Lottie Biggs is (Not) Tragic

By Author / Illustrator

Hayley Long

Genre

Friends and family

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

ISBN

9780330523011

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

05-08-2011

Synopsis

Just when things were starting to look up for Lottie her life's gone a bit pear-shaped, wonk-ways and downside up again. Her mum's all soppy over a bloke with a horrible shemo* daughter, her best pal Goose has disappeared in a cloud of nerd-gas and Lottie's in the midst of an existential crisis. There's only one thing to do - get the hell out of Cardiff and go on the road with the gorgeous Gareth Stingecombe (and his manly thighs). But things don't go to plan, and Lottie starts to realise she might have been a bit me me me lately. . .

*a female emo, obviously

The wit of Louise Rennison meets the depth of Jacqueline Wilson.

Reviews

Set in Cardiff, this book explores the life of sassy and complicated Lottie Biggs. Her best friend Goose is there to help her through any crisis, but is she having a crisis of her own and can Lottie help? Lottie's boyfriend Gareth seems to be trying to tell her something, but will he ever be able to say what he wants to?This book explores the word 'love' in all of its forms. Love for friends, family and significant others. How hard a word it is to say and how many different ways it can be expressed. It also explores forgiveness and allowing yourself to forgive others as well as helping them to forgive you. It also delves into philosophy and the reason for existence, as well as questioning stereotypes and the way that people are judged by their appearance. The use of illustrations makes this book even more quirky and humorous and allows Lottie to invent a whole new language! Although this is part of a series, it is also a standalone book and can be read without prior knowledge of the previous 2 books. It is written in a diary style and explores the issues of divorced parents, step siblings and teenage romance. Similar authors would be Jacqueline Wilson, Cathy Cassidy, Cathy Hopkins and J Jean Ure. 265 pages. Age 13+.