Kiss is a book for teenage readers, written by Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson

Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness...

 and illustrated by Nick Sharratt

Nick Sharratt

Nick Sharratt is a British illustrator and author of children's books, and was chosen to be the Official Illustrator for World Book Day 2006...

. It was published 2007 by Doubleday.

Plot summary

Sylvie and Carl have been friends since they were little. They have called themselves boyfriend and girlfriend since they were small and Sylvie has always believed they would end up married. As they start high school, Carl drifts further and further away from Sylvie. One day, she wanders into the girls' bathrooms and finds Miranda, the most popular girl in school, there. Miranda asks Sylvie to go to her party after finding out about Sylvie's "boyfriend", whom she has taken a shine to, even though they haven't met. Sylvie accepts and then asks Carl about it, hoping that he will not go. To her dismay, Carl is eager to go and they meet Miranda and her friends. They play a game of Spin The Bottle

Spin the bottle

Spin the Bottle is a party game in which several players sit/stand/kneel in a circle. One player spins a bottle and must kiss the person to whom the bottle points, who then spins the bottle in turn...

 and Sylvie wishes to be kissed by Carl. Unfortunately, he does not kiss her (but to Sylvie's surprise he kisses Miranda) and Sylvie realizes that his feelings have changed. Carl invites Miranda, Sylvie and a boy called Paul to go bowling with him. Sylvie does not like Paul and is surprised when Carl tells Sylvie that he wanted to impress Paul by bowling.

On Carl's birthday, Miranda, Paul, Sylvie and Carl go to Kew Gardens since Carl is obsessed with glass. They all get lost while playing hide-and-seek. Miranda and Paul went on the train so Carl and Sylvie go with Carl's mother, Jules. Carl refused to see anyone after that night and later tells Sylvie that he is gay. Sylvie then finds out that Carl had found Paul during hide-and-seek and tried to kiss him. Paul pushed him away, apparently saying he was a pervert, etc.- "Paul thinks I am. Sick. A perve. A poof." Carl gets teased and picked on at school. Later, Sylvie goes to find Carl and sees the Glass Hut (where Carl keeps his glass collection) is ruined with glass everywhere. Sylvie gets cut and tells Jules, Mick (Carl's dad) and Jake (Carl's older brother) about the Glass Hut. They see Carl in the bushes all cut from smashing all the glass. He cut all his fingers and wrist and needed lots of stitches. In the Glass Hut, Carl and Sylvie see all the damage. Sylvie thinks that Carl will not feel the same about her but he kisses her, saying that he will always love her.

Main

• Sylvie: Sylvie is the main character of the book.She is very small for her age. She is not very popular at school and only really tends to hang around with one person: a shy, boring girl named Lucy. Sylvie is deeply in love with her best friend and next door neighbor Carl. She lives with her mum and an old lodger named Miss Miles.

• Carl: Carl is Sylvie's best friend and next door neighbor.He is described by Sylvie as very cute with blond hair that flops in his eyes(which are brown). He has a love of all things glass. He does not go to the same school as Sylvie. Far less masculine than both his dad or brother, he is often quiet and subdued and can have strong bouts of depression. At the end of the novel Jacqueline reveals that Carl is in love with Paul and that he is gay. In the end he says he will always love Sylvie and he sweetly kisses her on the lips.

• Miranda: Miranda is bouncy, confident, and very full-on.She is not drop-dead-gorgeous but has something enchanting about her. Miranda is the epitome of all things daring. Although she is very young, she possesses a high degree of sexiness and is desired by many boys.She has very big breasts. Miranda is one of Sylvie's closest friends. She also fancies Carl and wants him to be her boyfriend and talks often about him.

• Paul: Paul is Carl's new best friend, who is apparently extremely good at football(compared to David Beckham) and good looking. He doesn't appear to be a very good friend at all, as he takes advantage of both Carl and Miranda. When he finds out that Carl loves him(when Carl tries to kiss him), he starts bullying him and calls him a pervert.

• Jake: Description from Sylvie:

“He was sixteen, in Year Eleven at my school. He wasn’t as brainy as his brother and hadn’t sat for any special scholarships. He didn’t look at bit like Carl. He had dark untidy hair and very dark eyes so you could barely see his pupils. He’d been quite small for his age once but now he was this great lanky guy of at least six foot. He was bright enough but he rarely bothered with much homework. The only thing he worked hard at was playing his guitar."

Jacqueline Wilson reveals at the end that Jake actually is in love with Sylvie but Sylvie did not actually like him because she is deeply in love with Carl.

Minor

• Lucy: Lucy is shy, very innocent and well behaved. Lucy is one of Sylvie's only friends at school. However, deep down Sylvie has only ever been using Lucy to fill the gap left by the absence of Carl, who attends a different school - she doesn't particularly like Lucy, who is boring and prim and often condescending. She is mad about chocolate, wants to be a nurse when she grows up , loves certain pop bands and has a strict mother.

• Sylvie's mum: Sylvie's mum and is also Gerry's girlfriend. She often worries about her daughter, Sylvie, and often says she wants to cancel her dates with Gerry for her. Unlike most, Sylvie's mum believes that Sylvie and Carl will never fall in love. Sylvie describes her as having home - dyed hair and has to yank on her tesco Jeans to get them done up.

• Jules: Jules is Carl's mum, who is also mother to Jake, and wife of Mick. She worries about her son, and always believed her son Carl was gay.

• Mick: Mick is Carl's Dad, when he finds out Carl is gay tries to be supportive but says he may be going through a phase.

• Miss Miles: Miss Miles is Sylvie and Sylvie's Mum's lodger who is in her seventies. She is said to have no love life, although she was once in love. She is very insecure, and is like a grandmother to Sylvie.

• Gerry: Gerry is Sylvie's mother's boyfriend who she meets in a fictional community forum named "Not Waving But Drowning" after the Stevie Smith poem. Sylvie does not particularly like Gerry, describing him in a conversation to Miranda:

"What's he like?"
I shrugged. "OK, I suppose. You know. A bit dull and boring. My mum keeps on about how funny he is but I can't see it myself."

• Alice: Has a few brief appearances including the party at Miranda's and the cake making. She is very pale and worries about her figure. She is Miranda's best friend from her old school.

• Raj: Goes to Carl's school. Also knows Miranda and attended her party. It was mentioned he used to go out with Miranda but Raj's parents thourght she was to wild for their precious boy

• Andy: Has one appearance at the Party. Is describes as good looking. Kisses Sylvie in the Snog Spin game.

External links

• Kids at Random House: Book Details for Kiss