Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
About the Author
Also by Jacqueline Wilson
Copyright
About the Book
‘Why don’t you ever say anything, Lizzie?’ said Rory. ‘It’s like you’ve got a zip across your mouth.’
Lizzie refuses to speak. She doesn’t want to talk to Rory or Jake, her new step-brothers, or Sam, their dad, or even her mum. She’s totally fed up at having to join a new family and nothing can coax her into speaking to them. Not football, not pizza, not a new bedroom. That is, until she meets a member of the new family who is even more stubborn than her – and has had a lot more practice!
To Naomi
With many thanks
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!
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 and we shared big tubs of ice-cream and we danced to music.
Sometimes I stayed up really late and then we went to bed together. I didn’t like night-time because of the bad dreams.
I dreamt about my first stepdad.
I hate stepdads. I’ve got a real dad but I don’t see him now. He stopped living with us ages ago. He doesn’t come to see me but I don’t care any more.
like