Love Frankie

Product Information

Ellie, whose mother died when she was young, misses her love and advice terribly, particularly when it comes to the ever-difficult area of boys. It made me feel very nostalgic to my early teen years reading those books and I think it’ll introduce a new generation of youngsters to her wonderful books! By this I mean I read ALL of her books and gave them rankings and reviews in my diary (much in a goodreads style - I suppose I was ahead of my time).

Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson | Goodreads Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson | Goodreads

The only discomfort Frankie shows is because it’s a guy and she is not interested in guys; the at least 5 year age difference and the potential influence of alcohol is not even acknowledged let alone properly explored.At 13 years old with her first love, Frankie is only just maturing and navigating her life as a young gay teen. It may be because I’m not really the target audience for it, or maybe I am looking back at her previous works with rose tinted glasses (and admittedly, it’s been many years since I read any of them), but I just didn’t feel like the standard of this was really up there. There’s a hilarious and spot-on bit where Frankie’s dad attributes her interest in girls (and lack of interest in boys) to the after-effects of him leaving her mum, and Frankie and her sister go on to consider all the other things he might wrongly blame himself for. The MC is supposed to be ‘nearly’ fourteen, but she (and her peers around her) honestly read as is they were nine or ten, except they were allowed to go the mall together without supervision. I wouldn't usually be bothered by this, and I think my response comes again from having read most of JWs many existing books in the past.

Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson - LoveReading4Kids Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson - LoveReading4Kids

But, most of all, It shows how confusing and difficult it is to fall in love for the first time, especially when It's a crush not everybody will accept.

In a way, I like that there wasn't too much going on to detract from the story of Frankie's first love, but there were definitely some seeds of expectation sewn that possible didn't need to be. Frankie's mother, siblings, and Bear are all loveable and are painted so vividly that you feel as if you're in their home with them. In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was the Children’s Laureate. Reading her thoughts and conversations was a little off-putting because of this, because who wants to read about a ten-year-old thinking about sex? I have mixed feelings about this (my second ever Jacqueline Wilson, the other being Lily Alone, which I loved.