Gone Missing by Jean Ure - Revision history

Sue at 13:05, 26 September 2020

2020-09-26T13:05:08Z

Sue at 10:50, 3 March 2018

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Sue at 17:37, 27 December 2014

2014-12-27T17:37:31Z

Sue at 14:16, 28 November 2012

2012-11-28T14:16:44Z

Keith at 23:43, 3 February 2010

2010-02-03T23:43:42Z

Keith at 09:54, 7 November 2009

2009-11-07T09:54:30Z

Keith: 1 revision

2009-10-24T17:25:34Z

1 revision

Keith at 20:23, 12 February 2009

2009-02-12T20:23:30Z

New review

{{infobox
|title=Gone Missing
|author=Jean Ure
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=
Another of Jean Ure's brand of light, issue-based in which everythings turns out well in the end. Highly recommended for late primary and early secondary children who like realism, but nothing too demanding.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|format=Paperback
|pages=192
|publisher=Harper Collins Children's Books
|date=3 Jan 2007
|isbn=978-0007224593
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007224591</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0007224591</amazonus>
}}
Fourteen year old Jade is having a miserable time at home. Her step-father is overly strict. Her mother doesn't like confrontation. Her sister, Kirsty, is an infuriating goody two shoes. Jade is at That Age. She's stroppy, opinionated and faddy. She likes boys and make up. She doesn't like eating meat. She has an intense - and voluble - dislike for most of her teachers. Jade's step-father is old-fashioned, very religious and a strict disciplinarian. It's all a recipe for disaster really.

After a particularly unpleasant confrontation with her step-father, Jade resolves to run away to London and persuades her friend, Honey, to go with her. Honey is a sweet child with an alcoholic mother. Honey is so painfully shy and nervous, most people think she is stupid. But when Jade and Honey do reach London, Honey proves to be the stronger of the two girls.

I really like Jean Ure. She writes kitchen sink dramas for the early teens and she does it really well. Gone Missing is told by Jade in a first person narrative and for the adult reader, Jade really is a riot. She's stroppy, she never stops to think unless she's sulking in some high dudgeon or other and, deep down, she's a really great kid. Ure has a knack of creating such characters - her heroines are all warm creatures and ones both her readers and their parents will recognise immediately. They do learn from their mistakes, but only eventually. The adult figures in her books also learn from their mistakes, but also only eventually. There's a wise and tolerant vein of humour running under each family crisis.

In Gone Missing, one of the adult figures remains intractable, but this is presented as a means of differentiating child from adult and is the kind of subtle quality that sets Ure above many of her chick-lit for teens contemporaries. The writing is colloquial but clear and the plotting is pacy. Ure deals with real teen issues but there isn't anything to make even the most over-anxious parent over-anxious. And the last page, as ever, ends with a smile.

Gone Missing will appeal to confident readers of 10 and up and is highly recommended.

My thanks to Harper Collins for sending the book.

Fans of Jean Ure can write to her via her [http://www.jeanure.com/ website].

If your child likes Jean Ure but needs something more demanding, try [[The Illustrated Mum]] by Jacqueline Wilson. If they're not quite ready for a full-length novel, try Anne Fine's [[How To Write Really Badly]].

{{toptentext|list=Top Ten Teen Chick Lit Books}}

{{amazontext|amazon=0007224591}}

'''Reviews of other books by Jean Ure'''

[[Hunky Dory]]
{{commenthead}}

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 Fans of Jean Ure can write to her via her [http://www.jeanure.com/ website].
-If your child likes Jean Ure but needs something more demanding, try [[The Illustrated Mum]] by Jacqueline Wilson. If they're not quite ready for a full-length novel, try Anne Fine's [[How To Write Really Badly]].
+If your child likes Jean Ure but needs something more demanding, try [[The Illustrated Mum]] by Jacqueline Wilson. If they're not quite ready for a full-length novel, try Anne Fine's [[How To Write Really Badly]].  We can also recommend [[The Mapmakers' Race by Eirlys Hunter]].
 {{toptentext|list=Top Ten Teen Chick Lit Books}}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{infobox
+{{infobox1
 |title=Gone Missing
 |author=Jean Ure
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 |date=January 2007
 |isbn=978-0007224593
 |website=http://www.jeanure.com
 }}
 Fourteen year old Jade is having a miserable time at home. Her step-father is overly strict. Her mother doesn't like confrontation. Her sister, Kirsty, is an infuriating goody two shoes. Jade is at That Age. She's stroppy, opinionated and faddy. She likes boys and make up. She doesn't like eating meat. She has an intense - and voluble - dislike for most of her teachers. Jade's step-father is old-fashioned, very religious and a strict disciplinarian. It's all a recipe for disaster really.

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 |buy=Yes
 |borrow=Yes
 |pages=192
 |publisher=Harper Collins Children's Books
@@ Line 37: / Line 36: @@
 {{amazontext|amazon=0007224591}}
 {{commenthead}}

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007224591</amazonuk>
 |amazonus=<amazonus>0007224591</amazonus>
 }}
 Fourteen year old Jade is having a miserable time at home. Her step-father is overly strict. Her mother doesn't like confrontation. Her sister, Kirsty, is an infuriating goody two shoes. Jade is at That Age. She's stroppy, opinionated and faddy. She likes boys and make up. She doesn't like eating meat. She has an intense - and voluble - dislike for most of her teachers. Jade's step-father is old-fashioned, very religious and a strict disciplinarian. It's all a recipe for disaster really.

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