A Storm of Strawberries

Jo Cotterill's A Storm of Strawberries is a tender family story for 11 year olds, told by a girl who'd do almost anything for her big sister (or for chocolate).

What happens

Darby's twelve, and home is a strawberry farm. She's got Down's syndrome. She'd like you to know that her sister Kaydee is the most beautiful person in the world (Kaydee hates being told this).

It's the Easter holidays and Darby is counting down to the chocolate hunt, the best day of her whole year. But two things are threatening it.

The first is the wind. Mum keeps staring out of the window, the farm is being tied down, and somebody says the word tornado. The second is Lissa, Kaydee's friend with the purple streaks, who has come to stay for three whole nights. She's sleeping in Kaydee's room. So where will Darby go if she has a bad dream?

Being inside Darby's head is the joy of this book. She tells you exactly what she thinks, and it's often very funny. She used to mix up tornadoes and tomatoes. She's decided The Beatles simply couldn't spell. When she's cross she makes up a dance routine and turns the music up REALLY loud. When people say one thing and mean another, it leaves her muddled, and you feel that muddle with her.

You feel the hurt of being left out, too. Kaydee and Lissa giggle upstairs and send her back to her room. Her stepbrother Olly can be mean. When the power goes off in the storm, Darby hides in her wardrobe from a scraping noise she's sure is a metal monster.

It's gentle in lots of ways, but it doesn't pretend life is simple. Darby remembers the family's old dog dying after it ate the chocolate from an earlier hunt. Lissa swears once. And the farm is heading for a tornado.

If your reader is happy with a slower, quieter start, this is a lovely, warm book with a lot of heart. It's a family you'll miss when it's over.

What to read next

For another girl telling her own story who adores her big sister, try A Kind of Spark. Addie finds loud classrooms almost unbearable, and she wishes her sister Keedie were there to explain the things she can't.