Books › The Dare Game
The Dare Game
256 pages
A loud, funny, and secretly heartbreaking diary of a girl daring the world to love her.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like being handed the secret, scribbled-in notebook of the loudest, most difficult, and most secretly vulnerable girl in school. The pace is brisk and bouncy, driven entirely by a fiercely colloquial, exclamation-heavy narrative voice that refuses to be ignored. Beneath the cheeky defiance and chaotic energy of the dares, there is a poignant, bittersweet atmosphere that tugs at the heartstrings. It perfectly captures the messy reality of acting out when you are desperate to belong. The prose is unpolished by design, bursting with dramatic flair and defensive bravado. It will deeply delight middle-grade readers who gravitate toward deeply flawed, funny, and resilient protagonists who are just trying to figure out where they fit in the world.
- Mood
- chaotic
- bittersweet
- energetic
- poignant
- Tone
- defiant
- cheeky
- vulnerable
- humorous
- colloquial
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- found family · masking vulnerability · the reality of foster care · longing for maternal love · rebellion as a shield
- The writing
- Highly conversational and diary-like, peppered with dramatic capital letters, exclamation marks, and a fiercely authentic tween voice.
- The arc
- Moves from defensive rebellion and escapism toward a reluctant but genuine acceptance of imperfect, real love.
- Who it's for
- Middle-grade readers who love flawed, loud, and fiercely independent protagonists who mask their soft hearts with bravado.
Content notes
- foster care
- truancy
- bullying
- parental neglect
About the book
A fabulous new cover look for this brilliant story starring Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson's most enduring and popular characterI'M TRACY BEAKER, THE GREAT INVENTOR OF EXTREMELY OUTRAGEOUS DARES - AND I DARE YOU TO READ A MORE BRILLIANT STORY THAN THIS!I've bought a big fat purple notebook for writing down all my mega-manic ultra-scary stories in. But especially for my own story. Of how my foster-mum, Cam, has turned out to be a real meanie. No designer clothes, when I really need them. A pokey flat, and a horrible new school. No wonder I bunk off... Still, it will have to do until my real mum comes and gets me. And until then, no-one is going to be better at the Dare Game than Tracy Beaker!
Description from Open Library.
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