Lizzie Zipmouth Read online

  LIZZIE

  ZIPMOUTH

  D o you ever play with dolls? Don't worry, I don't think it's at all babyish to like dolls. I played with my dolls up until I was about ten, though I didn't really tell my friends just in case they teased me.

  I think it's so sad that lots of girls stop playing with their Barbies and Bratz by the time they're six or so. I still love dolls even now. They sit in special places all over my house. I've got a doll with brown glass eyes and ringlets called Mad Alice who's over 150 years old, and she reclines decoratively on my Victorian chaise longue. I have another gentle Victorian china doll called Mabel who sits up straight in her own little chair. There are carved wooden dolls and soft cloth dolls and a row of tiny plastic baby dolls arranged on my shelves.

  There are two characters in this book who love dolls too. One is Lizzie – and the other is her very fierce Great-gran. She can be very scary at times but somehow Lizzie isn't frightened of her.

  Lizzie won't talk to anyone – but she will whisper to Great-gran. Later in the story it's Lizzie's turn to help Great-gran to speak.

  Lizzie is a little bit like me when I was little - and Great-gran is a little bit like my mum!

  Illustrated by Nick Sharratt

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Adobe ISBN: 9781407043296

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH

  A YOUNG CORGI BOOK 978 0 552 55784 9

  First published in Great Britain by Young Corgi, an imprint of Random House Children's Books A Random House Group Company

  First Young Corgi edition published 2000

  This Young Corgi edition published 2008

  1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2

  Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2000

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2000

  The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

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  Young Corgi Books are published by Random House Children's Books, 61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA www. kidsatrandomhouse. co.uk www. rbooks. co.uk

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  THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

  To Naomi

  With many thanks

  Chapter One

  Do you ever have nightmares? I had such a scary dream I didn't w a n t to go back to sleep. It was just starting to get light. I sat up in bed and looked at M u m . Her hair was spread out over the pillow.

  I wish I had lovely long hair like M u m . Sometimes she lets me brush and comb it. I can do it in a funny topknot. Once I put it in plaits and M u m looked just like my sister, not my mum.

  7

  I haven't got a real sister. Or a real brother. But today I was getting two new sort-of brothers, Rory and Jake.

  I didn't like them much.

  I w a s getting a stepdad too. He was called Sam. I didn't call him anything.

  I didn't like him at all.

  I frowned at my mum. I took hold of a little clump of her hair and pulled.

  8

  "Ouch! W h a t are you up to, Lizzie?" said M u m , opening one eye.

  "I was just waking you up," I said.

  "It's too early to w a k e up," said M u m , putting her arm round me.

  "Let's snuggle down and have a snooze."

  "I don't w a n t to snuggle," I said, wriggling a w a y . "Mum, why do we have to move in with Sam?"

  M u m sighed. "Because I love him."

  " I don't love him," I said.

  "You might one d a y , " said M u m .

  "Never ever," I said.

  "You wait and see," said M u m . "I think you're going to love being part of a big family. You and me and S a m and Rory and J a k e . "

  "I don't want to be a big family," I said. "I want to be a little family. Just you and me in our own flat."

  We had fun together, M u m and me.

  9

  We went to

  football matches

  and we shared big

  tubs of ice-cream and

  we danced to music.

  Sometimes I stayed up really late and then we went to bed together. I didn't like night-time because of the bad dreams.

  I dreamt about my first stepdad.

  I hate stepdads. I've got a real dad but I don't see him now. He stopped 10

  living with us ages a g o . He doesn't come to see me but I don't care any more.

  My first stepdad doesn't come to see us either and I'm very, very glad about that. He was a scary monster stepdad. He pretended to be jolly and friendly at first. He bought me heaps of presents. He even bought me a Flying Barbie. I always badly wanted a Barbie doll but M u m never bought me one. She thinks they're too girly. I like girly things. I loved my Flying Barbie but I didn't ever love my first stepdad, even at the beginning.

  W h e n we went to live with him he was still jolly and friendly when he was in a good mood but he started to get lots of bad moods. He started shouting at me. I tried shouting back and he smacked me. He said I got on his nerves. He certainly got on my 11

  nerves. He said he didn't like me. I didn't like him one bit.

  M u m didn't like him any more

  either, especially when he shouted at me. We left that stepdad. We went back to being just M u m and me.

  We got our own flat. It was very small and poky and the bathroom had black mould and the heating didn't work, but it didn't matter. We were safe again, M u m and me.

  But then M u m met this man, Sam, in a sandwich bar. They ate lots and lots of sandwiches. Then they started going out together. Then I had to start going out with them at weekends even though I didn't w a n t to. Sam's sons, Rory and J a k e , came too. They didn't see their m u m any more. They seemed to like my mum. But I didn't like their dad.

  *

  12

  "I don't want Sam to be my stepdad," I said. Again.

  "He's not a bit like the last one, Lizzie, I promise," said M u m .

  I love my mum but I don't a l w a y s believe her, even when she promises.

  "Lizzie?" said M u m . "Oh come on, don't look like that. Don't we have fun together when we all go out, the five of us?"

  Mum ha d fun.

  She larked about

  with S a m and

  sang silly songs

  and talked all the

  time and held his

  hand.

  Sam ha d fun.

  He laughed at my m u m and sang with her and told her these stupid jokes a