The Tulip Touch

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At first she doesn't care that other people are upset and unnerved by Tulip's bizarre games, but as the games become increasingly sinister and dangerous, Natalie realises that Tulip is going too far. It's been years since I read this book. I had borrowed it from my mother's friend's daughter and it was one of the first slice-of-life children fiction that I fell in love with. The plot was simple, and it was because of that simplicity that it's complicated. And I loved it. urn:oclc:877385881 Scandate 20110601223317 Scanner scribe8.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition) At the close of the novel, Natalie has moved to a new hotel with her family and things are going well for them. Her family, teachers, and the community all criticise Tulip, but Natalie feels immense guilt over what happened. Although she was too young to recognise the signs of abuse, Natalie wonders why the adults in their lives never helped Tulip. [2] Major themes [ edit ] As Natalie discovers more of Tulip’s unfortunate home life and apparent unhappiness, she finds herself ever more faithful to her friend, albeit out of pity more so than out of solid friendship. Eventually their relationship becomes less agreeable and through observing a sinister array of doings on Tulip’s part, Natalie soon realises she cannot befriend her any longer and begins to separate herself.

Keep the conversation in third person with questions like ‘Why do you think Natalie likes Tulip?’ or ‘Why is she popular with some girls and not others?’. Avoid words like ‘wrong’ but let your daughter put them into the conversation if she wants. Better terms are ‘helpful / unhelpful’ or ‘useful / not useful’ to show she can discuss these ideas without being labelled herself. This is also a great opportunity to open conversations about changing schools and what she hopes for the new school. Anne Fine does a superb job at describing a sexually/emotionally/ physically abused child in Tulip and an equally good job at describing the fascinated yet increasingly more repelled but trapped friend in Natalie. Though readers often find themselves inadvertently laughing aloud as they read Anne Fine's novels, as she herself admits, "a lot of my work, even for fairly young readers, raises serious social issues. Growing up is a long and confusing business. I try to show that the battle through the chaos is worthwhile and can, at times, be seen as very funny." In 1994, this unique combination of humour and realism inspired the hit movie MRS. DOUBTFIRE, based on Anne's novel MADAME DOUBTFIRE and starring the late comedic genius Robin Williams.She skives off school, cheeks the teachers and makes herself unpopular with her classmates by telling awful lies. For a kid living in a big literary city like Edinburgh or London, meeting authors might not be such a big deal. Authors tend to work hard to promote their books and the ones I know do as many events as they can. But let me tell you, rural Aberdeenshire in the 80s was not a hotbed of literary discovery, and you coming to town meant a lot. I think that was the point when I realized writing could be a career. Maybe one day, I could be a writer too.

Tulip creates unease from her first appearance and Anne Fine’s storytelling tightens the unsettling knot chapter by chapter. As Natalie is drawn towards this strange girl and her increasingly bizarre games, the reader realises the danger Tulip presents. The Tulip Touch is a children's novel written by Anne Fine and published in 1996. The book raises questions of morality and accountability, as well as exploring the question of nature versus nurture. It won the Whitbread Award and was Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal. Typo alert for those of you who mark a book down for typos/editing (I am definitely NOT included in this, I couldn't give a hoot as long as it's readable): there is a fragment of a sentence lurking somewhere in my edition, which I think was supposed to be deleted. In the USA, The Tulip Touch was chosen as an ALA Notable Children's Book; the Booklist Editor's Choice - "Top of the List" Fiction; Bulletin, Blue Ribbon List, 1997; School Library Journal's "Best Books of '97"; River Bank Review"Children's Book of Distinction", Arizona Library Association Young Readers Award 200 Nomination.

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The book received some criticism, along with others on the 2021 Carnegie Medal shortlist, for being too "grim" for children. [3] [4] References [ edit ] Anne Fine uses simple prose to great effect. The language is usually more dramatic and economical than descriptive. Every sentence is precisely constructed to ensure clear meaning." This award-winning teenage novel -- it was the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year in 1996 -- is a hard-hitting psychological portrayal of an abusive friendship which poses the eternal question, are people ever born evil? It also asks whether it is enough for people to shake their heads and pass judgement while assuming it's somebody else's responsibility to deal with the root causes of antisocial behaviour. Anne has written more than sixty books for children and young people. Amongst numerous other awards, she is twice winner of both the Carnegie Medal, Britain's most prestigious children's book award, and the Whitbread Award. Twice chosen as Children's Author of the Year in the British Book Awards, Anne Fine was also the first novelist to be honoured as Children's Laureate in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Anne became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Her work has been translated into forty five languages. And adult readers may also pause to consider how even grown-ups can be powerless to change situations, either because of their own inadequacies or because systems aren't in place to allow justice to be done. Through moral ambiguities, challenges and personal courage we are led along the narrative path this novel hastens to take us.