Product Description Beauty Cookson is no beauty. She's a plain, timid girl who constantly feels inferior to the super-confident, snooty girls at school. Worse than the teasing in the playground, though, is the unpredictable, hurtful criticism from her father. Beauty and her meek, sweet mother live in uneasy fear of his fierce rages, sparked whenever they break one of his fussy house rules. Eventually, after an unbearable birthday party and the very real threat of Dad's out-of-control temper, Mum and Beauty run away. Finding themselves in a quiet, idyllic seaside village, their new-found freedom and a moment of culinary inspiration give them a hobby, an income and even a new nickname for Beauty. Can they begin a happier, sweeter life—without Dad? From School Library Journal Grade 4–7—Beauty Cookson's father spends lavishly on his wife and daughter. They have a beautiful, large house, but it is not a happy home as Beauty and her mother walk on eggshells to keep him from lashing out at them. Beauty's father reminds her frequently that she is plain and tries to make her fit his image with fancy clothes and inappropriate hairdos. Beauty is either bullied or ignored at her private school. Her mother, to help Beauty fare better at school, attempts to make cookies for the class with disastrous results. Still, she keeps trying, and cookie baking becomes their special time together. As Beauty's birthday approaches, her father plans an extravagant celebration with all of her classmates, even those who torment her daily. The event is a disaster. Later, when Mr. Cookson lets loose the rabbit that Beauty received as a gift from the one girl who befriends her and it gets killed, she and her mother leave him. With the help of new friends, the two finally feel safe and discover just how strong—and beautiful—they are. Wilson's talent shows again in this novel with strong, compelling characters and a plot that makes the book hard to put down.— Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton END Review “Wilson’s talent shows again in this novel with strong, compelling characters and a plot that makes the book hard to put down.”—School Library Journal“Wilson’s extraordinary strength is the reliable, deeply comforting nature of her fiction, in which tough subjects are made approachable for younger readers.” —Kirkus Reviews“Dame Wilson’s fluid mastery of realistic family-and-friend problems is clear in this title, and, as Wilson's previous books, Sharratt’s cartoon-style illustrations introduce and foreshadow the action in each chapter.” —Booklist Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. One I turned on the television. I timed it perfectly. The music was just starting. I saw the cartoon picture of Sam and Lily spinning around, Sam waving, Lily delicately nibbling a carrot. They whirled faster and faster while a voice sang, “Who do you want to see?” Little children piped up: “Sam and Lily in the Rabbit Hutch!” I sang it too, but very quietly, just mouthing the words. There was only Mom at home and she was out in the kitchen. She wouldn’t mind a bit if I wanted to watch a baby show like Rabbit Hutch but I still felt embarrassed about it. Imagine if some of the really mean, snooty girls at school, Skye Wortley or Emily Barrington or Arabella Clyde-Smith, came barging through our front door and caught me watching a TV show for five-year-olds. They teased me enough anyway. I could hear them screaming with laughter over Beauty and her little bunny-wunny friend in the Rabbit Hutch. I shut my eyes tight. “Hey there!” said a soft gentle voice from the television. I opened my eyes. There was Sam smiling at me, the real man, not the funny cartoon picture of him. I smiled back at him. I couldn’t help it. He had such a lovely funny grin. His brown eyes shone and he ducked his head a little so his soft shiny brown hair flopped across his forehead. “How are you doing?” Sam asked. “I’m fine,” I whispe