Candyfloss

Starred review from July 16, 2007
The latest from Britain’s former Children’s Laureate is vintage Wilson. Flora Barnes splits her week between her mother, who has remarried a successful executive, and her father whose situation is less rosy. When her stepfather accepts a temporary transfer to Australia, “Floss,” as she is called, must choose to spend six months in sunny Sydney or to stay with her father above his failing chip shop. At school, she’s also torn. Her best friend, the “posh and persnickety” Rhiannon, has become materialistic and judgmental; Floss can’t stand the cruel teasing Rhiannon directs at a new classmate. When Floss chooses to stay with her dad—because she realizes he needs her more than her mother does—her standing at school suffers. Her mismatched clothing, which carries the greasy spoon’s scent, makes her the new target of Rhiannon’s torments. Meanwhile, her father is losing his shop to bankruptcy and the possibility of homelessness becomes real. This tension paces a novel that contains many compelling, sometimes gritty, elements—shopping, gambling, fair-going, romance, a knife-fight and even a scary fire. All that action makes the narrative longer than usual for this age group, but Floss’s emotional turmoil should hook girls. There’s a real tenderness to her relationship with her father, fully dimensional in all his flaws, a man whose love for his daughter often clouds his judgment. A full page of Sharratt’s comic-strip–style panels opens each chapter, and “Floss’s Glossary” defines unfamiliar Briticisms. Ages 9-12.

September 1, 2007
Gr 4-7-Flossie's mom is remarried and has a prosperous life with her husband and baby. Flossie's dad, however, is close to 40 and hasn't gotten it together. Overweight, depressed, and financially hard up, he is his own worst enemy. When Flossie's mom and stepdad move to Sydney for six months, Flossie convinces her mother to let her stay with her loving but inept father in London. Her life changes drastically when she starts going to school looking unkempt and smelling of her father's greasy-spoon café. She loses her superficial and status-conscious friends, but makes friends with Susan, whose background is more like hers. After numerous trials that end in near homelessness, Flossie's father finally puts the divorce behind him. When he encounters Rose, a fortune-teller and cotton-candy maker with a traveling carnival, he's met his true match. Flossie is a likable character who discovers the meaning of true friendship, suffers hardship with aplomb, and learns some important life lessons along the way. Readers will cheer her on and feel satisfaction when she sees her ex-best friend for the bully and snob that she is."Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2007
When her mother, stepfather, and baby brother go off to Australia for six months, Flossie makes the difficult choice to stay home with her dad, the owner of a failing caf'. Worse, Flossies former best friend, the classroom queen, has become a bullying enemy, making fun of the cooking oil smell on Flossies clothes and denigrating the nice new girl, Susan. Having assembled these perennially interesting ingredients, Wilson produces a poignant, gently humorous, and totally satisfying tale. Flossie is charmingly believable, idiosyncratic, but recognizable as an upper-elementary-school girl who has almost, but not quite, outgrown stuffed animals and imaginary play. Each chapter begins with a full page of cartoon-style panels indicating the action to follow. American readers may be unfamiliar with chip butties, the french fry sandwich that is Flossies fathers specialty, but they will recognize the school social scene and cheer Flossies newfound backbone. Flosss Gloss in the back translates unfamiliar British phrases and may encourage readers to find more of this best-selling British authors work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)