Cathy Cassidy

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Cathy Cassidy (born 13 June 1962) is a British author of young adult fiction, mainly focusing on domestic fiction. She was born in Coventry, but now lives in the Galloway hills in Scotland. She has written 20 books. She has also been the agony aunt for Shout, a magazine for teenage girls, and she presently has a series of three books about Daizy Star for younger readers.[1] She was only aged 8 when she wrote her first book.

Personal life

Cathy now lives in the Galloway hills in Scotland with husband Liam and two children, Caitlin (aged 17) and Callum (aged 19). She has been a vegetarian for over 35 years, and was a vegan for 8 years. Her lurcher, Kelpie, inspired the dog Legg-It in her first book. Cathy was the agony aunt on teenage Shout magazine for 12 years and for many years taught art in local primary schools but is now a full-time author. She was once an art teacher at secondary schools,[2] and went to university to take an art degree. She has drawn all the illustrations and the front covers to all the Daizy Star books.

Her latest series, The Chocolate Box Girls, is inspired by chocolate. It is the story of five girls whose parents start a business in making truffles. She says that the names for each book are also the names of truffles, and she enjoys the "research" – eating and tasting chocolate and recalling her days in Somerset as a waitress. Cathy has so far written four books in the series, "Cherry Crush","Marshmallow Skye", "Summer's Dream" and her newest, "Coco Caramel". The last book in this series will be "Sweet Honey". For World Book Day 2013, Cassidy wrote another book to add to the Chocolate Box Girls Series called "Bittersweet" which comes from Shay Fletcher (Honey's ex and Cherry's boyfriend)'s point of view.

Early life

Cathy wrote her first picture book when she was 8 for her little brother Andy. She loved making comic books. She would rent picture books to a friend for five pence and then rent it again to someone else. She went to art college in Liverpool, then got a job as a fiction editor on Jackie magazine, as well as being an agony aunt for Shout, a teenage magazine. She married her boyfriend Liam and went back to college to train to be an art teacher. She taught in a Coventry Secondary School for a few years and then in several Scottish primaries.

Dream Team

Cathy Cassidy has an exclusive fan club known as the Dream Team from the UK and the RoI whose job it is to contribute advice, suggestions, and feedback in return for various benefits such as receiving Cassidy's books before their official release.

Queen of Teen

Cathy Cassidy has three times been nominated for the Queen of Teen award, in 2008 (when it was founded), 2010 and 2012. Girls all over the UK can nominate their favourite author and the ten most popular make the shortlist, in which girls once again must vote their favourite of the selection. Authors have included Sarah Webb, Louise Rennison (the 2008 winner) and Sarra Manning. In 2010, fans voted Cassidy as the winner, and she was crowned with a heavy tiara, pink sash and a silver throne. In 2012, she came as a runner up to Maureen Johnson.

Books

  • Dizzy (2004)
  • Indigo Blue (2005)
  • Driftwood (2005)
  • Scarlett (2006)
  • Sundae Girl (2007)[3]
  • Lucky Star (2007)
  • Gingersnaps (2008)[4]
  • The Cathy Cassidy Dreams and Doodles Daybook (2008)
  • Shine On, Daizy Star (2009)
  • Angel Cake (2009)
  • Letters to Cathy(2009)
  • Daizy Star and the Pink Guitar (2010)
  • Cherry Crush - The Chocolate Box Girls (2010)
  • Strike a pose, Daizy Star (2011)
  • Marshmallow Skye - The Chocolate Box Girls (2011)[5]
  • Summer's Dream - The Chocolate Box Girls (2012)
  • Daizy Star Ooh La La (2012)
  • Bittersweet - The Chocolate Box Girls (2013)
  • Coco Caramel - The Chocolate Box Girls (2013)
  • Sweet Honey - The Chocolate Box Girls (2014)

She has also written three mini books:

  • Love Peace and Chocolate (2007)
  • Ice-Cream And Dreams (2008)
  • Cupcakes and Kisses (2009)

Summary of books

Dizzy
The main character in this book is a twelve-year-old called Dizzy. On her birthday, her mum comes and takes her away to go travelling around the festivals in Scotland. Dizzy meets a fourteen-year-old boy called Finn. He is very musical and in the end becomes her boyfriend. There is also a seven-year-old called Mouse (who later appears in Cathy's book Lucky Star). He has had a bad childhood and is prone to shoplifting.
Indigo Blue
Indie's hobbie is daydreaming. That's what she does. But right now she needs a daydream that can block away her whole life. She know this can't happen. Even though she's having a bad time at home, school isn't perfect either. Her best friend Jo suddenly hates Indie over a boy. But Aisha comes to the rescue and Indie doesn't need Jo any more. Life is fine again. As soon as life turns good, Mum's ex-boyfriend turns up... things are bad. And Indie definitely won't forget that night... Indigo Blue all about learning about love, family and friendship, making the right choices, and realising which people are better for her, not others...
Driftwood
At the beginning it was just Hannah and her best friend Joey, giggling about Hannah's brother Kit, who obviously fancies Joey. Hannah meets Joey's adopted brother Paul and everything changes. Joey persuades Kit to look after Paul and their group of two friends turns to four. Then one day, Kit and Paul fall out, and Joey and Kit get together. Then Hannah finds out that Kit and his friends have been bullying Paul and suddenly she has to choose whose side she is on.
''Scarlett''
A teenaged girl named Scarlett is expelled from her school again and is forced against her will by her mother to live with her father and new step-family, of whom is the entire reason she doesn't want to live with her father in the first place. When she moves to Ireland she meets a teenaged boy named Kian and she begins to mend her ways and learns to love life again.
Sundae Girl
Eighth grader Jude is shy. Her mother gets ill on alcohol and cigarettes while her father is stuck in the 1960s as an Elvis impersonator and to make it more difficult, her Grandma has --[[Alzheimer's]]. Jude's best friend Nuala doesn't understand anything and life turns sour for Jude until she realizes the dorky Kevin Carter from school could be 'her knight in shining armour'.
Lucky Star
This book continues delinquent Mouse's life from "Dizzy". Mouse is now fourteen. Mouse has been having lots problems with his school and has been excluded for a while.He then meets a girl called Cat with crazy and daring ideas in her head. Wonderful things happen when their together, but will it end in a happy ending? After all, everyone has their secrets and only one can win in a game of cat and mouse.
Ginger Snaps
Ginger was once an outsider, but not any more. She has managed to reinvent herself, become one of the cool girls, and has a lovely new best friend Shannon. But then old friend Emily comes into the scene and it's back to the old days. And when she starts dating Sam, a creative boy who Shannon can't stand, her life gets complicated. Ginger finds herself on the outside looking in, but she soon finds out that what had happened was a great miracle.
Angel Cake
Anya has just moved to Britain from Poland and is finding it hard to settle in. Luckily, though, she becomes best friends with Frances McGee (popularly known as 'Frankie' throughout the book), and helps Kurt to find a home for Cheesy the rat. Fat Frankie and geeky Kurt are not the ideal friends but they're all Anya has. Then she meets bad boy Dan, who, according to Frankie, is not boyfriend material, but Anya's sure that there's another side to him. Everyone says it isn't good to be with Dan, but Anya is prepared to show them who he really is.

The Chocolate Box Girls

The Chocolate Box Girls series is all about two families coming together. It features the adventures of the Tanberry sisters, Honey Tanberry, twins Skye and Summer Tanberry, their younger sister, Coco Tanberry and their new step-sister, Cherry Costello who is shy and imaginative. Skye Tanberry loves vintage things, Summer Tanberry is ballet mad, Honey Tanberry is difficult but loves art, and Coco Tanberry is an animal-loving tomboy.

Cherry Crush
Main article: Cherry Crush (book)
Cherry Costello, an outsider all her life, growing up in Glasgow without a mum, has just moved in with the Tanberry family. Her new life seems perfect if a little crazy (especially when a certain green eyed dreamboat Shay Fletcher comes along) step-mum Charlotte loves her and so do three of her new step-sisters, Summer, Skye and Coco. Life is finally great, except for one thing - her stepsister Honey hates Cherry and her dad. With mean comments and snarly indifference could Honey and Cherry's relationship be any worse? It turns out it can, as Cherry starts to fall for Shay, who happens to be Honey's boyfriend.
Marshmallow Skye
Skye and Summer are twins. It used to be lovely when they were still close, but lately Skye's been feeling second best to Summer. And then Skye realises that her friends Millie and Alfie wanted Summer all along. But Skye has something that is hers and only hers. A box of clothes and letters belonging to Clara Travers, a girl who threw herself into the sea out of heartbreak, a girl who is rumoured to still haunt the forests beyond Skye's old home. Then Skye starts dreaming of the past, falling for a boy she can never have and probably never existed. Suddenly, Skye has a mystery to unravel. Yet, focused on her new fantasy, Skye starts preferring her dream-world to real life. Can Summer wake her up before she goes too far...?
Summer's Dream
Summer has always dreamed of dancing, and when a place at ballet school comes up, she wants it so badly that it hurts. Middle school ends and the holidays begin, but unlike her sisters, Summer has no time for lazy days and sunny beach parties. The audition becomes her obsession, and things start spiralling out of control... The more Summer tries to find perfection, the more lost she becomes. She even begins to put the people that matter most to her to the side, her family, friends...even her twin sister, Skye. Will she realize - with the help of the boy who wants more than friendship and knows that Summer is perfect just the way she is - that dreams come in all shapes and sizes?
Bittersweet (World Book Day Book)
Shay, the boy with the cool blond fringe and the blue guitar, the boy who smells of darkness and the ocean, is Cherry’s boyfriend. But it wasn’t always this way. Once, he was Honey's boyfriend, Cherry’s oldest step-sister. Since their break-up, bitterness has twisted every word she’s said to him. Now Honey needs his help. Should Shay reach out to her – or is it safer to steer clear?
Coco Caramel
Coco is crazy about animals and loves her riding lessons. When Caramel, her favourite pony at the stables, is sold, Coco scopes out the new owner - and she's not happy about what she discovers. With big sister Honey going off at the deep end and Summer only just recovering from her eating disorder, there's no-one at Tanglewood to help Coco out. Can Coco save Caramel alone - or will a new friend help her?

References

  1. ↑ Cathy Cassidy
  2. ↑ Baker, John F. "Kids' Books in Two Big Sales". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 1 October 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Sundae Girl by Cathy Cassidy - review". Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2012. 
  4. ↑ "Book review: Ginger Snaps". CBBC Newsround. August 15, 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2012. 
  5. ↑ "Marshmellow Skye by Cathy Cassidy - review". Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2012. 

The final two titles of the Chocolate Box girls have been confirmed to be called 'Coco Caramel' and 'Sweet Honey' but they are currently under writing, they have not been released. The third book 'Summer's Dream' was released in June 2012.

External links

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