Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
March 1, 2003/in I Wish I'd Written /by Angie Hill
This article is featured in BfK 139 March 2003
This article is in the I Wish I'd Written Category

I Wish I’d Written: David Almond

Author: David Almond

David Almond on a brilliant book that is impossible to describe…

The first time I finished reading Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse to my daughter, we went straight back to the start and read it again and we enjoyed it even more. Since then, I must have read it twenty times and it continues to be funny, touching and true. Lilly might look like a mouse, but she perfectly embodies the passions, joys, shames, delights and despairs of childhood. Her relationships – with her family and her school mates, and especially with her artistic and eccentric teacher, Mr Slinger – are lightly sketched and totally convincing. The devastating impact of the plastic purse and its contents is absolutely believable. We’re given Lilly’s whole world – with its pointy chalk, its snacks, Mr Slinger’s ties, its film star sunglasses, its jingly coins, its lightbulb lab, its lurching stomach, its uncooperative chair, its interpretive dance – and the whole thing is a delight. The book even contains a book-within-a-book written by Lilly herself. Lovely rhythmical writing, sharp and affecting illustrations. Like all brilliant books, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse is impossible to describe.

The thing to do is to read and look at the book itself. Then, like Lilly and Mr Slinger and her mates, you’ll say, ‘Wow.’ It’s just about all you could say. ‘Wow.’ Truly a little masterpiece from the splendid Kevin Henkes. Wish I’d written it.

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes is published by Hodder (0 340 71465 4, £4.99 pbk).

David Almond’s latest book is Wild Girl, Wild Boy (Hodder, 0 340 85431 6, £5.99 pbk).

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2003-03-01 09:00:072021-12-05 15:19:35I Wish I’d Written: David Almond
BfK 254 May 2022 Download BfK Issue BfK 254 May 2022
Skip to an Issue:

Related Articles

I Wish I’d Written: Derek Keilty
BfK 253 March 2022
I Wish I’d Written: Elys Dolan
BfK 252 January 2022
I Wish I’d Written: Daisy May Johnson
BfK 249 July 2021
I Wish I’d Written: Cath Howe
BfK 248 May 2021
I Wish I’d Written: Em Norry
BfK 247 March 2021
I Wish I’d Written: Alex Wheatle
BfK 246 January 2021
I Wish I’d Written: Sarah Lean
BfK 245 November 2020
I Wish I’d Written: Joseph Coelho
BfK Poetry Special October 2020

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Peter Bently and Steven Lenton named winners of The Children’s Book Award 2022

June 27, 2022

Shortlist for the 2022 SLA Information Book Award

June 23, 2022

2022 Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Winners Announced

June 16, 2022

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2022 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Good Reads: The Dragon School Useful Organisations No.25
Scroll to top