Rent a Bridesmaid

Jacqueline Wilson's Rent a Bridesmaid is a story for 9 year olds about wanting something very badly, and it comes in raspberry pink.

What happens

Tilly has a daydream she plays in her head at night. Her mum and dad are getting married. Mum has a veil. Dad has polished shoes. And Tilly walks behind them as their bridesmaid, in a dress she has imagined in every colour there is.

Her mum and dad are not getting married. Her mum left.

That's the thing Tilly doesn't tell anyone, including her brilliant new best friend Matty, who is also called Matilda and who picked Tilly on her very first day.

Then Matty's mum tells her she'll be a bridesmaid at her aunt Rachel's wedding. Matty thinks this is the worst news of her life. Pink, with frills, and pink knickers to match.

Tilly gets to stroke a little square of the silk and can hardly speak.

You can probably guess from the title where all this longing is heading.

What makes it so readable is Tilly's voice. She's honest with you and careful with everyone else. She keeps a chart in her drawing book with a tick for every day Matty is still her best friend.

And she's not a quiet little mouse either. Give her a shoebox of odd toys and she'll invent Princess Pony and a kingdom of flying horses on the spot.

Now, some plain facts for you before you hand this over. Tilly's mum has gone and Tilly is not coping with it as tidily as the grown-ups think. She once cut up her mother's clothes with the kitchen scissors. She used to go to a clinic to talk to a lady about her feelings, and she learned there to paint smiley suns so she'd be allowed to stop going. In the toilets at that clinic she meets an older girl who won't eat.

None of this is sensationalised and it's all backstory, told to you quietly. But it's a fair bit of sad for the age, and a child whose own family has recently changed shape may feel every page of it.

You'll see this one filed under funny. It isn't, particularly. It's warm and it's often light, but the ache underneath is the point.

What to read next

For another Wilson girl working out where she stands with her friends, try Jacqueline Wilson's Sleepovers. Daisy has joined a club of five at a new school, birthday sleepovers are being planned, and she's dreading her own turn because of something at home she hasn't explained yet.