Scarlett
Cathy Cassidy

Twelve-year-old Scarlett is a rebel: outrageous clothes, tongue stud, no respect for authority and totally cool.

Inside, however, she misses the perfect family life she remembers before her father left, and bitterly resents her mother who hasn't got time for her. After one too many meetings in the head teacher’s office, Scarlett’s mother sends her, against her will, to Ireland to live with her dad. She is so angry that she refuses to become part of her father's new happy family life, resenting the easy-going and loving Clare, her father's pregnant new wife. However, when she meets a mysterious boy riding a black horse, Scarlett begins to feel a new calm and happiness.

Scarlett's quick come-backs and witty put-downs are funny, but the pain she is feeling over the break-up of her family is obvious. There is a magical feel to this book which will have you engrossed from the first page.

Cathy Cassidy
Scarlett

Cathy Cassidy wrote and illustrated her first book at eight years old. She has worked as an editor on Jackie magazine, a teacher, and as agony aunt on Shout magazine. She lives in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, with her husband, two children, three cats, two rabbits and a mad hairy lurcher called Kelpie. Cathy Cassidy's warm, funny, tender fiction including Dizzy,Indigo Blue, Sundae Girl and many more has won her an army of dedicated fans. The power and importance of friendship is at the heart of each of her books but most crucially, Cathy brings an element of magic to every story, discovering the magic that exists in every corner, in every day and sprinkling it through her narrative. Her website is the place to be for any diehard Cathy Cassidy fan, featuring top gossip, creative writing competitions, downloadable freebies and much more. She has written seven hugely successful novels for Puffin.

(Page 8)

 

"Of course, getting kicked out of Greenhall Academy is no joke. Head teachers and school secretaries don't scare me, but Mum - well, that's a different story.

 

We travel home on the tube in stony silence, which is not good news. The first time I got excluded from Greenhall, Mum laughed and said that dyeing your hair green in the school toilets was hardly a criminal offence.

 

OK, I shouldn't have nicked that bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the chemistry lab, but I'd heard the stuff was used in hair dye, and I was truing to get a few cool blonde streaks. I didn't know it would turn my hair into something that looked, felt and smelt like a clump of mouldering seaweed. Attractive - not."

 

Extract taken from Scarlett by Cathy Cassidy published by Puffin Books