Synopsis
With his mum and seriously ill baby sister in America
for a life-saving operation, Duffy is left with his
gran for the holidays. What is he going to do for six
whole weeks? His Tourette’s Syndrome means he
can hardly string a sentence together let alone go out
and meet friends – and then Alice appears on his
gran’s garden wall. Bold, brave, bad Alice –
she’s loud, foul-mouthed, bruising for a fight
and not in the least fazed by Duffy’s Tourette’s.
As their friendship grows, Duffy suspects that her home
life might not be quite what it seems – Alice
has entrusted the story she’s been writing to
him, Malice in Blunderland,
and he’s disturbed by what he reads. Surely her
adoptive dad, Big Norm, the charismatic local hero,
can’t be the abusive Red Queen of her story? With
the help of his gran, Duffy must convince Alice to face
her situation in reality even if it means breaking up
her whole family.
Cross-curricular
links and themes
- Drama
– lots of opportunities for work on Alice
in Wonderland, verse and the dramatic voice.
- Citizenship
and PSHE –
adoption, family break-up, incest, Tourette’s
Syndrome.
- Themes –
family and identity; acceptance and belonging; speech,
silence and secrets; faith and moral obligation.
| ISBN
0 340 88357 X £6.99
January 2005 176pp |
|
