I generally like Jacqueline Wilson's books, but this one didn't quite work for me. I may be biased though, 'cause I know the orginal (What Katy Did) far too well to be objective.

Katy is the eldest of a large boisterous family. When she falls from a swing and ends up paralysed, she begins to rethink her relationships with her friends and siblings. I was fascinated by the parallels the author made in her 'updating' of the story - Cecy as a BFF, copying Maths homework, a middle school disco, Dad and Izzy in love, even a tentative boyfriend - but I never felt inside the story. This may have been different if I was a tween or if I had not been comparing it to the original story.

The writing is simple and flows well, with fairly decent characterisation, and I suspect it will be embraced by girls in years 4-7 (hopefully they'll also go on to read the original version). I was especially impressed by the fact that the author did not take Katy back out of her wheelchair, but used the healing process of the original as as process of accepting and adapting to her disability. There as so few books with differently abled characters that all libraries should have a copy of Katy for that reason alone. ( )

This is Jacqueline Wilson fix-it fic, which she wrote after reading What Katy Did to her daughter. It is a fun page turning story of the human spirit surviving even after a horrible accident, and it's also an interesting study of both how times have changed and what distinguishes a Jacqueline Wilson book by the directions it's changed from the original. So we get not just one Boy subplot, but two, Izzie is no longer their aunt but their step mother, and Elsie doesn't get left out as much for being the middle one, but more because she's the half-sister. And the main changes - Katy isn't told 'this is a lesson from God to make you more patient', and we see far more of her frustrations and embarrassment (and Izzie's too), Izzie doesn't die, and Katy doesn't get better. But she does get a bright red wheelchair and learn she can still be awesome even if she can't walk. Awesome in this case being 'playing basketball and dancing with cute boys' rather than 'taking on the household management' which is definitely an updated message... ( )

I only vaguely remember What Katy Did (and promptly went and reserved it right after reading this) I seem to recall that as I got older it got more annoying, but we'll see how I get on with it as an adult. This rang fairly true-to-life for a lot of it, Katy Carr is the eldest of 6, her mother died when she was young and her father remarried, bringing a daughter with her. Her father and mother had another three children. Katy is accident prone and still working out issues from losing her father and resenting the intrusions into her life, all typical teenage stuff, until an accident makes her have to deal with some serious life-changing stuff.

An interesting reworking of what I remember, now to compare and contrast. There were some things that were a bit thoughtless but they rang fairly true to what a teen girl probably believes. ( )