Lying face down on my bed, listening to my MP3 player, I tried to imagine I was on a tropical island. But the fight with Dad kept pushing postcard beaches and blinding sunshine from my mind.
Grounded! For a month! Sure, I did the wrong thing, but so did Riley. How come he wasn’t being punished? It wasn’t like I’d meant for Sarah to get hurt.
Allie McGregor’s life seems to be one problem after another. First, there’s having to share her bedroom with her little sister, Sarah, and Sarah’s smelly pet mice, while their Dad continues his endless renovations. Then there’s Dad job as a breakfast DJ – where he tells stories about Allie, calling her ‘The Hormonal One’. Then there’s the problems between her best friend Lou and her new friend, Romy, the most popular girl at school. And on top of all this, Allie’s mum has cancer.
Allie McGregor’s True Colours is a touching, but never saccharine, tale of one girl’s journey through dealing with her first year of high school, with all its problems, whilst also dealing with the stresses of family illness. Told in a humorous first-person voice, through the eyes of the attitude-laden Allie, this is a moving read that deals with weighty issues yet maintains momentum as it sweeps the reader along. Whilst we see Allie throw tantrums and act, at times, unreasonably, we also see why she is like this and barrack for her to come though unscathed.
Suitable for girls aged 12 an up.
Allie McGregor’s True Colours, by Sue Lawson
Black Dog Books, 2006