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Orange Wendy

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BfK No. 38 - May 1986

Cover Story
Graham Oakley is this issue's Authorgraph with Henry's Quest (0 333 40841 1, £4.95) on our cover (with a little help from Macmillan). The book is a real treat.

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Orange Wendy

Maureen Stewart
(Puffin Books)
978-0140319088, RRP £1.50, Paperback
14+ Secondary/Adult
Buy "Orange Wendy (Puffin Plus)" on Amazon

This was first published in 1974. I used to see it circulate the 4th year alongside What About it Sharon? and Vicky Takes a Chance. A good one for the book box with discussion, where readers could explore style and how texts echo texts, as well as the issues. It's autobiographical exorcism; orange is how Wendy felt in the good bits and what she hopes for the future. She's 15, fat, ugly and bright, asked out by a boy and involved in shop-lifting; there's death, betrayal and rejection. Wendy talks to us, edits her story, works through her feelings about this grey period. She writes so she 'knows it's real' in a conversational way with casual literary references ('you can always skip the bits you want to' - useful tip) and ends with poems that make her feel deeply - McGough, Prévert, Tennyson, Yevtuschenko... she makes them her own and hopes we'll share that understanding. Wish I'd asked those 4th years to respond to that.

Reviewer: 
Terry Downie
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