Fruit and Nutcase

Diary #3

by Jean Ure

Mandy Small has trouble writing. Her teacher suggests she tell her life story into a tape recorder. So begins Mandy's funny, and sometimes sad, story of her life with her loving but irresponsible parents--Dad, the Elvis look-alike, and Mum, whose idea of a special meal is burnt toast. Then there is school, where the horrible Tracey Bigg picks on Mandy and her timid friend Oliver, not to mention Old Misery Guts, the landlady, and Nan, who thinks Mandy's parents aren't fit to look after her. With so many things to worry about, Mandy thinks she's in danger of turning into a real fruit and nutcase!

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Contemporary

Audio Cassette

First published January 2, 2002

About the author

Prolific English children and young adult author.

Had her first book published while still in high school, then studied theater at Webber-Douglas in London. Her most well-known work is the Point Crime novel Dance with Death. Others include Plague 99, After the Plague (previously "Come Lucky April"), Big Tom, Family Fan Club and Shrinking Violet, as well as the fantasy The Wizard In the Woods.

Today, Ure is very popular with British female teenage readers with novels such as Shrinking Violet, Family Fan Club and Passion Flower.

Ure has also translated Danish writer Sven Hassel's WWII novels to English.

Reviews

[Zain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fruit de Loops

Look out for Mandy Small, she’s a girl who isn’t tall.
She’s just ten years old, and boy is she tiny.
Too bad, she’s clumsy and likes to fall.
It’s how she got her black eye that’s so shiny.

Doing it this way, it doesn’t rhyme at all.
But please don’t tell this to our girl, Mandy Small.
She isn’t a crybaby. Mandy is definitely not whiny.
You won’t catch her moaning while sitting on her hiney.

Hear, hear, everybody! It is now dinner time.
So let us get together and finish this rhyme.

Mandy lives with her parents in an old, rundown house in a difficult part of London. Her Mum and Dad are always fighting. But they always make up. Mandy likes when they make up. Cause then, everyone is happy.

Mandy is a happy person. She sees her life with the glass half full. She has a lot going on in her life, though she doesn’t realize it. She has a school bully problem with Tracey Biggs. She does a great job analyzing their relationship.

She has a very good sense of right and wrong and knows that she is in the right. She knows how to ignore Tracey Biggs and her group of friends when they are picking on her. She knows how to stand up to them.

She also knows that it is wrong to join in with the boys who bully a wimpy boy named, Peter. She sticks up for him and later becomes his friend.

This is Jean Ure’s third book that she has written about children, mainly girls, whose life is filled with adolescent angst. And this is a very good book that is worthy of four stars.

Four stars. ✨✨✨✨

[sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining. I very much enjoyed it. I recommend it.

[Junior Reading Group · Rating 5 out of 5]

i absolutley loved this book!!! its about a girl who lives in a flat with her parents.The flat isnt really very homeley as it is DANGEROUS the floor boards fall down and the cupboards come off the wall.Mandy gets injured in her home because she falls through the floor and gets a black eye.Her parents leave her during the day because they have to go to work Mandy's nana dropped by and went off it and started shouting at mandy for being in the house byherself.When her parents came home her nana was still there and then her nana started shouting at mandy's parents for leaving her in the house alone.So then mandy gets took away!Her parents go to classes to improve themselves because they want mandy back. Finally mandy bgets took back to the flat where her parents live and there home has completley changed.At the end Mandy goes back into the kitchen and prays that the cabinet dosent fall down again but....IT DOES!!!!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is about a girl telling her life story through a tape recorder as she is not good in wrtiting but very good in talking.

her life story has many interesting things.Theres this big bully in her school but it dosent seem to affect her as she always defenses herself.
Her parents dont take care of her.Instead, she takes care of them!Shes the one who wakes her mom up every morning for work.Not that her moms sick or anything, its just that her parents are both seriously daft!

Her father is an Elvis Presley look alike. He used to perform daily gigs at a local centre but stopped ever sinced he fell off the stage. He always seem to fall down.

[Denisse González · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a teenager telling her story through a tape recorder, she isn't a good writer but she likes talking. Her life involves school, her parents, her house. What I learned from this book is that although you have many problems involved in your life you can continue living with what you have and telling your story without lying, telling what has really happened to you, wheather you like it or not.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as a child, interesting as it deals with something that has been put to awareness these past few months. Mandy's life is the same as many others in the world today. It contains a vast majority of comedy, the issues of bullying, friendship, and responsibilty.

[Hanh]

The story was amusing and funny.

[Oz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative is all over the place, but Jean Ure captures Jacqueline Wilson's narrative well. She was one of the authors that popped up around the peak of Wilson's popularity.

[Mia 🌱 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright, but it could've been a little more interesting to me, personally.

[Sakinah Azmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and interesting. Worth a grab.

[Farah Abtar · Rating 5 out of 5]

want to reread this!!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book I read when I was a preteen

[Desray]

it has a great beginning