Dustbin Baby - Jacqueline Wilson

I often have fond nostalgic memories of my childhood, where many only-child moments were spent reading – Mallory Towers, Ballet Shoes, Judy Blume. As an adult, we seem restricted. Although grown ups are ‘allowed’ to be seen in public reading Harry Potter or maybe a Philip Pullman, it is not ‘the done thing’ to be reading children’s books if you are a solitary adult of a certain age. Even J. K. Rowling’s work now appears in an ‘adult’ version, with different covers – as a kind of defence mechanism to prove it’s not really a kids’ book after all. It’s rather sad really. Being a mother ...  Read the complete review

April was found abandoned in a wheelie bin when she was a baby. Now she's fourteen, & skipping school to try & track down the people she was closest to as a child - maybe her real mum too - while she ponders her past & tries to make sense of it all. I liked this best of all Jacqueline Wilson's books. Like them all it has a touching story that draws you in, a believable, sympathetic main character & a well-drawn supporting cast. And although this isn't a big book it seems much deeper & detailed than the others. I think it's because it's simply the tale of April visiting different scenes from her past while the story of her young life ...  Read the complete review

We meet April on her fourteenth birthday. She hates her birthdays, because it reminds her of her the actual day of her birth. You see, April was dumped as a baby in a dustbin round the back of a pizza place by her mother. She was found by a teenage boy who worked in the pizza place. She was called April by the nurses at the hospital because she was found on April the First. April never plays April Fool jokes though. She always hopes that maybe her Mum will try to contact her on her birthday one year. She even checks the personals in the newspapers in the hope that there will be a cryptic message for her. April knows nothing about her mother. All she has is a ...  Read the complete review

One of my favourite authors as a child was Jacqueline Wilson. One thing I find amazing about her work is that, no matter how old you are, there is a book for you. As I grew up, I could always find a book of hers to cater for my likes and age. One of her books which I feel is targeted at young teens (though makes a good light read for more mature readers) is Dustbin Baby. In Dustbin Baby, April was left in a bin as a baby, and now she is much older, her birthday sparks off some curiosity about her birth mother. She goes in search of her, ready to dig up her family past, but can she track her mum down, and if so, will she like what she sees? This is a ...  Read the complete review