Katy

Jacqueline Wilson's Katy is a warm, lively family story for 10 year olds about a girl who can't stay off the garage roof.

What happens

Katy Carr is eleven, the eldest of six, and REALLY tall. She'd rather be up a tree than anywhere else. She's going to be a racing driver, or an astronaut, or at the very least win Britain's Got Talent with her rescue terrier (who only wants to play with the other dogs).

Her mum died when Katy was small. That's backstory, not something that happens in the book. Now there's Dad, a busy doctor, and Izzie, her stepmum, who Katy can't stand. There's also Izzie's daughter Elsie, who whines and wants to join in with everything.

The best bits are the gang's adventures. Katy leads everyone through a tunnel in the hedge into the garden of the lonely old lady next door. Behind a tumbledown greenhouse there's a willow "cave" and a secret spot for picnics. She reads out her little brother's diary to the others (spelling and all), and it's very funny. Then there's the Sunday she decides to make pancakes for everyone, cracks in a dozen eggs, and flips one straight onto Elsie's head!

Katy tells it herself, so you get all her big feelings. She loves her brothers and sisters to bits. She's also bossy, jealous and sometimes mean to Elsie, and she knows it. Who hasn't lain awake promising to be nicer tomorrow, then been cross again by breakfast?

It's based on a much older book called What Katy Did, but Jacqueline Wilson has moved everything into a modern family with mobile phones, a people carrier and The Great British Bake Off.

Later in the book Katy has a terrible accident that changes her life. It's good to be ready for that if your reader has had a hard time with illness or injury in the family. A child who's living with a stepparent or a new baby might find a lot here that feels familiar, too.

For a reader who loves a big, noisy house where brothers and sisters drive each other mad, this is a lovely one.

What to read next

If they want more sisters squabbling under one roof, The Worst Thing About My Sister is about Marty, who'd rather draw comics than wear lip gloss, and her big sister Melissa, who is pink from head to toe.