Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
January 1, 2003/in Fiction 10-14 Middle/Secondary /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 138 January 2003
Reviewer: Peter Hollindale
ISBN: 978-0333900987
Price: £10.99
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 10-14 Middle/Secondary
Length: 272pp
Buy the Book

Strawgirl

Author: Jackie Kay

Molly MacPherson, aged eleven, is the child of a Scottish farming family. Her father was born a Nigerian, of the lbo tribe, but was adopted by the farm’s previous tenants and now runs the farm. Then he is killed in a car crash. Molly’s mother slides into depression, while Molly herself fights tenaciously for her beloved farm and its cows. Threatened at school by racist bullies, and at home by the farm’s unscrupulous owners who wish to evict the MacPhersons, Molly finds help from Strawgirl, a new supernatural friend made of straw, who has magical powers. At one level Strawgirl truly exists, and with her aid Molly can fly, like the children in Peter Pan. At another she fills Molly’s need in bereavement and trauma, and she disappears when the farm is safe, Molly’s mother recovered, and Molly has found a new real-life friend. The owners and would-be evictors, two terrible twins, are childish villains like something from Roald Dahl, but the bullies at school are all too real. Thus the book straddles fantasy and reality rather uneasily, never quite sure of its tone or its aim. But the farming story is good and the heroine very appealing: it is Molly the child farmer who holds the book together.

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 Hill2003-01-01 13:35:422023-09-28 13:38:53Strawgirl

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

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

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Ross Montgomery wins the 2025 FCBG Children’s Book Award

June 7, 2025

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett IBBY UK nominations for Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

June 4, 2025

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 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
A Question of Courage Ruby Holler
Scroll to top