The Suitcase Kid

by Jacqueline Wilson, Vicky Ireland (Adapted by)

Overview

Ten-year-old Andy used to live happily at mulberry cottage with her family and Radish the rabbit, who lives in Andy's pocket and shares all her secrets. But then it all went wrong. Includes production notes to indicate how the play can be staged even with minimal resources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848420137
Publisher:	Theatre Communications Group
Publication date:	11/09/2010
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	6 - 13 Years

About the Author

Jacqueline Wilson has sold over 25 million books in the UK alone and has been the most borrowed author in British libraries for the past four years. In a BBC poll of the UK’s 200 most popular books, 14 were hers. She is the recipient of many awards. She lives in Kingston.

Vicky Ireland is one of the foremost practitioners of Children’s Theatre in the UK, including 13 years running Polka Theatre (1989–2002

Read an Excerpt

When my parents split up they didn't krow what to do with me. My mom wanted me to go and live with her. My dad wanted me to go and live with him. I didn't want to go and live at my mom's new place or my dad's new place. I wanted to stay living in our old place, Mulberry Cottage, the three of us together. Four, counting my lucky mascot toy rabbit, Radish.


There were all these arguments about who would get custody of me. I thought they were talking about custard at first. I hate custard because you can never tell when there's going to be lump and it sticks in your throat and makes you shudder.

My mom got mad and my dad got mad and I got mad too. I felt I was being split up. Half of me wanted to side with Mom. Half of me wanted to side with Dad. It was much easier for Radish. She just sided with me. She lives in my pocket so there's never been any hassle over who gets custody of her.

We had to go for family counseling. It seemed a bit stupid because my mom and dad didn't want to be a family anymore. This lady chatted to me. She was trying to be ever so casual but I knew she was trying to figure things out. She had some little dolls in her office, a mommy doll and a daddy doll and a whole set of children dolls in different sizes. She wanted me to play with them. I poked the mommy doll and the daddy doll in the stomachs and said I didn't like playing with silly old dolls.

But this lady saw me fiddling around in my pocket and she got a glimpse of Radish. I like to hold Radish tight when I'm feeling funny.

"Oh, what a dear little toy. Let me have a look," she said, in that silly voice grown-ups always use when they're trying to getyou to like them.

"She's not a toy, she's a mascot," I said. I didn't want to show her Radish at all. She's mine and she's private. But I had to let this lady paw at her and undo her dress and turn her upside down, in a very rude sort of way.

"What's Bunny's name?" she asked.

You'd have thought I was two years old, not ten. Ijust shrugged and shook my head.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Copyright 1998 by Jacqueline Wilson

Editorial Reviews

When Andy's parents get divorced, she finds herself spending alternate weeks at Mom's house, then at Dad's, and longs for the days when they were all at home together. Ages 9-12. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 3-6Ten-year old Andrea's parents have divorced and remarried and now she has several stepsiblings. She spends one week at her mother's house and the next at her father's. She wants her old family and their house, called Mulberry Cottage, back. The only comfort in her life is her lucky mascot toy rabbit, Radish, who lives in her pocket and offers her security. This realistic story told in 26 short chapters (one for each letter of the alphabet) gives Andy's view of her world of mean stepfamilies, her heartbreak and self-pity, and her own solution of creating an escape through her adventures with Radish. Light humor and an eventual realization on Andy's part that she is loved by her Mom and Dad and even liked by some of her stepsiblings and new half-sister (and that she likes some of them, too) make this a satisfying read.Kathy East, Wood County District Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

When ten-year-old Andrea's parents divorce, the family counselor asks her if she wants to live in House A with her mother or in House B with her father. Andy chooses House C, their old house, with both parents, but settles for shuttling back and forth. To make matters worse, her parents have remarried, so Andy must contend with five brothers and sisters. At her mother's she shares a room with spoiled Katie. At her father's she doesn't even have a real bed, and her stepmother is pregnant. Andy's only solace is Radish, a toy rabbit who lives in her pocket. Andy's troubles reach crisis proportions when she loses Radish in a garden they've discovered. An emotionally satisfying conclusion and a convincing protagonistplus Radish, who occasionally indulges in scene- stealingare the highlights of this book, which comes with nagging sense of the author's hand at work. Andy's parents' self-absorbed squabbling and borderline negligence (when she has an obvious case of the flu, her father insists she is "playacting") are hard to believe, and Wilson (Elsa, Star of the Shelter!, 1996, etc.) occasionally allows an older, more sophisticated voice to intrude.

Kirkus Reviews

"Gripping, funny, and sensitively written."  —Independent on Sunday

"A modern story, realistic, with lots of witty, offbeat humor."  —Daily Telegraph

"A witty and moving tale of divorce."  —The Times

"Light humor and an eventual realization on Andy's part that she is loved by her Mom and Dad and even liked by some of her stepsiblings and new half-sister (and that she likes some of them, too) make this a satisfying read."  —School Library Journal

From the Publisher