Cinnamon Girl: Looking for a Hero by Cathy Hopkins

cover image

Piccadilly Press, 2008
The third book in Cathy Hopkins third series for younger teenage girls features India Jane (Cinnamon Girl) and her 3 friends at school in London all desperate to find a boyfriend and a perfect date by Christmas. However it is not all escapist frivolity - there are some serious issues - talk of one teenage boy overindulging in drugs and alcohol, and a mugging (which ironically provides India Jane with one of her potential 'perfect dates'). Throughout our protagonist is also exploring the serious issue of what is real love and how do you know it when you meet it.
This is chick-lit for younger teens - witty and well written. Cathy Hopkins has a real ear for the conversations, interests and concerns of teenage girls which obviously appeals to a wide cross-section of them. Even the inner city students in schools I have worked in adore her books even though they live in a very different world from her characters in this series - who seem to frequent Starbucks, live in Holland Park and trendy Notting Hill, have holidays in Italy and mothers who work in Mayfair art galleries and drink herbal tea!
The book carries on from the previous two in the series so if you buy this you will undoubtedly be asked for the previous two.
Laura Taylor

booktopia