Plot Summary
10-year-old Mandy White is mercilessly tormented at school by three classmates: Kim, Melanie and Sarah. After an incident where she is nearly hit by a bus while crossing a road to avoid the bullies, she is kept at home from school and meets Tanya, a lively older girl being fostered by Mandy's next door neighbour. Despite disapproval from Mandy's elderly mother, who is very overprotective of her and treats her as if she were much younger, the girls quickly become friends. They dream of a future where they will be older and independent, free from families and foster homes, and can live together and have fantastic adventures. Mandy becomes afraid when she discovers that Tanya is a frequent shoplifter, but decides not to say anything in case they are forbidden from visiting each other. At the end of the book, Tanya and Mandy are caught by police when Tanya steals from an upmarket clothing shop in town. Mandy's mother is initially angry, but realises she has been too strict with her and allows her to get new glasses and restyle her hair so she won't look quite as childish. Mandy also gains a new friend in Arthur, a shy boy in her class who is obsessed with fantasy stories. She greatly misses Tanya, who was taken to a new foster home when her previous criminal convictions were discovered, but the novel ends on a happy note as Tanya (who has dyslexia and hates writing) has with great difficulty written a letter to Mandy, assuring her that they are best friends forever and will one day be free to see each other again as they had dreamed about. Melanie, who in the past was Mandy's friend but had become friends with Kim and Sarah, becomes friends with her again.
Tanya makes a brief appearance in another of Jacqueline Wilson's novels, Dustbin Baby.
Read more about this topic: Bad Girls (Wilson Novel)
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