Auntie is a awesome character in the book and she likes to annoy the girls and iterupt into other peoples lives.

I like this book because it is hilarious and when i read the book it made me feel determind to keep reading till the end. This would be the best book i have ever read in my whole life.


A childrens book worthy of universal readership   January 16, 2004
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I read this book purely because it was written by Narinder Dhami who also wrote the brilliant Bend it Like Beckham, despite the fact that it is a childrens book and I am a twenty-two year old English Literature student. Having spent three years reading the set texts for my degree course, I expected this to be a light and funny, entertaining read - which it was, but with added depth that I did not expect in a childrens book.
Amber, Geena and Jazz are three young girls whose mother died a year before the book is set. Their father does not know how to be a parent to them on his own and spends too much time at work. He over-compensates by indulging the girls' every whim and lavishing them with designer clothes. When their auntie arrives and begins to try to bring some normality and routine back to their lives, the girls are horrified and resent her intrusion into their mother's role. They plot to get rid of her. So far so-so. However, there is a much more serious message to this book when the girls begin to realise that they are not dealing with the loss of their mother quite as well as they thought and their auntie makes them realise that other people have problems too.
I liked the fact that it was made clear that having all the best possessions does not equal having the perfect life. The girls are envied by their schoolmates for what they have but what they don't have is what their schoolmates all have - a mother.
There is even a sub-plot that deals with a racist neighbour who is made to see the error of her ways by Auntie.
Losing a parent is traumatic at any age and the book is realistic in the way it highlights the fact that ignoring that someone has died is not facing up to it, and that life goes on for others who still have their parents but still have problems all the same. This is a childrens book with adult themes - loss, racism and compassion. Children and adults alike should read it.