Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachariġ2-year-old Mira's beloved Nana Josie is dying. Rebecca Westcott's debut novel Dandelion Clocks is published by Penguin and follows the diary of 11-year-old Liv from thirteen weeks before to six months after the death of her much-loved mum from cancer. These are my top ten, in no particular order as these books are so diverse that it would be impossible to compare them to each other. There are many fantastic books for children and teenagers with a diary format. The feeling that someone is confiding in you sharing things with you that they would never tell another living soul. I was supposed to be revising for my GCSEs.īooks based on diaries give a reader something really special. Everyone else saw – it was well funny.' The unabridged entry goes on for so long that I ended up adding three sides of A4 paper to my diary, so hilarious was the incident of the Bovril sandwich.

I got it out, crawled over to James' bag and put it inside without him seeing. Jason was messing about with a Bovril sandwich and somehow it ended up being shoved down my jumper (I hasten to add that it was wrapped in cellophane). What was important to them on that day? Seemingly irrelevant, mundane comments can say a lot about a person, even if it's that 'I had the biggest laugh at school today. The best part about reading a diary (and this applies to reading your own, old diaries) is discovering what the writer of that diary chose to record. If we're really lucky they provide reassurance that other people think like we do. They offer us an insight into someone else's head.

I will hesitate only as long as it takes me to find a comfy chair before I start reading any diary that I happen to stumble upon (or find after hours of searching in my daughter's bedroom…).

Good place to write diary