Lizzie Zipmouth

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt

Interest age: 6+
Reading age: 7+

Published by Young Corgi, 2008

Classics

About this book

Although Lizzie is moving into a new home, with a new stepdad and two step-brothers, she wishes things could have stayed the same - just her and her mum together in a flat, before her new stepdad came along.

So she decides that the best way to deal with the situation is to stop speaking. Despite the family's best efforts to get her to say something, Lizzie remains resolutely silent, that is until she meets Great Gran, in whom she finds an unexpected soulmate.

This is a poignant and often funny book, which looks at ways of coping with a new step-family. The friendship between Lizzie and 'Great Gran' is also touchingly portrayed. Ideal for newly confident readers.

About the author

Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945, and spent her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, where she still lives today. She started her writing career as a teenage journalist with D.C. Thompson, writing for the teenage magazine Jackie which was named after her. Today her popular books for children have sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Jacqueline's books include The Story of Tracy Beaker, which has become a hugely successful BBC TV series; Girls in Love, which together with its two sequels was filmed for ITV television; and Double Act, which she adapted for Channel 4 and which won the Royal TV Society's Best Children's Fiction Award. As the fourth Children's Laureate (2005-2007) she promoted the importance of sharing books, and reading aloud together.

About the illustrator

Nick Sharratt has created illustrations for over two hundred and fifty books during his illustrious career. He has produced over sixty of his own titles, including much-loved favourites Ketchup on Your Cornflakes and Shark in the Park. He has worked with celebrated writers including Julia Donaldson, Kes Gray and Michael Rosen and is well known for his collaboration with Jacqueline Wilson, for whom he’s illustrated more than fifty novels.

He has been the official illustrator for World Book Day and together with Katrina Charman, was awarded the 2021 BookTrust Storytime Prize, he was also the BookTrust Writer-Illustrator in Residence for 2022-23.

What to read next

We know that children can get hooked on a favourite book series or author and struggle to find something they love as much, but we’re here to help.

Jacqueline Wilson: what to read next

We know it's so easy to get attached to a favourite author, and when their books are as good as Jacqueline Wilson's, it's no surprise that some children feel like they'll never find anything they love as much. But we've got some recommendations about great stories they can try next - and we want to hear your ideas too!

More books like this

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Jacky Daydream

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