Midnight

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But I think that boy is a little bit of a psychopath, because of all the nasty things he was doing to Violet all this time.

Nick Sharratt has created illustrations for over two hundred and fifty books during his illustrious career. Fantasy and complex reality intertwine like a dewy, silky spiderweb in a mist, and not in a way that Violet expects or likes. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Violet’s life changes when the new girl in the school, Jasmine, who cares two hoots about fitting in, takes a shine to her. But I didn't recognise the underlying theme of violence and manipulation from both Will and her father.

At eleven I seem to remember having a number of friends and I think I wanted Violet to also have important friendships. In this way, Violet doesn’t grow and appears flat despite having a rounded character at the beginning. The book was on my list of books (and author) to explore though I am well past the age the book is intended for. Join Daisy, Lily and the rest of the Alphabet Girl gang as they go up against Chloe to have the best sleepover in the world!

It could be used as part of childrens creative writing to help them come up with ideas or new plots that would help a character like Violet to have a better life; it gives them a chance to be more imaginative. Violet is a fan of Casper Dream (yeah, totally not a pseudonym)'s fairy books, which she is embarrassed by because she thinks she is too old for them (she's thirteen). But there are some very serious issues of manipulation and control that went totally unaddressed and made me extremely uncomfortable.Meanwhile, Violet befriends the new cool girl at school who she enjoys hanging out with, to Violet life seems better with her new friend Jasmine around until Violet feels she has been used and betrayed by her in the middle of a game with her and Will. As somebody else has noted in a review here (which I was glad to see, knowing that I don't feel alone in this), at one point I was sure that Violets brother Will was going to sexually assult her. The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award. Violet has always been in the shadow of her mesmerising, controlling brother, Will - by turns delightful and terrifying.