Customer Reviews

Cookie

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Another good read from Jacqueline Wilson. Cookie contains many of the themes found in previous books - the abusive father, mean girls at school, and cooking, lots of cooking. Ms Wilson clearly has a fondness for food (I mean writing wise, as she has a beautiful figure :))
The father here is emotionally abusive. His language is a constant stream of criticisms designed to erode the confidence of Beauty and her mother. The father is very materialistic, constantly concerned with 'keeping up with the Joneses'. He regards Beauty and her mother much like possessions, concerned with how their physical beauty reflects on his own image. There are a couple of incidents of physical abuse as Beauty's mother reaches breaking point.
There are lots of good opportunities for discussion with girls who read this book about emotional abuse and learning to identify it. Another discussion point is why Beauty's father is the way he is. He clearly feels extremely inadequate himself, constantly striving to make more money and have a 'happy home' with a beautiful wife and daughter. Why does materialism breed such misery? Another theme is the issue of body image, a timely subject in this age of size zero.
My favourite part of the book was when Beauty and her mother arrive at the seaside town. Mike was a real sweetie. My least favourite part was the discovery of the mutilated rabbit corpse ... who knew Jackie had such a gruesome streak? Perhaps there was some metaphor in the fact that the rabbit's head was missing that I didn't catch on to. Perhaps it represented what would become of Beauty and Dilys self-esteem if they remained with Beauty's father?

Being rich doesn't always make you merry. Jacqueline Wilson reveals this by writing "Cookie". The story displays the life of a girl named Beauty.
Beauty lives in a very wealth family and luxurious house. On her unusual birthday though her parents unexpectedly divorce. The youthful girl stays with her poor but kind-hearted mother. They take a small car and some luggage. They find this beautiful beach which is called Rabbit Cove. There they start their new life. This is a very attractive "adventure" as a mother and daughter become famous because of the delicious cookies they start to bake.
From this book I learned that having everything is not what we really want. We want to have friends and family. I enjoyed this book because I could step into the main characters shoes. With all my heart I recommend this book!

As an only child attending an elite private school and living in an ultra-deluxe home with her own en-suite bathroom, Beauty Cookson seemed to have it all. However, these financial luxuries masked a deeply troubling home life and profound unhappiness at school. Beauty's father, an angry man with a violent temper and unpredictable mood-swings, abused Beauty and her mother verbally, emotionally, and sometimes even physically. Particularly grating were his constant reminders that Beauty's mother had no real abilities except to look good, and his incessant demands that Beauty fit into his idealized image of a rich princess.

At school, Beauty was ostracized and teased mercilessly for her plain looks, unfashionable clothes, and lackluster personality. Beauty felt completely powerless to do anything to change her predicament; her only source of solace and escape came from a juvenile TV cartoon. It took an extravagant birthday party planned by her father to unleash a host of unexpected events and pent-up feelings that quickly and brutally signaled the need for change.

Acclaimed British author Jacqueline Wilson is known for tackling difficult social issues in her works of children's fiction. Cookie represents another such piece of work, this time in the context of the manipulation and pain exercised by an abusive man, and the powerlessness and fear experienced by his wife and child. This book is a tough read, with a drawn-out focus on the abuse and no mention of sources of assistance and legal redress for victims of domestic violence.

Title - Cookie Authur - Jacqueline Wilson

About the book - Cookie is about a girl called Beauty.Beauty is actully really ugly! She gets picked on at school and gets a mean nick name ' Ugly'.
Her mean father ,who has ex-wives tries to cheer Beauty up but makes it worse and ends up making Beauty and her pretty mum run away.
If you like Cookie you should read...-
Clean Breack
My Sister Jodie
and
Double Act
all by Jacqueline Wilson

Having just read this book and looked up Jacqueline Wilson, she seems to think she writes about difficult subjects from a childs point of view. More accurately this book lives in the imagination of an x-wife. The story is basically my husband is evil and I must run away with the kids and live with a new knight in shining armour, who guess what,is the best new daddy in the world.... If only life was so simple, but many (not all) x-wives would like it to be and try to impose this fantasy on to the child. The only thing this book is good for is to save it up for Guy Fawkes and burn it. Who will buy this book.. probably X-Wives, as this one was.