Lizzie Zipmouth

Table of Contents

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LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH

A YOUNG CORGI BOOK 978 0 552 55784 9

First published in Great Britain by Young Corgi, an imprint of Random House Children's Books A Random House Group Company

First Young Corgi edition published 2000

This Young Corgi edition published 2008

357910864

Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2000

Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2000

The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

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THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

About the Book

Do you ever play with dolls? Don't worry, I don't think it's at all babyish to like dolls. I played with my dolls up until I was about ten, though I didn't really tell my friends just in case they teased me.

I think it's so sad that lots of girls stop playing with their Barbies and Bratz by the time they're six or so. I still love dolls even now. They sit in special places all over my house. I've got a doll with brown glass eyes and ringlets called Mad Alice who's over 150 years old, and she reclines decoratively on my Victorian chaise longue. I have another gentle Victorian china doll called Mabel who sits up straight in her own little chair. There are carved wooden dolls and soft cloth dolls and a row of tiny plastic baby dolls arranged on my shelves.

There are two characters in this book who love dolls too. One is Lizzie – and the other is her very fierce Great-gran. She can be very scary at times but somehow Lizzie isn't frightened of her. Lizzie won't talk to anyone – but she will whisper to Great-gran. Later in the story it's Lizzie's turn to help Great-gran to speak.

Lizzie is a little bit like me when I was little – and Great-gran is a little bit like my mum!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JACQUELINE WILSON is one of Britain's most outstanding writers for young readers. She is the most borrowed author from British libraries and has sold over 25 million books in this country. As a child, she always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel' when she was nine, filling countless exercise books as she grew up. She started work at a publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on
Jackie
magazine (which was named after her) before turning to writing fiction full-time.

Jacqueline has been honoured with many of the UK's top awards for children's books, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, the Smarties Prize, the Red House Book Award and the Children's Book of the Year. She was awarded an OBE in 2002 and was the Children's Laureate for 2005-2007.

To Naomi

With many thanks

Chapter One

Do you ever have nightmares? I had such a scary dream I didn't want to go back to sleep. It was just starting to get light. I sat up in bed and looked at Mum. Her hair was spread out over the pillow.

I wish I had lovely long hair like Mum. Sometimes she lets me brush and comb it. I can do it in a funny topknot. Once I put it in plaits and Mum looked just like my sister, not my mum.

I haven't got a real sister. Or a real brother. But today I was getting two new sort-of brothers, Rory and Jake. I didn't like them much.

I was getting a stepdad too. He was called Sam. I didn't call him anything. I didn't like him at
all.

I frowned at my mum. I took hold of a little clump of her hair and pulled.

“Ouch! What are you up to, Lizzie?” said Mum, opening one eye.

“I was just waking you up,” I said.

“It's too early to wake up,” said Mum, putting her arm round me. “Let's snuggle down and have a snooze.”

“I don't want to snuggle,” I said, wriggling away. “Mum,
why
do we have to move in with Sam?”

Mum sighed. “Because I love him.”

“
I
don't love him,” I said.

“You might one day,” said Mum.

“Never ever,” I said.

“You wait and see,” said Mum. “I think you're going to love being part of a big family. You and me and Sam and Rory and Jake.”

“I don't want to be a big family,” I said. “I want to be a little family. Just you and me in our own flat.”

We had fun together, Mum and me.

We went to football matches