I have a guest reviewer today: my relation Emmanuelle, an 11 year old, avid reader. Here’s what she had to say:

Star of the Show
Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Rachael Dean
Puffin Books

Jaqueline Wilson’s latest book is an amazing tale of family and hardship. Tess, from whose viewpoint the story is told, and her family live in Victorian England. Sadly their Ma has just died and their Pa has walked out on the children. The five siblings, Maggie, Connor, Tess, Tommy and baby Ada do their best to support one another, the older brother and sister doing all they can to earn some money. Tess though dreams of being a dancer. but she has to attend The Ragged School where she looks after little Ada.
One day she learns of a pantomime that is to be performed at The Grand Theatre and she determines to audition for a role dancing in Cinderella … Can she possibly fulfil her wish?

I really loved reading this story, especially the way in which you are introduced to the characters and gradually learn more about them all as the narrative unfolds. It’s great to see how, from such a bad situation at the start, things get progressively better for every one of them.
One thing I found surprising was that readers only truly understand the title in the second part of the book.

A wonderful story and one I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys stories set in bygone days or wants to pursue a dream.