage, the three of us together. Four, counting my lucky mascot toy rabbit, Radish. There were all these arguments about who would get custody of me. I thought they were talking about custard at first. I hate custard because you can never tell when there's going to be lump and it sticks in your throat and makes you shudder. My mom got mad and my dad got mad and I got mad too. I felt I was being split up. Half of me wanted to side with Mom. Half of me wanted to side with Dad. It was much easier for Radish. She just sided with me. She lives in my pocket so there's never been any hassle over who gets custody of her. We had to go for family counseling. It seemed a bit stupid because my mom and dad didn't want to be a family anymore. This lady chatted to me. She was trying to be ever so casual but I knew she was trying to figure things out. She had some little dolls in her office, a mommy doll and a daddy doll and a whole set of children dolls in different sizes. She wanted me to play with them. I poked the mommy doll and the daddy doll in the stomachs and said I didn't like playing with silly old dolls. But this lady saw me fiddling around in my pocket and she got a glimpse of Radish. I like to hold Radish tight when I'm feeling funny. "Oh, what a dear little toy. Let me have a look," she said, in that silly voice grown-ups always use when they're trying to get you to like them. "She's not a toy, she's a mascot," I said. I didn't want to show her Radish at all. She's mine and she's private. But I had to let this lady paw at her and undo her dress and turn her upside down, in a very rude sort of way. "What's Bunny's name?" she asked. You'd have thought I was two years old, not ten. Ijust shrugged and shook my head. Excerpted from The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

When Andy's parents get divorced, she finds herself spending alternate weeks at Mom's house, then at Dad's, and longs for the days when they were all at home together. Ages 9-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-6‘Ten-year old Andrea's parents have divorced and remarried and now she has several stepsiblings. She spends one week at her mother's house and the next at her father's. She wants her old family and their house, called Mulberry Cottage, back. The only comfort in her life is her lucky mascot toy rabbit, Radish, who lives in her pocket and offers her security. This realistic story told in 26 short chapters (one for each letter of the alphabet) gives Andy's view of her world of mean stepfamilies, her heartbreak and self-pity, and her own solution of creating an escape through her adventures with Radish. Light humor and an eventual realization on Andy's part that she is loved by her Mom and Dad and even liked by some of her stepsiblings and new half-sister (and that she likes some of them, too) make this a satisfying read.‘Kathy East, Wood County District Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 4^-6. When 10-year-old Andrea's parents divorce, she begins spending alternate weeks with each of them. Living out of a suitcase is tough, and her parents' new partners, two sets of obnoxious stepsiblings, and inconvenient bus routes to and from school further complicate her life. Looking for some peace and quiet, Andy and her stuffed rabbit, Radish, discover a yard near her school that has a mulberry tree like her former home. After Radish drops into a hole in the tree, Andy spends a frantic night searching for her treasured toy and finally meets the yard's elderly owners, who generously invite her to visit any time. Wilson's frank portrayal of the realities of shared custody will ring true for young readers, especially many who are experiencing its effects firsthand. Andrea's attempts to cope with her challenging life are, at turns, funny, sad, and poignant and sure to captivate fans of this genre. --Kay Weisman

Horn Book Review

Titled alphabetically, the twenty-six chapters convey a feisty yet touching portrait of an unhappy ten-year-old girl, shuttled between her divorced parents' houses. A garden near Andy's school provides her and her toy rabbit refuge when the relatives and steprelatives become too much. Eventually Andy's make-believe games in the garden help her to reconcile with her real life. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

When ten-year-old Andrea's parents divorce, the family counselor asks her if she wants to live in House A with her mother or in House B with her father. Andy chooses House C, their old house, with both parents, but settles for shuttling back and forth. To make matters worse, her parents have remarried, so Andy must contend with five brothers and sisters. At her mother's she shares a room with spoiled Katie. At her father's she doesn't even have a real bed, and her stepmother is pregnant. Andy's only solace is Radish, a toy rabbit who lives in her pocket. Andy's troubles reach crisis proportions when she loses Radish in a garden they've discovered. An emotionally satisfying conclusion and a convincing protagonistplus Radish, who occasionally indulges in scene- stealingare the highlights of this book, which comes with nagging sense of the author's hand at work. Andy's parents' self-absorbed squabbling and borderline negligence (when she has an obvious case of the flu, her father insists she is ``playacting'') are hard to believe, and Wilson (Elsa, Star of the Shelter!, 1996, etc.) occasionally allows an older, more sophisticated voice to intrude. (Fiction. 8-12)