Books like Dustbin Baby

Jacqueline Wilson has written many amazing books, but Dustbin Baby has to be one of my favourites, especially for an older reader, and is a story I will never forget.April, the main character, is a lonely girl with a vivid imagination who struggles to fit in as she is haunted by her past. Without so much as a note or shawl, April was abandoned by her mother at birth and dumped in a nearby dustbin. Luckily, her constant cries (which later gained her one of her nicknames April Showers) was heard by the local pizza boy, Frankie, who saved her life.The reader is introduced to April on her 14th birthday, which happens to be on April 1st (hence she adopted the nickname April Fools). For her birthday she receives a pair of earrings from her old-fashioned foster mother Marion - not quite the present April had wished for. Still without a mobile phone, unlike her friends, April and Marion have a dispute and April storms out and sets off on a journey to meet her previous foster parents in order to discover more about her childhood.April didn’t always have a great upbringing, being moved from home to home and relationships never seemed to last. She witnessed the marital breakdown of the people she trusted the most, which ended in her ‘mummy’ committing suicide as her ‘daddy’ had run off with another woman. She was frequently bullied by another foster child until she eventually retaliated, landing the girl in hospital, and was later coerced into burglary.Along April’s journey she finds many people from her past and even makes new friends; nevertheless she still feels very lonesome and empty - something is missing. One question remains throughout, will she ever find her birth mother?In the final chapters of the book April finds the number of who she suspects to be her birth mother, however, later finds out that the number belongs to an excited Frankie who has been looking for her from the day she was taken away. This may not be the happy ending the reader wanted for April but is a happy ending nonetheless as April comes to the realisation of how grateful she is to have a wonderful foster mother, good friends and a new found relationship with Frankie.This book is ideal for independent reading for older readers from the age of 10, as Jacqueline Wilson discusses many relatable issues such as crushes, fitting in, bullying and parental disputes. The author captivates the reader with April’s story and leaves them always wanting to know more. Readers are able to sympathise with the character and hope that in the end she will achieve what she set out to find and also get the answers to her questions.As well as being an interesting read, there is also a moral to the story which (in this case) was ‘life may not always be perfect but be grateful for what you have and make the most of it,’ which may be an inspiration to many young readers.