Hetty Feather

Jacqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather is a story for 9 year olds told by a fierce little red-haired girl who was left as a baby at London's Foundling Hospital and has never stopped wondering about her mother.

What happens

"My name is Hetty Feather. Don't mock." That's how she introduces herself, and it tells you everything. It isn't her real name. The hospital gave it to her, along with a number, a few days after she was born in 1876.

From there she's sent to the countryside to be fostered. Peg, her foster mother, is big and warm and handy with a ladle for paddling. Gideon, a tiny, frightened baby who came in the same basket, is her "basket brother". And then there's Jem. He's her big brother, her hero and her best friend all at once. Together they make a squirrel house in a hollow oak and Hetty invents games she calls picturing.

What nobody tells the little ones is that foundling children don't get to stay. One morning Mother takes Martha away in her Sunday best and comes home without her. Then it's Saul.

It's a heartbreaking set-up, and Hetty tells it with so much spirit you can't help cheering for her. She's rude, stubborn and funny. She shoves Saul into the pig muck when he pokes the pig, then laughs all the way through her paddling. You'll recognise the fierce kind of love that makes a small child scream the house down.

This isn't a gentle read, though. There are smacks, a matron who pulls out a whole hank of Hetty's hair, and a lot of crying for a lost mother. For a child who is fostered or adopted, parts of it might feel very close to home, so it could be one to read together. For most readers it's gripping, and they'll be desperate to know if Hetty ever finds out who her mother is.

What to read next

If your reader loves a spirited girl with a hard life and a head full of imaginary games, try Clover Moon. Clover lives in a crowded London alley with a stepmother who slaps. She looks after all the little ones, and she's the one every child follows when it's time to play.