Love Ya Babe by Chris Higgins

Love Ya Babe by Chris Higgins
Buy Love Ya Babe by Chris Higgins at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
Summary: Another super kitchen sink drama from Chris Higgins, dealing with unexpected new babies in the family, post-natal depression, and unemployment. It has a light touch and a wise approach.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 304	Date: January 2009
Publisher: Hodder
ISBN: 0340970758
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Gabby's mother is outrageous. She's older than most mothers; tubby, frumpy, over-demonstrative, and appears at all the worst moments, usually wearing a pair of garish wellington boots. You can only imagine the embarrassment.

And if that weren't enough for a young girl to carry on her shoulders, then what about Gabby's father? He's suddenly become tremendously grumpy, shouts all the time, and drinks rather too much wine. What about her brother Felix, who's getting bullied at school because he prefers women's clothes to his own? Or littlest brother Freddie, who's spoiled and petulant and who throws tantrums at every opportunity? Or Gemma and her gang at school, who clearly have it in for Gabby? Or Si, the school heartthrob, who's threatening to com between Gabby and her best friend, Angie?

You can see, life's just not smooth for the poor girl, is it? So when Gabby's mother suddenly announces that she's pregnant - at forty-six, for heaven's sakes! - it's the straw that broke the camel's back...

Chris Higgins gives her loyal audience another tremendously enjoyable read in Love Ya Babe. She has a light touch and an easy style that absorbs you right from the very start. And there's a vein of humour running through each of her kitchen sink dramas that never fails to bring a smile to this mother's face. Things are going awfully wrong in Gabby's family, but of course she's a self-centred adolescent and she's not quite the put-upon person she thinks she is.

Immersed in her own - typically teenage - victimhood, she doesn't lift a finger to help her overworked and well-meaning mother until it's almost too late. She doesn't give a thought to why her erstwhile laid-back father has suddenly become so touchy until after his crisis too has passed. On the other hand, she is having a rotten time too, and she's good at heart, and you have lots of sympathy for her.

The book tackles bullying, romantic rivalry, loyalty in friendship, post-natal depression, and unemployment as well as unexpected new babies in the family so there's a lot to think about, but there's not an ounce of preachiness about it. Higgins fans will enjoy it as much as they expect to.

Recommended for all girls aged from about eleven or twelve to fifteen.

My thanks to the nice people at Hodder for sending the book.

They might also enjoy My So-called Life: The Tragically Normal Diary of Rachel Riley by Joanna Nadin.

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