It was disappointing that Elsie didn’t make any true friends there, I feel that would have added some much needed development.

She has had quite a few jobs, including one at Butlins, as a showgirl, and as a secretary for Mr Perkins. Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain's bestselling and most beloved children's authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold.Amazing, touching book! One of the things I liked most about 'Queenie' when I was younger is the detailed description, particularly the stories Elsie tells to the other children in hospital, based on Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree. And, just as it did then, the book swept me in and I could scarcely put it down. Hampson, Laura (27 November 2019). "The Costa Book Awards shortlist for 2019 has been announced". Evening Standard.

However, when Elsie got to the hospital, that was when my interest dropped. I loved Queenie the cat—so adorable!—but I was not fussed on any of the other children on the ward. A brilliant and moving story from bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson, set in the children's ward of a 1950s hospital.I am so glad there was an afterword in the book of what happened later in Elsie’s life, of how she got to live with her Nan again. She was very inconsistent: sometimes she was bold, sometimes she was meek, or rude, or selfish, or selfless… I feel like Wilson wasn’t entirely sure who her character was, and made a mis-mash of her depending on the situation. I didn’t feel like I truly knew Elsie. Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award.

Our main character, Elsie Kettle lives with her Nan as her Mum is constantly away working on the stage. Elsie and her Nan are extremely close, and they plan to travel to London for the coronation together. Even though the book was made out to be about the coronation/Queenie the cat, it did feel at some points that they were side-lined for more repetitive plots. I’m not too sure how I feel about the Queen turning up at the hospital either. This book is set in 1953 and it tells the story of Elsie Kettle, who lives with her dear nan in a council flat. She has no dad and her promiscuous mum is nearly always working faraway, but Elsie doesn't mind because she loves her nan much more. One day her nan falls ill with tuberculosis and is taken away to hospital, and Elsie has to grow used to her mum being around again. But then Elsie develops TB too, and before long she is in hospital herself, strapped up with a leg splint. Will she ever see her nan again... and what will be of their long-anticipated trip to see the Queen's Coronation together? We are transported to England in the 1950’s, only a few short months before Queen Elizabeth’s II coronation. Elsie has a fantastic imagination, although to the extent that she fibs about things at school, and once to her nan. Her ability can make even the smallest things (like the kittens design on a satin covered chocolate box) seem real. She often uses this to her advantage with her mother, fudging things to get out of trouble, reasonably enough, as her mother gets angry at her more than is deemed necessary. She loves cats.Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million! Elsie is taken to a specialist hospital in the countryside with other children with joint problems, some as a result of TB as well. Her Mum was, in my opinion unredeemable for running off to Canada with her boss/boyfriend and leaving Elsie to go to foster care (after saying earlier in the book she wouldn’t want that to happen again, as it’s mentioned this was the case when Elsie was very little). Recently, I had a itching need to buy and read Jacqueline Wilson books—something I hadn’t done in years and years—as she was my favourite author when I was younger, with her stories meaning so much to me.

Flood, Alison (26 November 2019). "Debut author of Queenie caps success with Costa prize shortlisting". The Guardian. Finally, Elsie is well enough to leave hospital. But before she does, she has one very special, very unexpected visitor... It did get very repetitive, and I know this was because she was bed-ridden, but I think Wilson could have really made it more engaging.A really lovely book, which is readable by adults also. I liked the descriptive nature of how the author described Elsie's and Nan's illness and life in the Children's Hospital and also the references to the British Royal Family. A cute and touching book. As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children's Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children's Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. I felt sorry for Elsie - her mum not visiting her for weeks, months on end and choosing yet another new boyfriend over her own daughter and mother, not to mention being taken away from her nan and not being able to see the Coronation together. I'm glad it wasn't a sad ending. Nan and Elsie both fall ill with tuberculosis, and Elsie finds herself whisked away to the children's ward of the hospital. Confined to bed for months on end, Elsie finds it very hard to adapt to the hospital's strict regime. But she invents astonishing ways of entertaining the other children on the ward, and for the first time finds herself surrounded by true friends - including Queenie, the hospital's majestic white cat. So, Queenie is one of Wilson’s historical fiction’s: something that she truly shines in (which is reflected by how many she’s brought out in the last decade!).