MG Monday: Guest Review: Lolly Luck by Ellie Danes

Image from Goodreads

Title: Lolly Luck

Author: Ellie Danes

Publisher: Andersen

Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012

Source: Review Copy

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

Lolly is Lolly Luck by name, lucky by nature. She always wins magazine competitions, on scratch cards and any game you can think of. But when Lolly’s dad loses his job and then the family home, Lolly’s luck starts to change. And when she overhears her parents arguing, she learns a secret that will change her life forever.

REVIEW BY BETH

Lolly Luck is a well written and thought out novel that takes some seriously major family and personal issues and makes them palatable, manageable and readable for an audience of around 9-11. Lolly is a happy go lucky, likeable and fun character who narrates her own tale, from the beginning where her luck seems to be on the up, throughout the story when it seems to come upon hard times and everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. Lolly is an extremely believable and genuine narrator who has many personality quirks and nuances that make her especially likeable, including her dislike of the popular school bully and her love of making paper fans for her dad and family members.

Everything is going so well at the beginning, it’s Lolly’s birthday and she’s already received a wad of cash from a mysterious Great Uncle and is looking forward to her special bike from her parents. However, after school everything changes, her dad has lost his job and nothing seems as lucky anymore. From then on, their household shifts and things are no longer the way they were for Lolly and her big sister Zola. It comes to a head when Lolly hears a heart-breaking secret in an argument between her parents and she knows nothing will be the same again.

This novel deals with some highly relevant and current social issues and markets them wonderfully to a young adult/older child audience. With issues such as redundancy, social housing and family breakdown treated with care and dignity, Ellie Daines gives us a novel which whilst dealing with such big issues isn’t depressive or too hard to handle. An enjoyable and fun novel where you constantly find yourself cheering Lolly on and hoping she reaches a happy ending.