Abstract
Reviewed by: Cookie Deborah Stevenson Wilson, Jacqueline . Cookie; illus. by Nick Sharratt. Roaring Brook, 2009 [336p]. ISBN 978-1-59643-534-6 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-6 There are a lot of problems in Beauty Cookson's life—she's taunted at school, and the girl she'd like to be friends with is best friends with the meanest girl in class—but the worst of all is her father. Mr. Cookson has temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way, and he sees his wife and daughter as ornamental prizes by which to measure his success—which makes plain, ungraceful, bookish Beauty a loser in her father's eyes. When her father's outbursts start getting violent, Beauty's mother decides it's time that she and her daughter started life on their own, if they can find a way to support themselves. British author Wilson doesn't just limn her protagonists, she fiercely champions them, and Beauty is no exception: her desperation, uncertainty, and yearning are palpably evoked even as the book unequivocally implies she deserves [End Page 133] much, much better. It's therefore satisfying, if a bit of a stretch to reality, when she and her mother manage not just to land on their feet but to receive fairy-tale levels of good fortune. Beauty's loving mother is an effective secondary character in her youth and uncertainty, and her staunch support of her daughter softens the bleakness of the family story without robbing it of its impact. Sharratt's bandbox-neat panels of plot-foreshadowing line and computer wash precede each chapter and emphasize the book's accessible tone. Fans of family dramas in general or Wilson in particular will applaud Beauty's coming into her own. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Published Version
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