From Amazon.co.uk
Eve Karpf reads veteran children's author Jacqueline Wilson's
The Lottie Project in this unabridged three-cassette pack. This is the story of Charlie, a bright and happy young girl on the brink of change, told with a brilliant combination of comedy, poignancy and a touch of history.
For her Victorian history project, Charlie hits upon the idea of writing the diary of Lottie, a young Victorian serving girl. When her mother, Jo, loses her job as a shop manageress and starts work as a cleaner, Charlie's previously happy and comfortable lifestyle is threatened and she finds that her own hardships and struggles are not so different from Lottie's.
The Lottie Project is at once entertaining and intelligent. By eloquently capturing Charlie's anxiety as she faces up to her new and uncertain future, Wilson's talent for taking an important topic and treating it with respect and humour as she pushes her characters forward is again harnessed in this touching, human story.
Running time is four hours 40 minutes. --Susan Harrison
From Publishers Weekly
Wilson (Double Act) here introduces an animated heroine who delivers droll observations in a self-assured voice with a decidedly British accent. "I love fooling around, doing crazy things and being a bit sassy and making everyone laugh," announces Charlie (short for Charlotte). Her engaging prattle chronicles events at school--where she tangles with her teacher, bickers with her best friends and works on a project about Victorian life--as well as happenings at home. Charlie's newly unemployed single mother takes on three part-time positions, the most notable being a job as caregiver for a youngster who lives with his father. Much to the girl's chagrin, her mother takes a fancy to her employer. Their evolving relationship provides the backdrop for the novel's most dramatic and poignant scenes, in which Wilson reveals her ability to elicit tears as well as laughter. Between chapters, readers find reproduced "pages" from Charlie's school report--journal-like entries written by a poor Victorian girl who leaves home to help support her family. Wilson creatively reshapes Charlie's own experiences to depict the plight of a girl living 100 years earlier, thus adding new dimension to Charlie's perceptions while offering intriguing period particulars. Sharratt's lively, doodled spot drawings further reinforce the protagonist's view of life, both present and past. To borrow a phrase from Charlie, it would be "easy peasy, simple pimple" to welcome her back. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
