''The Illustrated Mum'' is a

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

by English author

Jacqueline Wilson Dame Jacqueline Wilson (née Aitken; born 17 December 1945) is an English novelist known for her popular children's literature. Her novels have been notable for featuring realistic topics such as adoption and divorce without alienating her lar ...

, first published by Transworld in 1999 with drawings by

Nick Sharratt Nick Sharratt (born 9 August 1962) is a British author and illustrator of children's books, whose work is split between illustrating for writers, most notably Jacqueline Wilson from 1991 to 2021, and Jeremy Strong, but also Giles Andreae, Juli ...

. Set in London, the

first person narrative A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-telle ...

by a young girl, Dolphin, features her

manic depressive Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

mother Marigold, nicknamed "the illustrated mum" because of her many tattoos. The title is a reference to ''

The Illustrated Man ''The Illustrated Man'' is a 1951 collection of 18 science fiction short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. A recurring theme throughout the stories is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people. It was ...

'', a 1951 book of short stories by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

, also named for

tattoos A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing pr ...

. Wilson and ''The Illustrated Mum'' won the annual

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

, judged by a panel of British children's writers. By 2001 translations had been published in Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and Catalan.

Delacorte Press Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

published the first American edition only in 2005.

Plot

11-year-old Dolphin and her older half-sister, 13-year-old Star, live with their mother, Marigold, in a small council flat in London. Marigold, an avid lover of tattoos, has

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

and also has a drinking problem. Dolphin loves Marigold and thinks she is wonderful and unique, while Star is embarrassed by Marigold's tattoos and erratic behaviour. Dolphin feels like an outsider at school; she is bullied by some classmates and feels her teacher is unkind to her. She also struggles with her dyslexia. Star appears to be more popular, and Dolphin dislikes the fact that Star has an older boyfriend. Dolphin later befriends Oliver, a shy and studious boy who spends the lunch period in the library to avoid being teased. Marigold buys tickets to see her favourite band Emerald City, with the intention of finding Micky, Star's father, who Marigold is still in love with. Both girls are surprised when she returns that night with Micky. He was unaware he had a daughter and is thrilled to meet Star, and she adores him in turn. Dolphin however dislikes him because she feels that he abandoned Marigold and neglected Star. Micky takes them all to London for the day and they do a number of fun activities and shopping. Despite it all, Dolphin feels ignored the entire day by all of them. Marigold is completely convinced they will all live together now as a family, but Micky drops them all home and returns to his place in Brighton. In the days which follow Micky sends them presents, and Star goes to spend a weekend with him. Marigold had hoped to reconcile romantically with Micky and is upset to hear that he has a girlfriend living with him. Micky, who has no feelings for Marigold due to her mental behaviour, invites both Star and Dolphin to come live with him. Dolphin, who still hates Micky, stays loyal to Marigold and refuses to abandon her but Star leaves to be with Micky. After Star leaves, Marigold has a mental breakdown and paints herself white all over using

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

paint to hide her tattoos. Dolphin phones for an ambulance despite knowing Marigold's fear of hospitals. Later Dolphin finds out that due to her mental illness Marigold may be in hospital for some time. With her mum ill in hospital and with nowhere else to go, Oliver encourages Dolphin to contact her father, who she knows nothing about, except that his name is also Micky and he works as a swimming instructor. Together they manage to track him down and he's pleased to meet her. Dolphin hopes he will look after her, but learns he has a wife and daughters already and decides to do things properly, getting in touch with child services so Dolphin can be in

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family ...

for a while. Dolphin is initially terrified of going into a foster home having heard Marigold's horror stories from her own childhood in foster homes, but she stays with a kind older woman and three babies. Her father takes her to visit Marigold, who is on medication for her bipolar disorder. And the two slowly begin to develop a father-daughter relationship. Star appears at the foster home after returning to the flat to find both Marigold and Dolphin gone. Star stays in foster care with Dolphin and they argue at first, Star blaming everything on Dolphin for ruining her time with Micky and refuses to believe what Dolphin tells her. But then they reconcile and go to visit Marigold together. The story ends with Dolphin deciding that even though Marigold is in hospital and she and Star in foster care, they are still a family.

Adaptation

The television drama stars

Michelle Collins Michelle Danielle Collins (born 28 May 1962) is an English actress and TV presenter, best known for her roles in the British soap operas ''EastEnders'' and ''Coronation Street''. Collins played Cindy Beale in the BBC soap ''EastEnders'' fro ...

as Marigold Westward, and

Alice Connor Alice Rose Connor (born 2 August 1990) is a British actress, born in Buckinghamshire, England. She is best known for her roles in the television adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's novel '' The Illustrated Mum'', in the children's television seri ...

and Holly Grainger as her daughters Dolphin and Star respectively. The script was by

Debbie Isitt Debbie Isitt (born 7 February 1966) is an English comic writer, film director, composer and performer. Early life and education Isitt was born in Birmingham. She went to Our Lady of Fatima Primary School and Lordswood Girls Secondary School and ...

, and it was directed by Cilla Ware. Ware had previously directed the television adaptation of another of Wilson's books, '' Double Act'', and went on to adapt a third, '' Best Friends''. The drama won the

Children's BAFTA The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They have been awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Aca ...

award in 2005 for best schools drama, and Debbie Isitt won the award for best adapted writer.

Cast

*Dolphin Westward -

*Marigold Westward -

*Star Westward - Holly Grainger *Micky - Con O'Neill *Oliver Morris - Henry Cox *Miss Hill - Lisa George *Mr Harrison - John Elkington *Tasha -

Sacha Parkinson Sacha Louise Parkinson (born 11 March 1992) is an English actress, known for her role as Sian Powers on the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Early life Sacha Louise Parkinson was born on 11 March 1992 in Salford, Greater Manchester, th ...

*Mark - Luke Bailey

Awards

Won the 2004 BAFTA award for best schools drama. In Channel 4's Films4Schools adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's ''The Illustrated Mum'', produced in 2003. The cast members included

and Holly Grainger. Also Debbie Isitt won the 2004 BAFTA award for best adapted writer for her work on this production.Channel 4 Learning – Primary – English – Jacqueline Wilson Trilogy DVD
Shop.channel4learning.com.

References

External links

* —immediately, first US edition *
The Illustrated Mum
' in the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...