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Jacqueline Wilson (Author) Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain's bestselling and most beloved children's authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold. As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children's Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children's Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings. Find out more about Jacqueline and her books at www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk Nick Sharratt (Illustrator) Nick Sharratt has written and illustrated many books for children including Shark in the Park, You Choose and Pants. He has won numerous awards for his picture books, including the Sheffield Children's Book Award and the 2001 Children's Book Award. He has also enjoyed stellar success illustrating Jacqueline Wilson's books. Nick lives in Hove.
Gemma and Alice have been best friends from the day they were born. For real: Their mothers gave birth to them on the same day and they've been BFFs ever since - until the day that Alice's family moves to Scotland. Total opposites, Alice is feminine and well-behaved while Gemma has a propensity for causing calamities, which stages the action. A taxi-driving dad, two older brothers, a dog named Barking Mad, her mom who wants a curly-girly (like Alice), a fun-loving granddad and a fat classmate who loves to eat (named Biscuits) round out the cast. While stories about best friends separated by moving are plentiful, Wilson's British fillip makes this one original, with Gemma's strong first-person voice and personality and Sharratt's black-and-white drawings in strip-style sketches before each chapter teasing the reader and forecasting the next turn of events. Gemma's dilemmas - crying jags, chocolate binges, cake-throwing, special dolls and bracelets and birthday wishes - are sprinkled with British idioms; this will cause no problems for American readers, who will be grinning all the while. (Fiction. 9-12) (Kirkus Reviews)
