The Illustrated Mum is a children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson, first published by Transworld in 1999 with drawings by Nick Sharratt. Set in London, the first person narrative by a young girl, Dolphin, features her bipolar mother Marigold, nicknamed "the illustrated mum" because of her many tattoos.
The Illustrated Mum: Directed by Cilla Ware. With Michelle Collins, Alice Connor, Holliday Grainger, Henry Cox. Two sisters cope with the unpredictable behaviour of their depressed, alcoholic mother.
The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award. Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal.
“The Illustrated Mum” invites readers to reflect on the importance of understanding and empathy when it comes to family. The novel offers insight into a family shaped by love, yet marked by pain, illustrating the challenges of growing up in a difficult environment.
The Illustrated Mum was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Awardand has won the Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award. Girls in Tears received the W.H. Smith Children’s Book of the Year Award.
About this book Marigold, the ‘illustrated mum’ of the title, has elaborate tattoos covering her body from head to toe. Narrated by Dolphin, the youngest of her two daughters, this is a moving, yet unsentimental account of two children coming to terms with their mother’s depression, mental instability and alcohol problem. Written with warmth, humour and understanding. About the author