Sassy Mama Kids’ Book Club x The Kelly Yang Project: Queenie by Jacqueline Wilson, reviewed by Hillary Yip, age 7

For this installment of the Sassy Mama kids’ book club we decided to get in touch with a real expert on children’s books… and so we’re thrilled to introduce our newest reviewer, seven-year-old Hillary Yip who attends the International Montessori School, alongside creative writing classes at The Kelly Yang Project. Here, Hillary shares her opinion on long-time kids’ favourite, Jacqueline Wilson’s newest book.

Queenie is a book by Jacqueline Wilson. It is 410 pages long. The story takes place in England in 1953, the year Queen Elizabeth II started to be the Queen of England. I like Queenie because it tells us a bit about the past and it is fiction too! After I finished reading the book, I found it so interesting that I wanted to find out more about olden England and Bovine Tuberculosis. I also enjoyed the afterword to see the life after the story of Queenie, Elsie and Nan. This book teaches us that even in the worst disaster, there is still some hope. It also inspired me to give money to the charity to help sick and helpless children. I recommend this book for people above 7 or 8 years of age.

About the story

Elsie and her Nan lived together because Elsie’s mum works abroad dancing. Nothing could separate them, but suddenly, they had to go to hospital because of tuberculosis, otherwise known as T.B. At hospital Elsie met Queenie the hospital cat and nurse Gabriel the night nurse. After many comforting weeks of Elsie’s mum visiting, her mum disappeared off to Canada with a particular Mr. Perkins. Elsie suspected that Mr. Perkins may be her mum’s new “boyfriend” and she was RIGHT! Nurse Gabriel felt sorry for her and pretended to be her “mum”. Elsie passed time by telling stories. At the end, Elsie and her Nan got better. Soon after, Queenie had a litter of kittens and Elsie adopted one of them and named her Princess.

About Hillary Yip
Hillary attends International Montessori School. She is currently seven years old. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, and playing with her brother Alexis. She has been studying creative writing at The Kelly Yang Project for three years. At KYP, she takes Introductory Creative Writing and Introductory Public Speaking.

 

About the Kelly Yang Project
The Kelly Yang Project is Hong Kong’s premier after school English writing centre, specialising in creative writing, critical reasoning, public speaking, English literature, and much more. Its innovative writing courses have helped thousands of students improve and love writing. For more information, please click here.