It’s Mum’s turn to laugh. ‘ Rapunzel isn’t about hair!’ she says. ‘I’ve never heard something so ridiculous. It’s about freedom, and independence, and exploring the world.’ anyways this is a really beautiful book about family and friendship and growing up and saying goodbye and also dealing with grief and loss. I always love it when books have pets because pets are so important to people and they bring a different type of comfort. Pure magic tbh A member of staff approaches her and Mum’s eyes focus again. ‘No thank you,’ she says when the woman asks if she needs any help. ‘I’m just waiting for my daughter and her friend.’ Then she comments on how lovely the woman’s earrings are and her face lights up as she tells Mum that she made them herself. Soon enough they’re in a full-blown conversation about jewellery-making, even though Mum knows nothing about it.

A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby - Ebook | Scribd A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby - Ebook | Scribd

When the play starts,’ Mum says, ‘count the number of times the cast say Rapunzel’s name. Apparently they say it seven times in the first seven minutes!’ She pauses, looking between me and my best friend Elle. We glance at each other and frown. ‘Seven!’ Mum repeats, like this should mean something to us. ‘The witching number?’ She looks disappointed. ‘Oh, never mind.’ The Branford Boase judges said :‘I love the voice, and the story brought me to tears’; ‘Safiya is a very well rounded, developed character’; ‘a really clever idea, and the story is so well told’; ‘she makes the magic credible’; ‘I was so impressed by the way the friendships developed’. Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn't understand Safiya's love of gaming and Safiya doesn't think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange and magical world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there's a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar . . . The story I wrote from the very start has always been about Safiya and Aminah, and the fact that Safiya experiences her mother’s memories whilst she’s in a coma; but almost everything else has changed. I never struggle for something to say, my mind is always busy with thoughts, and I am quite acutely aware of my emotions. Safiya is different. She’s not always aware of how she’s feeling, and she often can’t find the words to express it. But she also has a strength inside of her that I know we all hold, waiting to come out when it matters, and that’s why I hope she will appeal to readers.

The world-shifting moment for Safiya is her mother’s sudden illness and subsequent coma, although this is not a book about dealing with tragedy, there’s a lot of forward momentum – a bit like life. In some cases, Safiya is helpless to the events around her and is carried along – such as the change in her friendship dynamics will Elle but then she actively pursues her mother’s dream memories which ultimately dealing with her mother’s illness. How did you approach framing a story where a character has to deal with a major traumatic event? Each star has a different number of points, depending on how high in the sky they are. So, the stars that hang lower amount less than those that shine higher. If you catch a shooting star, you get an advantage of a hundred points.

A Pocketful of Stars | ESA/Hubble - www.spacetelescope.org A Pocketful of Stars | ESA/Hubble - www.spacetelescope.org

At the interval Mum goes and grabs her and Elle an ice cream – vanilla for Mum, strawberry for Elle. She doesn’t ask me, even though she knows chocolate is my favourite. As a debut author, what did you find the most challenging part of the writing process for the book? Ahhhhh I just finished this book, and I am in tears, but it was an absolutely perfect ending. This whole book is so full of heart and magic. Safiya is a 14-year-old girl in London, obsessed with her favorite video game (an imagined one that sounds really fabulous!), splitting her time between her two loving divorced parents and trying to figure out the shifting rules of her relationship with her best friend as well as her increasingly fraught relationship with her mum. They used to have so much fun together, but now they're always at loggerheads and don't seem able to understand each other at all...

LoveReading4Kids Says

Mum’s good at talking to people, being a lawyer. She knows exactly what to say at all times. I’m different. I only know how to express myself in video games. Instead of words, I use spells and incantations. Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn’t understand Safiya’s love of gaming and Safiya doesn't think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange and magical world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there’s a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar … This feels like a book I would have enjoyed the most with older characters and more emotional depth. I already feel like I should raise the rating writing this review *sighs*