Bad Girls (1996 novel)

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Bad Girls is a British children's novel by Jacqueline Wilson first published in 1996. It achieved position 117 in the Big Read poll to find the U.K.'s best-loved books.

[edit] 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 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 parents, who are very overprotective of her and treat her as if she were much younger, the girls become fast 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 parents are initially angry, but realise they have been too strict with her and allow 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, becomes friends with her again.

Tanya makes a brief appearance in another of Jacqueline Wilson's novels, Dustbin Baby.