Kitty Killin is not only a good storyteller, but also the World’s Greatest Expert when it comes to mothers having new and unwanted boyfriends.

Kitty (Honeysuckle Weeks) struggles to accept her divorced mother embarking upon a new relationship; her attempts to thwart this relationship are hampered by her younger sister's acceptance of this "new dad" in their lives. It’s definitely very smart and witty with its humour but I’m not sure about laugh out loud… I did like this story and it’s one I might recommend to some of my students. It's perhaps not surprising that Anne has openly expressed astonishment at the fact that murder in the domestic setting is not even more common. Goggle-eyes takes you on a journey through Kitty's emotions towards Gerald Faulkner and has a fabulous heart-warming ending. Anne Fine deals with difficult subjects and makes them accessible to children without ever being patronising or talking down to them.Adelle Tracey, a 2020 Olympic hopeful middle-distance runner and one of seven young athletes who lit the cauldron at the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, also happens to be a makeup artist with experience doing everything from photoshoots to weddings for clients including athletes. If you have time, Tracey suggests applying moisturizer with a jade roller, a hand-held device about the size and shape of a disposable razor with an oval-shaped smooth stone. After imagining various ways to dispose of Gerald (toxic waste, dynamite, machine gunned via the TV, and stuffed on a bonfire just a few from Kitty's imagination) she sets more realistic plans into action, even at one point bribing her young sister Jude (Victoria Shalet) in her campaign, though Jude is happily accepting of Gerald. But furthermore and very much appreciatively, Fine textually also shows both sides of the nuclear power/nuclear weapons debate, and by making neither camp villainous, by showing both the pros and the cons equally. Apparently director Carol Wiseman was so impressed by her that she kept her in mind for her next project, which turned out to be The Queen's Nose.

Kitty isn’t happy with the whole set up and surprise surprise goes out of her way to be cheeky, she even came up with the wonderful nickname ‘goggle eyes’ for her mums’ new boyfriend. When Helen runs out of the classroom in distress, Mrs Lupey sends Kitty after her, despite the two not being particular friends. I was worried this would be lefty, preachy and patronising book where the author would state her depressing narrative without room for argument or opinion, but I was mistaken. Mother Rosie is an environmentalist and animal activist who has raised her daughters in much the same way, so when she picks up with conservative, fussy, middle aged Gerald her daughter Kitty cannot believe it. Goggle-Eyes was awarded the Carnegie Medal for 1989 [2] and the Guardian Prize in 1990, the two most prestigious British awards for children's literature.

However, nothing can detract from what is a superb children's drama - not even the twittering biology teacher in ep 3 that is the one false note in this series. The inner black disk is allowed to move freely within the larger clear plastic shell, which makes the eyes appear to move when the googly eyes are tilted or shaken.

Kitty Killin is not only a good story-teller, but also the world’s greatest expert when it comes to mothers having new and unwanted boyfriends.Engagingly and humourously told, the story of Kitty highlights that people are not always as bad as they seem and making snap judgements can make a situation worse, while never losing sight of the fact that this is inevitably a difficult period of a child's life.