The Amazing Edie Eckhart – Rosie Jones

The Amazing Edie Eckhart – Rosie Jones

I’m not normally one for celebrity authors. I rather like authors that got really good at being authors before having their books published rather than ones who got good at being celebrity panellist before being offered massive book deals. But Rosie Jones is different for me in two important ways. Firstly, she has a story to tell, and a good one at that. Secondly, my eldest was born with cerebral palsy, so it’s fantastic for him (and us) to see disability represented in the main character of a great book and written by an author with similar lived experiences to him.

Edie Eckhart is just about to begin secondary school when we meet her and the book charts the journey of her first term. This is also pertinent for my son, as he’s in Year 6 now, so about to reach the same life milestone himself.

At the beginning Edie has one best friend, Oscar, who she loves spending time with because they have loads in common and he really cares for and supports her in many ways. Over their first term in Year 7 they are put in different form groups and begin to make new friends and find new hobbies. At first that seems like that might be a bad thing, but all’s well in the end.

We read this as a bedtime story as a whole family, and I honestly think it’s one of the most important books we’ve ever read. Every few chapters Edie says something that really hits home or that leads to great conversations. It’s brilliant for our boy to share his experiences of growing up with a disability, with us. Also, it was lovely to hear from our youngest about what it’s like having a brother with cerebral palsy and how other people treat him (and her) because of it.

Tom aged 10 says… I’ve never read a book with a cerebral palsy affected character before and because I’m in Year 6 it’s good to hear about the transition to secondary school. I’m always being asked, ‘what happened to you? ‘what happened to your legs?’ or, ‘what’s that for?’ when people see my walker so it feels good to read about somebody else having the same problem as me. It feels good to not be the only one. In the book she says that she doesn’t see any disabled characters in her comics and that’s how I felt until I read this book.

Bella aged 8 says... I really liked Flora because she was really artsy, like me. In parts the book was funny and at parts it was sad but I liked it. I really enjoyed that Edie had cerebral palsy because not many film or book characters have disabilities. Lots of people are different and that’s one of the differences and it’s good to realise that and see it in a book. I don’t know why they don’t do that more because she was still an interesting and funny person.

Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World

Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World – February 2024

Who? Kenny Wax Family Entertainment in association with MAST Mayflower Studios

What? Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World

Where? Chichester Festival Theatre

When? 14-18 February 2024

What the show is about? The show is about a girl called Jade who gets lost on a school trip and ends up in an off limits part of the museum. Whilst there, she meets some of the women who changed the world in wonderfully different ways.

Jade usually always does the right thing and usually gets the feeling that she is invisible. The women she meets throughout the play inspire to be braver and take more chances her by telling her their own incredible stories.

The women she meets include: Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earheart, Marie Curie, Emmeline Pankhurst and many more motivational women who you may have heard of.

What was really good about it? I liked the songs and the dancing especially ‘Quiet Children’ because the chorus sounded quite good. Another good one was ‘ Where do you wanna go?’ because the harmonies sounded brilliant. Also ‘ Deeds not Words’ sounded good because the lyrics talk about the hurdles the women had to jump over to get the vote. I also enjoyed ‘World of Colour’ because they talk about having ‘wings to fly’ and ‘painting outside the lines’ which basically means breaking some of the rules at the time and just having fun.

I really liked that we could see the band above the stage during the show. There were 3 of them who played a variety of keyboards and percussion instruments and one of them came down to join the actors for one song when they did a drum solo.

What could be better? Maybe an interval to have an ice cream in but it was a 1hr 15mins performance so that is ok and anyway afterwards I had ice cream for the dessert after my meal at the Bell Inn to top off a very nice fish fingers and chips.

I can’t think of much but my sister suggested the sound could have been better because at the beginning of the show she couldn’t hear what the actor were singing properly. I only had this problem for a couple of minutes but after that it was fine.

What my Dad thinks? It’s the second time we’ve seen this show and I think it’s got a bit better in the last two years. The whole thing was just that bit tighter, the asides that bit funnier, the songs that bit more impactful and just generally a better show. That said, I couldn’t pin point anything in particular that was different, but it just was, okay? We sat slightly to the side this time and it’s clear show is designed to be played on a proscenium arch stage and it would have probably been a better experience both visually and in terms of the sound quality. A thoroughly enjoyable show though and a really inspiring one to take the children to.

Star Rating? 5 Stars!