Jacqueline Wilson’s The Suitcase Kid is a novel representing the inner psychology of a troubled child. Wilson was born on 17 December 1945 in England. She is well-known for children’s writing. Her novel The Suitcase Kid, published in 1992, was chosen as the best Children’s Choice Book of the time. This book is all about the life of a young girl Andrea West (known as Andy). Other major characters in the book are Andy’s Dad (Simon), Mum (Carol), Raddish (pocket rabbit), Bill (stepdad), Carie (stepmom), and her step-siblings.
This story describes the inner psychological tussle and the everyday hurdles of a kid, Andy, has to pass through. In the novel, Andy’s parents get separated and continue their new life with their new partners. But little they care that getting to all of this would be a complete mess for their small daughter, Andy. She has to tolerate all kinds of fights, depression, sadness and all. She no longer remains who she actually was. She loses all her interests, friends, reputations and so on. She has to face so many twists and turns in her life. She tries her best to reunite her parents but eventually moves on realizing that is impossible.
Going through the lines of this book was an amazing experience for me. I was quite astonished by this book. Reading this book is like sitting in a roller coaster of different emotions that a young girl faces. The thing I like the most about this book is how Andy transforms herself into a brave girl and overcomes every problem and challenge. If you are a child around 13, you should really get hold of this book once and get into it as it has so many creative contents.
How does Andy become normal? What kind of problems does Andy face and overcome? Do Andy’s parents reunite? Does she get all her friends back? To get answers of these questions and to explore more, you have to read this book. It is really a worth-reading novel.
[Drishya Shrestha is a seventh grader at Kanjirowa National School, Koteshwar]